Lasang Pinoy 7: Almusal (Breakfast): A Trio of Silogs

Tapsilog
When I was a child, tapa, tosino and longganisa weren’t usually part of our breakfast routine. I preferred pan americano or pan de sal, slathered with Dari Creme. If rice was served, it’s usually with reheated leftovers from last night, understandably unappealing to a child like me. I therefore never associated these cured meats and sausages with breakfast, until I went to college and saw all the little eateries offering tapsi and tapsilog, etc. on the ride to and from school.

For one thing, my mom has never liked the preservative and food-coloring-laden stuff, so red tocino, particularly, was out of the question. She either bought homemade tocino from enterprising housewife friends, or she made them herself. Ironically, because my mom has always been conscious about chemicals in food, Spam, hotdogs and bacon became eagerly anticipated breakfast items, on the VERY rare occasions that they made an appearance at the table. Fighting with siblings over these tiny bites (they were rationed!) was the norm.

Cold cereals never appealed to me, and I associated hot oatmeal with my grandma, who, being toothless, could only have soft foods for breakfast. For a breakfast beverage, my favorite was Milo, the granules dissolved in hot water, and evaporated milk and sugar added. Milo was even part of a ritual between my Papa and me: until the age of 6, he’d make me a cup at bedtime, then carry me in his arms while I drank it up.

Longsilog

But that was then and this is now. Our busy lives dictate that breakfast be easy and quick. Fortunately the demand for healthier products and choices are more extensive than ever. My kids usually choose hot oatmeal topped with a bit of maple syrup and/or some dried fruit/nuts, or organic whole-fiber cereal with a bowl of rice milk. Hubby and I have our cups of green tea. It is a breakfast that is short on time but not on love. My kids don’t/won’t feel deprived that I serve them this type of breakfast daily, as there is too much variety these days with which to get bored.

However, special breakfasts are much appreciated when they do come. On karate tournament or testing days (usually on the weekends), my black belts and black-belt-aspirants expect nothing less than a full American breakfast: pancakes, eggs, bacon and a glass of orange juice or a cup of coffee.

Tosilog

Not surprisingly, though, it’s the silog breakfasts that they really crave and get giddy about. Partly because they know I am trying to cut our family’s intake of red meat, but more importantly, because there is nothing like a Pinoy breakfast that has this much OOMPH in terms of flavor and mouthfeel and overall feeling of satisfaction.

Like my mom, I prefer our tapa, tosino and longganisa homemade. I also trim off most of the fat — with tapa and tocino, that usually works; they have enough exposed surfaces for flavor to seep in and come through when cooking. With longganisa, there’s a point where you can go overboard with the fat-trimming and much of the flavor and texture is lost. One good alternative is ground turkey, but then again, you need a bit more than 20% fat to avoid flavor loss. Garlic fried brown rice, to my surprise, is actually delicious, though my kids prefer regular white rice and not even sinangag to go with their tapas and tocinos.

These cured meats, of course, are part of our Spanish-influenced traditions. In South America where Portuguese and Spanish food traditions abound, you can find parallels to our tapa and tocino, like carne seca, charque (jerky), carne de sol, and of course chorizos/chouricos and linguicas too. Even the platter presentation is the same — with the molded rice, the meats surrounding, the side of chopped tomatoes or some sort of fresh salad/salsa, and the fried egg topping. What I’m curious about is whether cows were brought over to the Philippines. I’m inclined to think that they were, but I’ve only found brief references to our cattle-raising history in the history books. I do know that our carabaos were exported to Guam, and that the Spanish enjoyed our kesong puti, made from carabao’s milk, during colonial times. Any thoughts or book recommendations?