Foot and Fire

The version said to be loved by our 20th century heroes has the tomato sauce but I grew up loving pochero without the tomato sauce but instead my father would mash some of the sweet potatoes or kamote to thicken the broth.  Everything starts with choosing the right kind of beef chunk. I used the "paras" or the beef meet with some cartilege because it is tender. My mother had it cubed to a matchbox size serving already at the meatshop. 1 kilo beef chunks, boiled till tender (save broth) 250g pre-boiled white beans 2T Canola Oil Garlic, onions, tomatoes chopped Water including the broth, 1.5 to 2L 1 hand of sab-a variety of banana, cut horizontally into two 4 pcs medium sweet potatoes, quartered   6 pcs medium potatoes, quartered Salt and pepper to taste Chillies 1 head of chinese cabbage, cut into 1-inch pieces, separate the hardy and soft part  Saute Garlic, onions and tomatoes then add the pre-boiled beef chunks. Add water and broth and let b...

This is a favorite beef stew! Beef meat banana (sab-a) camote (sweet potatoes) white kidney beans (pre-boiled or use canned garbanzos) cabbage Cook cubed meat until tender (about 2 hours or by pressure cooker). Add banana, camote and kidney beans and let boil until very tender. Mash some camote to thicken the soup. Season to taste. Add cabbage and remove from fire. Serve hot.

Pochero de Cebu is another cooking rendition of the favorite Bulalo which features a soup made from boiled large bones of cow with marrows inside. As I can recall pochero here in Western Visayas is a thick soup with some meat cooked with white beans, bananas and camote or potatoes and cabbage. But this Pochero de Cebu is actually a bulalo with sweet corn and some green vegetables such as string beans and pechay. I am not sure whether the name really represents its origin but perhaps it really came from Cebu as Cebuanos serve milled corn in lieu of rice. Here is the steamy hot bowl of Pochero de Cebu....