Maganda Umaga, smokin' in philippines....

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Slicer I have, but just the one.  Kind of small but it does the job.  I just need to chill the bacon before I go at it.  I just put 9 plus kilos of maple cure bacon (green weight) in the fridge.  I have an order for one and am playing around with my maple cure recipe.  Also doing some honey cure with maple extract to see how that effects the taste.  I do fairly short smokes - 3 or 4 hours until I get to the 150F internal temp for safety.

The pork chop recipe I ran into on a different forum and they initially used Morton Tender Quick which I did the first time, but Tender Quick is a bit too pricy to be toting across the ocean, so now I do it with my own formula.  Comes out nice after 2 or 3 days in a wet brine.  If the chops are cut thick, over an inch, I do inject them to be sure the center cures as well.  Have to be sure they are completely submerged.  Had one sticking up just a hair and it went bad ... so 4 kilos of pork chops were out in the garbage last year.  That hurt on a couple of different levels.   When they are done right they are superb.  I take them to 145F internal so they stay juicy.  Doing another 4 kilos later this week, very thick cut, so I can stuff them with blue cheese or whatever.  Yum! Yum!

McCormick brand is good and we use it a lot, Also we hunt the Indian stores for their spices since they have a lot of great stuff if and when you can find it.  A bit of hunting and the Tagalog/local names or Indian names start to stick and it gets easier.  Fresh dill is due in the market soon, I hear.  Looking forward to that big time!  Also, sometimes you can find a good bread machine which will do a decent job of making dough for pizza and such unless you are a Peter Reinhart sort and go the artisan approach.  We found an Aussie market one, so it works on 220v.  Handy and turns out a pretty decent loaf of banana bread.

Mabuhay Bro's ...
 
 
Smoken,

Yeah, there's a true value for sure, i was in it about 8 years ago. I don't imagine it closed down but I will verify it before I count on it. 

Was thinking about the mixers cause it makes life a bit easier with breads, sausage grinding, meat mixing etc. Mamma-in-law wants me to teach her how to bake cakes, bread etc,etc,etc.... so that's why I was considering getting a mixer. She's getting on up in years, 55 or more by now. Shoot, I don't even know her actual age but, so in the long term after I leave, baking would simpler for her and hopefully make a few extra $$$ selling them out of their little store. Probably just end up sending her a mixer after I get back home. I can pick up a KA pro600 for $350 new in box here. I ***might**** even pick it up on the way to the airport if they still have it in 2 more weeks and let it sit in the trunk of the car till i get home and am able to pack it up. 

I'm already planning in bringing a jug of mayonase, AMERICAN ketchup and with yall talking about it, going to get a few mustards to bring also. You are speakin the truth man, banana ketchup IS NOT bbq sauce. is plain old fashioned yellow mustard readily available? Want to travel as lite as possible but I already know I'm going to fail miserably. 

thanks

louie
 
Tatoosh-  So you do a hot smoke on your bacon... how long do you cure for again?  I do a cold smoke on my bacon, best to keep it under 80 degree's but if i can manage to keep it under 100 the whole time i am doing pretty good, it takes a longer time for sure, at least 8 hours, but i don't lose any weight from the fats melting out.  There are some great spices available at SM Megamall, grocery store, they had a nice rack of hard to find spices, also in Market!Market! there is a spice shop near the food court, they have some dried chili's that you might be into and i haven't seen anywhere else.  I just finished my own maple cure experiment also, until slicer is repaired i can't try it out though, i guess i could just slice off a couple of chunky slices and give her a go but i like the suspense. I saw fresh dill on the shelf two weeks ago, its such a short season it seems for that though.... I miss the good sour cream that is thick like cream cheese, hard to find here and expensive when i do, used to make such great ranch dressing but its tough to do here. 

