At any time when I’m within the temper for a savory breakfast (and more often than not, I’m), I sometimes resort to the timeless equation: carb + egg + salty meat. Relying on the time and place, this may take the form of a BEC, eggs Benedict, or huevos rancheros. It’s a remarkably versatile system, a blueprint with a long-standing repute that conjures up countless prospects.
And there’s no query which model of this equation I flip to on the reg. It’s the Filipino breakfast staple silog, and I make it in a single type or one other a number of instances every week. It’s my swift and hurried workday meal, my fancy household weekend breakfast, the thing of my late-night hangover lust, and my champion trip or die.
What’s silog?
Silog is a portmanteau of its two elements: sinangag (garlic fried rice) and itlog (egg). Sinangag begins with a bounty of chopped garlic, which sizzles steadily in a blanket of oil and reemerges as crispy golden confetti. The garlic bits are strained from the oil and put aside, forsaking a flavorful, savory fats. Chilly leftover rice is added and tossed till heat and aromatic earlier than it’s reunited with the crunchy garlic flakes. My very best sinangag is earthy and flavorful however doesn’t overwhelm the dish at massive. Since I don’t like my sinangag too greasy, I take advantage of half of the garlic oil to fry the eggs, which needs to be runny however viscous, in order that the yellow yolk lazes into the rice when punctured. And like a cherry on high of dessert, the egg ought to gleam with an excellent, inviting flourish.
Silogs are often served with a protein, and there are a lot of variations. After I was rising up, my mother at all times saved our freezer stocked with vacuum-sealed packages of store-bought tocino (cured pork), brick-colored logs of longganisa sausage, and tuyo, a salty dried fish that’s notoriously smelly however tastes fantastic; within the pantry, steel cans of Spam and corned beef sat facet by facet. These had been all indications (guarantees, actually) of silogs to come back.
When serving sinangag and itlog with a protein, the shorthand of the protein is prefixed to “silog,” creating one other portmanteau. Sizzling canines plus silog equals “hotsilog,” bangus fish plus silog equals “bangsilog,” and so forth. Whereas pan-frying is the commonest cooking technique for silog proteins, grilling is one other viable choice. Absolutely anything may be served silog type, which suggests it’s an excellent meal for repurposing leftovers or utilizing up no matter you’ve got available.
What’s tapsilog?
Probably the most well-known silog by far is tapsilog, made with beef tapa. (The time period tapsilog was coined in 1986 by Vivian Del Rosario, who, working within the nook of a Quezon Metropolis car parking zone, bought budget-friendly breakfast plates that includes tapa, sinangag, and itlog to native jeepney and tricycle drivers.)
