Menu
Author:
Franco Salzillo
Cooking over burning embers is primal and instinctive; there’s a reason so many of us love to be the person behind the grill on outdoor parties and backyard dinners alfresco.
Once you get that fire going, it’s all about working that meat to serve authentic feasts to your friends and family. No grill is complete without a few steaks, some sausage links, and perhaps some grilling cheese, but you know what else you can’t miss? Skewers.
Skewers are more than staked meat on a bamboo skewer; to achieve perfection, you need to do two things besides grilling them: marinating the meat and glazing it while it cooks. That’s precisely the Filipino way, and there’s a reason they’re world famous for their grilled feasts.
For these skewers, we’re using pork shoulder, which is a tough but inexpensive cut. Don’t worry; it will tenderize beautifully.
For our marinade, we’re using soy sauce, lemon juice, minced garlic, chopped onions, plenty of brown sugar, cooking oil and ground pepper.
The special ingredient here is ketchup. If you can, find the Filipino banana ketchup. It’s a fantastic condiment made with mashed bananas, sugar, vinegar and spices. This ketchup lighter than regular ketchup, and it has an entirely different flavor profile. You’ll find it in some Asian markets. It’s insanely good!
The only thing left to do is thinking of a few neat side dishes for our skewers. I would start with white rice but would also toss together a quick green salad. Do you know what’s delicious with these sticky skewers? Guacamole, and you can put together fresh guacamole in less than five minutes.
Make sure you have some bread, too; you’ll need something to pick up all that dripping sauce. I’m hungry already!
Let’s get started because their Filipino BBQ pork skewers won’t cook themselves. Please put on your apron and let’s get grilling!
Mince the garlic and the onion. Reserve.
In a mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients and toss the meat until fully coated. Cover the bowl with film and refrigerate for one hour.
Assemble your skewers, but don’t get rid of the marinade!
In the medium-heat part of the grill, cook the skewers, flipping them once, until cooked through and slightly charred.
Glaze the skewers with the remaining marinade every once in a while.
Serve and enjoy!
