Papa's Morcon

  As I have said in one of my blogs, I am going to cook and feature more Filipino food as I can in my blog. To start off, I made the pancit canton and lumpiang shanghai a couple of days earlier. Two days ago I made Papa Delfin's Morcon (my deceased paternal grandfather) and slow cooked it in our barely used slow cooker for 5-6 hours. That will then make the meat tender, perfect for my grandmother so she won't have a hard time eating it.

   I am ashamed to admit that I cannot remember myself liking this dish when I was a child or whenever he makes one. It took a lot of courage and faith for me to recreate his version. One reason why I hesitate cooking this dish is that I cannot recall its taste. For me, it's hard to cook something that my tongue cannot remember. Gathering my courage and praying that I wouldn't just waste the ingredients, to the kitchen I went.

  I searched for the recipe my father gave me (what he remembers my grandpa used and did to cook morcon) and searched for recipes online that will make me recall my memory of him making this dish. Morcon is made up of beef flank filled with ground pork and other ingredients then rolled in a log, tied up with a butcher's twine. This is a very time consuming recipe to make which is why Filipinos prepares the dish during special occasions only.

  Incidentally, this is one of my mom's favorite dish from my grandfather. According to her, every time she will come over and visit, she will ask my grandfather to cook one for her. 

  I made a small-sized morcon since it will just be myself, my mom, my grandma and my lil' prince; but the recipe I'm including can serve 8 people.

Papa D's Morcon

1 16x12 inch flank steak about 1/3 inches thick
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp brown sugar
3 tbsp kalamansi (also known as calamondin) or lemon juice
salt and pepper
4 tbsp vegetable oil
1 big onion, chopped
1 bulb of garlic, chopped
8 plum tomatoes, chopped
patis or fish sauce to according to taste
1 big bay leaf
1 whole Chinese chorizo (in my case, I used Spanish chorizo since we used up the Chinese chorizo and the Asian store is too far away)
1/4 cup grated cheese
3 tbsp pickle relish
3 tbsp raisins
1 cup ground pork with fat
6 whole hard boiled egg in salt water, shell removed
pepper to taste

*butcher's twine is used in this dish to tie around the beef once rolled.

   Mix soy sauce, brown sugar and citrus juice in a bowl, then rub salt and pepper on steak. Put steak on soy sauce mixture making sure the meat is submerged all the way through. Let stand or refrigerate overnight.

   Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat - pot needs to be large enough to fit the rolled steak. Sauté garlic and onion till soft; add tomatoes, fish sauce, bay leaf and pepper, adjusting to your taste. Let simmer in low fire till reduce. Set tomato sauce aside allowing to cool in room temperature.


   In a large bowl, mix together ground pork, cheese, raisins, pickles, and 2/3 cups of the sauce. Let flavors blend together. Take out the flank steak from the marinade, lay flat on a chopping board. Slice chorizo lengthwise in half, set aside. Position pork mixture in the a line 3 inches from the longer side and 4 inches from the shorter side till it reach the other end. Distribute eggs on top of the mixture and place chorizo a slice each on both sides. 


   Return sauce to a simmer while rolling beef like a jellyroll cake till you reach the end making sure that meat over laps on every open side. Use butcher's twine to wrap the rolled beef and secure. Add beef roll into the sauce once it starts to simmer. Let simmer in low heat for at least 3-5 hours if you want it very tender. The duration depends on how tender you prefer your beef to be. 


     In my case, I used our crockpot slow cooker and have it cooking overnight and reheating it 20 minutes before dinner time.

What do you think?

   According to my mom, it tasted good except that the next time I make another one of this dish I have to use the chorizo de bilbao as we call the chinese chorizo back in the Philippines. She got a point there, the chorizo will make a difference because it will complement the tanginess of the sauce with its sweetness. But as long as she likes it, I won't be intimidated to cook morcon more often - maybe the price of a beef flank would!