JC-   As for your true value definately check on that would you... most major shops like that stick to one major mall owner, and the true value i go to is in an Ayala Land Property, A competitor of SM property group.  Ace hardware is definately in SM but they have nothing or at least the ones i have been in have nothing for smoking.  As for mayo, you don't really need to bring any, the brand i use is Lady's choice mayo, its as good as any i remember from the states, you can also find some of the more popular stateside mayo's here, not sure about the province though..  As for mustard, French's ok with you?  thats at SM and quite common here, you might be hard pressed to find mustard powder though, Also as i was telling Tatoosh earlier, A deli called Santi's you can find some european mustards that i have never even heard of if you are looking for something truly authentic, they can be a little pricey though.  As for you getting a KA mixer, you definately save money getting there and carrying it over, however i will caution you, dont just send it over, one thing i have learned here, most people here aren't used to such things, and they are absolutely horrible about reading directions, so unless you are there with them to show them how to use it and it is actually quicker and easier than doing it by hand, its probably going to go to waste or turn around and be sold.  If its sausage stuffers you want, you can get a decent sausage stuffer/grinder here for around 100 bucks, bread machines maybe around the same price... problem with the one you get there is when it comes here its not 220V need to make sure they know that.  When i started my baking/smoking business... we purchased some industrial mixer from some repair shop in Quiapo, paid about 17k pesos for it, but it holds like 3 gallons or something like that, massive mixer and weighs a ton... I used it quite a bit at first, but then later i switched to a hand mixer because moving around that big bowl just kind of got to be a pain.  I still want a KA though, but with my smoking business taking off the way it is i don't get much chance to bake anymore so its on a back burner for a while.  Good luck and Take care.  as always let me know if you have any other questions...
 
Smoken,

Thanks for the heads up on the ace possibly not having wood chips. Well, I had ol lady call ace in CDO, they don't have any chips. How far is your ace from the airport in manila? We're landing monday evening and headed out tuesday to CDO. How far away from the airport is your ace? Maybe I can get over to it before I catch my flight. To make things harder, we're arriving monday on holy week. Last time i was there i remember how the country shut down for holy week.  I rekin i wont mess round bringing mayo etc. makes more room in my bags for other stuff. Got our room at microtel mall of asia manila. 

Thought of bringing a KA in my bags but we're both afraid that customs will tax us more than we paid for it. had that happen a while back on a camera we were dumb enough to send over. Any thoughts on a KA in luggage? The 220 isn't a issue for me. I have already sent over 110 outlets, few tools and multimeter in a BB box a while back. Going to wire in some real 110 plugs. Sent a stuffer over back in january. She's set up pretty good so far. 
 
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JC,

Yeah thats what i was telling you before but its easy to lose track... Ace hardware does not have chips, True value hardware does, they don't have true value hardware in SM department stores, http://www.truevalue.com.ph/StoreFinder/tabid/72/Default.aspx you copy that info there and paste it into the address bar, it shows the location of all the true value hardware stores in metro manila.  As for the KA, no idea what they would do with customs at the airport.  it would vary from inspector to inspector for sure and how crooked they are.  Holy week here is definately a completely different world, but most things are strangely open on saturday and sunday of holy week, but closed for thursday and friday.  you are looking ok leaving on tuesday, if you put it off a day though you are going to be in some nasty traffic getting out of the city at least.. Good luck and hope you find what you are looking for.
 
Smoken,

Good lord I need to get myself a better proctologist. Evidently the last one didn't completely remove my head. Now that you point it out, I have no idea why the heck i kept calling it a ace. found one that appears to be pretty close to my hotel. Wifes cousin is married to a cab driver so he should be able to get us there n back i'd hope. 

Was thinking about calling the PH embassy in DC thursday and see what they have to say about me bringing a KA in that is new in the box. If it sounds encouraging and they can point me to something concrete on a embassy or PH gov. website I can print out, I might go ahead and try it. Lots will depend on what they say tomorrow. If I have a print out of the law/requirement as far as taxes from a official website, then i'll show it all to the wife and let her decide. she's the one who will be arguing with them in tagalog, or getting me a supervisor who speaks english. if there is nothing i can get to back me up, I'll just ship it in a BB box. I'll let ya know what they have to say. 

AAAHHHHH, Holy week. That is a experience unto itself. When I visited PH to meet my wife way back whenever it was, I was there for Holy week. Best as I can remember, pretty much everything in/around CDO was closed. But to me, its a very refreshing concept. Well looking back now it is. Then, I kindly thought it sucked. 

Thanks for the link to the ********TRUE VALUE****** 
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 store locator. I really appreciate it.

Thanks

louie
 
JC, 

i noticed your going to CDO and looked it up on the map, there is a true value in davao i think? and although it isn't really close to you it might be closer than having to come back to manila.  good luck on the KA mixer, enjoy the province, never been there as i tend to stand out wherever i go and i don't like to be that noticable when in an area that is that dangerous.  never really thought of myself as tall but here at 6 feet and noticably different features from most as well as probably carrying about 40 pounds of extra fat i think i will stay far from the southern philippines.  Besides wifey has already said she won't pay the ransom for me anyway, and after i cook a little for them they may not want me to go anyway... so yeah good luck down there.
 
