"Crispy" Pata (Crispy Pork Leg)

WARNING:
May contain disturbing images.
Full of "nuts".

I don't know if this is an appropriate food post. I was thinking, I would probably humiliate myself, being a self-confessed foodie. (forgive me)

Or some of you might see this as rather funny (please do) and think that this is just another common "disaster in the kitchen". Please forgive me, in the name of our passion, FOOD.

It all started yesterday, early in the morning, I was asked by my brother-in-law Bajhong to cook crispy pata (crispy pork leg). It is a Filipino dish, a whole pork leg, seasoned and cooked until fork-tender then deep-fried. So, he carefully prepared all the ingredients then called me from my room to cook it.

The first stage was to cook the pork leg until soft and fork-tender. I did that, only thing was I wasn't keen enough that I have somehow managed to dry the dish out twice while doing so! The first time was OK. That means, I didn't burn the poor thing. So, I added water again because it wasn't tender enough. However, an hour later, while I was chatting with my son over the internet (was so amused with how he held his guitar and tried to play like a rockstar!) , I smelled something burning, then i realized, Oh my Lord! THE PATA IS BURNING AGAIN! Can you just imagine me, running as fast as I could to the kitchen, and there before my eyes, the horrifying state the pork leg has endured!

I thought, this is revolting! The bottom of the pan was severely burned, so was the other side of the pork leg. There's no better way to describe it than these pictures.

But then, I thought. It wasn't that bad..(trying to console myself) I am not done yet with the whole process. I still have to fry it, so I think this will come out like it hasn't been murdered twice. Or so I thought....

So, again..I continued chatting with our son, Orlov (my mohawk-haired baby boy)

An hour before dinner (7pm), one of my housemates was kind enough to "fry" the pork leg. So he apparently "fried" it. And this was the end-result.

Hmmm...Nobody called me out fo dinner yet. It's almost 10pm and still nobody has called me for dinner. Hmmm..so I went to the kitchen and there i saw..the murderous act my housemate has made. I couldn't find him, in fact, he was hiding in his room. He thought I'd be mad. No..of course not..I went to his room and said..what have you done to our dinner? I said fry it...you have burned it! We were just laughing..we were laughing with the thought that we had to eat a super "crispy" pata! Our indian co-worker was there, she has not eaten pork meat for weeks since she was on a no-pork-meat diet...saw the pork leg and tasted it. I warned her, it's burnt.she said..it's delicious! Good heavens! Yes, the soft meaty part was indeed delicious, but not the burned part of course...

I hope i didn't put you off...=) I pledge to cook Crispy Pata again, without burning it...I PROMISE. I shall redeem myself. =D

According to Harriet van Horne:

COOKING is like LOVE. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all.

or else...you're going to burn the dish..again and again...=P