Christmas Recipe 2010: Morcon

Every year on Christmas, I try to cook something for the first time..Just a small tradition that I've been doing at least for the last 3 years. In the past, I've done Carbonara, Fudge Brownies, Kare-kareng buntot and an authentic Kaldereta ( i.e., no ready-kaldereta mix used).

This year, I'm cooking Morcon, a Filipino meat roll stuffed with sausage or hotdogs, carrots, pickles, cheese, and egg.

Here's the recipe I found on the net: (though I did some variations I will mention below)

Ingredients:

2 lbs beef eye of round or flank steak, 3/4 inch thick in one piece
2 pieces beef cubes dissolved in 3 cups boiling water (beef stock/broth)
1/4 tsp salt
1 piece lemon
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 piece medium sized carrot, cut into long strips
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup cooking oil
4 pieces hotdogs, cut in half lengthwise
2 pieces pickled dill or sweet pickled cucumber, cut lengthwise divided into 4 equal pieces
3 pieces hard boiled eggs, sliced
3 ounces cheddar cheese, cut in strips (about 1/2 inch thick)

Optional:

2 cans of 240 ml. Pineapple Juice

Cooking procedure:

1. Marinate the beef in soy sauce and lemon juice for at least 1 hour. (For the marinade, I used a ready-made mix)
2. Place the beef in a flat surface and arrange the hotdogs, pickle, carrot, cheese, and egg on one side ( I skipped the pickle because my wife is not a big fan of it)
3. Roll the beef enclosing the fillings and tie with a cooking string to ensure that the meat will not open-up
4. Place cooking oil in a pan and apply heat
5. Dredge the rolled beef in flour and fry until the color of the outer part turns medium brown
6. Transfer the fried rolled beef in a casserole and pour-in the beef broth then bring to a boil
7. Pour-in half of the soy sauce-lemon juice marinade,salt and simmer until the beef is tender, about 2 hours using ordinary casserole or 30 minutes if a pressure cooker is used. (For this dish, I decided to use 2 cans of Pineapple Juice for a little twist, the remaining marinade and 2 beef cubes.)
8. Optional: Fry the simmered meat for at least 2 minutes
9. Remove the strings and slice into serving pieces
10. Place in a serving dish and add the sauce.
11.Serve hot. Share and enjoy!

You can watch the cooking video here.

and now here's the photos of my Morcon:

Well, it ain't bad for a first try huh?

* Recipe and Cooking Video courtesy of Panlasangpinoy.com