HAHA, Davao is one city that I will NOT be visiting ANYTIME soon. Like you, I do worry about my safety. Davao is over 6 hours driving from where I'm going. I'm going to be just outside to the east of CDO right on the northern coast. Everything I know from reading and talking to my dealers over there, the south and west is where they have the biggest issues with the religions. Rebels are everywhere but not so bad up where I'm going from what i've been told. Ransoms, gosh you had to bring it up and put it in the front of my mind. It's a chance ya take most anywhere, some places though, its much more likely. Wife has worried about it. I try to forget about it, the tickets are bought and we're going. I can either fret and worry which will just ruin everything or have faith and forget about it. I try to choose the later till somebody reminds me of it. GEEEZZZEEE, whatta pal. thanks man!!!HHAHAHAHAHAHA
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 Unfortunately, when the majority of the population is under 5 4 or so and dark skin, most others just stand out. When I walked through the mall and there's 15,000 lil white eyeballs looking and pointing UP towards SOMETHING and I'm in the center of all the pointing, I'm going to say I'm the source of interest.
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 Nope, I'll get my chips in Manila. Her cousin is going to meet us at the airport and pick us up. He's going to talk to his boss and see if he can use the boss's van. His taxi is a toyota car. Maybe we'll have the van, maybe wife n cousin will tie bags on the top of the, heck if i know thats for the wife to worry about. Flight tuesday doesn't leave till after 3 so we have a few hours in the morning to mess around. I don't believe we'll have any issues getting over to **true value**. 

Haven't gotten through to the embassy on import taxes etc yet, bums don't open till 9am! I'll let ya know when i do.

Anything ya need I can throw in my bags for ya when I come? 

Louie
 
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Well, 3pm and I finally got a call back from the embassy. They said to go ahead and throw the KA into my luggage and don't declare it. If questioned about it, tell em its for personal use. Also going to print out the tax free section on the PH gov. customs web site stating so. Wife and oldest daughter can bring back 20Kphp before there is taxes on it. 10K each. So it appears that we're covered. 

louie
 
JC,

Sorry to bring up the whole ransom thing, CDO should be fine though, i haven't heard of anything really from that area in the 5 years or so of me being here. Thats great news on your KA, i just hope whoever is going through your bags follows that protocol also, As for me, there are quite a few things i miss from the states, but can only think of the little things like halfnhalf, for my coffee, hard to find here and usually have to just mix it myself or pay 300 pesos for the high end stuff.  yeah, the little things and the intangibles that don't fit into a bag... snow falling on a dark night in the woods, with the smoke slowly rising from the chimney and hanging in the air.... i appreciate the thought and offer to bring something but you have your hands full worrying about everything else..   Enjoy the province and if you can't find chips i could maybe send some via lbc or whatever to the province after you get there to save the trip..
 
Smoken,

No biggie on the ransom, I was pullin your leg. All in good fun. Like you said though, where I'm gonna be at is fairly safe. Its down south towards Davao and west towards illegan is where it gets bad.  I'm figuring on printing off a copy of the tax free section from PH customs web site to take along with us. Wife says she is happy to stay there as long as it takes arguing with them. Between my oldest daughter and wife, they can bring a total of 20K. You know how a filipina can be once she's pissed off, so I'm more than happy to let her take care of it all.
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If there's something I can bring ya, its no biggie. They have already packed up 2 bags already and repacked them at least 2 times each. Problem is, I'm going to have to pack everything myself in another 2 weeks. They are ok at it, but I got em beat 100 to 1, I do all the order shipping at work. Amazing what I can stuff into a BB box. Wife has been completely amazed. So, final packing is on me, if you need something or a few somethings, got 2 weeks. I assume you prefer liquid half n half? I'll look as I go through town saturday and see what my restraunt supply house has just for grins n giggles. 

Got everything lined up on KA. Wife's was a christmas present so there's no way we're taking ours over there and leaving it. God bless or curse (haven't decided which yet) craigs list, found a new in the box KA pro600 platnum colored i believe for $200!!
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As long as she sticks to her work, we're meeting her half way saturday to get it. She seemed legit when I talked to her today. She began talkin like making a overnite trip with her daughter out of the meet up so it appears I have struck gold again... Good grief how things come together. 

