Mechado

A popular stew of beef cooked in potatoes, mechado was traditionally prepared as a roll of beef with a strip of pork fat in the center. The pork fat looked like a mitsa or candle wick in the middle of the beef "candle," giving it the name mitsa-do.

Ingredients

• 2 lbs. beef round
  
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  
• 1 onion, sliced
  
• 2 medium-sized potatoes, quartered
  
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce
  
• 8 peppercorns
  
• 1 small can tomato sauce
  
• 1 bay leaf
  
• 2 cups water
  
• 1 lemon's worth of lemon juice
  
• salt and pepper
  

1. Slice beef in serving pieces. Brown in a little cooking oil, then set aside.
   
2. In a saucepan, saute garlic, onion and tomato sauce.
   
3. Stir in meat and let it simmer on low heat for 20 minutes.
   
4. Add lemon juice, soy sauce, peppercorns, potatoes, bay leaf and salt.
   
5. Continue cooking until meat is tender and liquid has evaporated.
   

Corned Beef Guisado / Corned Beef Hash

Most Filipinos have cans of corned beef stashed in their pantries as emergency food. Forgot to shop? Unexpected guests? Sudden cravings? Corned beef to the rescue. One of the most popular ways to prepare this is Corned Beef Guisado. This version has a liquidy sauce, perfect for pouring over rice.

Ingredients

• 1 can corned beef
  
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
  
• 1 small onion, chopped
  
• 1 small tomato, diced
  
• 1 small potato, diced
  
• water
  
• 1-2 Tbsp cooking oil
  



1. Heat oil. Saute together garlic, onions and tomatoes. Cook until onions have softened.
   
2. Add corned beef and mix thoroughly.
   
3. Add water in a 1:1 ratio with the corned beef. Best to use the can the corned beef came in to measure.
   
4. Stir then bring to boil.
   
5. When boiling, add the potatoes. Heat to boiling again.
   
6. Simmer until potatoes are tender.
   

Morcon (Beef Rolls)

Morcon is a festive dish made made of flat sheets of beef that's stuffed with other ingredients, rolled into logs, fried then sliced. Techniquewise, they're like Japanese maki or Korean bibimbap.

Ingredients

• 1 kg kalitiran or round, cut in flat sheets.
  
• 1/4 cup calamansi juice (around 10-12 pcs)
  
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
  
• whole sweet pickles, quartered lengthwise
  
• 1/4 cup pickling solution (reserved from pickles
  
• red hotdogs, halved lengthwise
  
• hardboiled eggs, quartered lengthwise
  
• pimientos, sliced into strips
  
• oil for frying
  
• beef stock
  
• salt and pepper
  

1. Marinate beef in soy sauce, calamansi juice and pickling solution for a few hours.
   
2. Spread beef on a flat surface. Add strips of hotdog, pickles, egg and pimientos.
   
3. Roll beef, keeping filling together in center, to create logs.
   
4. Truss the roll with string.
   
5. Pan-fry the morcon until browned. Drain fat.
   
6. Braise in beef stock and leftover marinade. Simmer for 2 hours or until tender.
   
7. Drain and let dry.
   
8. Pan-fry to a nice, brown crisp.
   
9. Slice into inch-thick slices.