A silog breakfast built on tocino — sweet cured pork — plated with garlic fried rice and a fried egg. The sweetness of the pork against the savory rice and rich yolk makes it one of the most beloved of the silog plates. The name fuses tocino, sinangag, and itlog. It is comfort food eaten at breakfast and at any hour.
Tocilog belongs to the silog family that grew out of tapsilog in Manila-area eateries from the 1980s onward, each plate named by joining a cured meat to sinangag and itlog. Its centerpiece, tocino, descends from the Spanish word for cured pork and was reinvented in the Philippines as a sweet, often reddish cure, with Pampanga long known for its versions.
Sweet, sticky-edged pork with caramelized char, set against fluffy garlic rice and a soft, runny yolk. Each bite leans sweeter than other silogs, the richness balanced by the savory rice and the clean bite of vinegar on the side.
The tocino is cooked the traditional way — simmered in a little water until it evaporates, then fried in the rendered fat and oil so its sugars caramelize into a glossy glaze. Day-old rice fried with toasted garlic stays in separate grains, and the runny yolk ties the sweet pork and savory rice together as it breaks.
Variations
made with beef or chicken tocino, pale annatto-free pork, extra-sweet hamonado style, and served with sliced tomato or atchara alongside
On the Palate
Where Tocilog sits in the Filipino flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 1
How it's made
6 steps · 10 min
- 16 min
Simmer cured tocino in a little water until the water evaporates.
Watch outSimmer the tocino in a little water until it evaporates, then let it fry in the rendered fat — this is when the sugars caramelize into a glossy glaze; fry it dry from the start and it scorches.
- 26 min
Add oil and fry the pork until the sugars caramelize and the edges crisp.
- 36 min
Stir-fry day-old rice with toasted garlic to make sinangag.
- 42 min
Fry an egg sunny-side up, keeping the yolk runny.
Watch outKeep the fried egg's yolk runny — the loose yolk ties the sweet pork and savory garlic rice together as it breaks.
- 51 min
Plate the garlic rice, set the tocino beside it, and top with the egg.
- 61 min
Serve hot with a saucer of spiced vinegar.