Thanks, I really appreciate the offer to send me some chips, but I'm sure as long as true value is open tuesday morning, we'll get over to it long before we have to leave. If for some reason their out, there's a 2nd location in makati that doesn't look like its over a mile or 3 away. Don't have to be to the airport till after 1pm so I don't think we'll have any issues getting over to get em.

Mabuhay Bro
 
Junk, Balik Bayan the KA mixer, only way to go. Pack it with wood chips from your favorite local source, preferably commercial because you don't wanna bring any buggies over with the wood, we have enough already.
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  Maybe a couple of rib racks, depending on what your plans are.   I've not posted my Weber Kettle Turkey recipe/procedure here yet, but after Thanksgiving and Christmas last year, it is my go to approach for moist turkey without tying up the kitchen oven.  A specific pair of rib racks play a pivotal role.  I'll elaborate in a separate thread in a few days. 

Smoken,  I do hot smoke mine, not really having a good cold smoke setup, though that is a pretty lame excuse on my part, since they are so easy to make, even a cardboard box will suffice in a pinch.  I cure for roughly 7 days, using a basic cure, though I've recently switched to doing a Maple Cure which uses maple sugar (sourced in the States) instead of the local stuff.  Not as cheap as canning salt, but it has a nice flavor kick.  

I'm doing a dry rub for my bacon, though I've done it with a brine before.  How are you doing yours?  I haven't tried Market Market yet, but have heard about it and definitely want to visit there.  We just scored some spices for sausage making at a local Indian shop in the market.  Usually better prices than McCormick, but sometimes they buy the McCormick, repack and sell it at a higher price, so its a "caveat emptor" sort of thing.  Still we've found some nice coriander, mace, fennel, and so on.  Did 7 kilos of fresh sausage last night.  Mostly Italian and a bit of Garlic & Fennel with a St Paddy day twist by adding a fair amount of fresh parsley. 

Tatoosh

To quote Mork from "Mork & Mindy" ... "Nano Nano!"
 
tatoosh,

any lil things you need since i'm coming over? aint no biggie to throw something in the bags for ya. would love a thread on that chicken. is that rib rack something i can buy over there or is it a custom fabbed piece? 
 
JC-

I appreciate the offer for a piggyback of goodies, but don't bother with the halfnhalf, needs refrigeration for the good stuff, the thing i miss the most is probably good beer, i used to be a homebrewer and sold all my stuff when i left, regretting that now, microbeers here are hard to find and kinda insane prices.  I found a guy who stocks them and even offered to add a kit to his next shipment from the states but am so busy with everything else i really don't have time to sort out the details.  Craigslist is great, when you get here you can switch to using Sulit.com they are a local version that i have found is usually pretty good as long as you aren't doing the send me the money first kind of thing, meetups are the way to go in a safe public place... bought two slicers now from there and both are awesome, sold my car there also, took a couple of months but got a decent price.  As for making it to true value, if you don't make it the first night with your flight leaving at 1 the next day most of those places and especially in makati don't open til at least 10 am and in makati sometimes they don't open til 11 am if i remember correctly.  maybe true value has different hours but the malls there open later and stay open  later typically.  Also, i have seen ribs racks here, not too expensive, or if you have welding experience or know a decent welder you can probably make them yourself.  just use stainless steel roundbar and you should be golden.  just remembered... you might want to grab as much peanut oil as you can possibly carry.... its nearly impossible to find here... and if you can, its about 200 pesos for 200 ml. 

Tatoosh,

Since i am doing such a bulk sort of thing, I do a dry rub, simple brown sugar, local rock/sea salt, curing salt, pepper.  doing about 6 slabs of 6 or 7 kilos each i stack em up in a large tupperware that fits perfectly on a shelf in my ref, then once a day i rotate them, so of course the juices come out and those on the bottom are sort of brining i guess and those on top are sort of aircuring, rotating them daily gets them all exposed to the same sort of conditions, i started with a six day cure, did some experiments and went down to a three day cure, that one you could tell didn't cure all the way through, now i try to go 4-6 days and typically only 4 day cure, then take em out, rinse em off, set them on the racks to form the pellicle and after 6 hours or so start smoking for at least 8 hours with the chunks keeping the temp below 90 for the most part.  they come out beautiful, if you are ever going to be in the area of East Avenue in quezon city let me know a day or so ahead and will leave some at the parlor for you.  I love turkey, i brine mine in salt overnight... hardest thing to find here is peanut oil.... yet i see them selling peanuts cheap and on the street... coco and palm oil industry seem to keep that down pretty tight...  too bad.. i miss me some deep fried turkey. 
 
smoken,

im a half way competent self taught welder. won't have my welder with me in PH though. don't know if i'll have room to build one and put into bags. wanted to build a chicken beer can holder but don't know if ill have room. only allowed 1 bag to check flying with united, then PAL is limiting me to 15kilo to my checked bag. once i get back, it'll be something to make up and throw in a BB box. 

