Memories of Philippine Kitchens by Amy Besa

Author:Amy Besa
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Abrams
Published: 2014-10-13T16:00:00+00:00

Pork Fat of the Heavens

Marc Medina describes this heavenly dessert:

For most Pampangos, tocino is cured pork (this page), but many old families all over the province have a recipe for a rich flan made with egg yolks, butter, and sugar called tocino del cielo [probable translation, “pork fat of the heavens”]. The flan does not take much technique or skill, but seems to have disappeared from the popular compendium of Pampango recipes. The procedure is fairly straightforward and holds no secrets, yet the few families that still make this recipe say theirs is the original. Perhaps the previous generation of cooks kept this popular dessert such a secret that they have taken the recipe to their graves.

For as long as my cousins and I can remember, this tocino del cielo, and its cousin the leche flan, were the standard ending of any party meal. Unlike the leche flan made with fresh carabao’s milk and dalyap, tocino del cielo is made with ingredients easily obtainable in the city. It is sumptuous and rich, with golden brown syrup dripping over the buttery flan.

Both my aunt Hidelisa Medina Caguiat and my mother have, with a generosity uncommon among Pampango housewives, shared this recipe with many friends. Oddly enough, none of them, myself included, can cook it the way the women in the Medina family have done for more than half a century.

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