Thanks for the heads up on the opening time for true value. Going to get wife on phone to verify what time they open and make sure that location has chips. if they have em now, probably get cousins to pick up a few so their sitting there waiting for us. hate to arrive and they be out. i have discovered sulit. WOW, multicabs are CHEEEEEEP if i don't mind going to cebu. didn't realize they were that cheap. maybe one will make it onto the shopping list while i'm over there. who knows??? I like to be able to get up and go when i want, not have to go flag a taxi every time i want to go to town. 

sorry i wasn't clear on my flight leaving Manila. It actually leaves 320 or 345, don't remember which. I figure i want to be to terminal by 1-130. Been flying since i was barely out of diapers. I ALWAYS make sure i have time. Missed only 1 flight in my life but that was cause my flight to Holland left JFK 45 minutes late, coupled with crappy weather etc.etc.etc...., missed my connecting flight into Ukraine. Talk about a chain reaction of events. Ended up with 1 lost luggage and 1 that had arrived in Kiev almost 2 hours before. Now THAT was a interesting trip. 

thanks a lot man. i really appreciate it.

louie
 
I was thinking more of you manufacturing the rib rack and beercan chicken rack when you arrive, they have long stainless bars here for i dont know maybe 3 or 400 pesos for 20 feet, find a guy around where you are going to be with a welder and rent that for a day at maybe 500 pesos and have your fun... its how i had my racks made for my smoker and cooling my baked goods.  good to know you allowed plenty of time for your flight, should be good weather so most likely no delays.  safe trip and enjoy the province.
 
Hadn't thought about renting a. Do  welder. you think I could truly rent one that  cheap???? Momma inlaw knows a welder or 2 over there. Recently had window bars made and a cage for the new aircon the wife wanted for herself. So I might be able to  do exactly what you say. I saw a twin beer can chicken holder on fleebay a few weeks ago made out of expanded steel and angle iron. Angle iron looked like 1in. Had a 3inch all cup made from flat bar stock to hold the cans. Couldn't believe it was biidding over $18!!!!! 
 
Well,

I just had a guy come over and weld up some more racks for me just flat racks to add to my smoker stack, like you would find in an oven.  He's a great guy does most of my little repairs and ac cleaning and recharging stuff.  he rented a machine for 200 pesos.  So i know i said 500 a day, but if you find the right person who isn't trying to get rich quick off you then you should get a fair shake, up to 500 a day at the most.  they sell these thrown together welders for cheap here maybe 5k pesos so don't let them take too much advantage of you.  Being in the province it may be harder to find and more expensive, here its everywhere, i have that advantage of being able to shop around that you may not find there.  Just ask around, find a guy nearby who will treat you right and keep going to him, throw him some little jobs here and there and have a friend for life.  Good luck.
 
Cool. If he can rent it for 200 a day, then my momma inlaw can too. But she also has her guy she has used in the past too. I dont mind helping out the poor guy trying to make a living, but like you said, I dont want him to make his whole living off of me!! I'll have her shop around and see what we come up with. We aren't that far out in the sticks, Balingasag, probably 20 kilometers out of CDO. CDO will have everything i can want. Can't shop around like you can up there, but I also don't mind a ferry ride to Cebu either if it gets too bad.

Another quick question, fishing poles/rods, i'm bringing a older saltwater reel with me to go fishing since her neighbor has a boat and we're spittin distance off the coast. Are 8-12ft fiberglass poles and line readily available over there? 
 
Hmm....

I used to fish quite a bit, never much saltwater though where i was from, I have seen guys selling fishing rods on the street but that really doesn't mean much, pretty much anything is available here if you know where to look for it.  I can keep my eyes open for you if you have trouble finding it there, i have no reference as to price here or anything, but am sure there are cheap chinese knockoffs of everything, don't get me wrong, some of that chinese stuff is pretty good, I bought a complete set of golf clubs with bag for about 150 bucks, i am a pretty hard hitter and they have held up pretty well.  its kind of a luck of the draw sort of thing sometimes though. 
 
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