Pork tinola
May 30, 2003
Filed under Filipino food, Meat recipes, Soup recipes, Vegetable recipes
A soup served as a main entree in the Philippines, tinola is traditionally cooked with chicken, wedges of unripe papaya and sili leaves. Papaya tends to get mushy and I don’t like that in my soup. So, I cook tinola with chayote instead. Should it be chicken tinola every time? No, of course not. I tried cooking tinola with pork once and I’ve done it several times since.
It is a good idea to use a cut of pork with bones like ribs. It would yield an even richer broth. But, since you will get less meat, you will have to increase amount (based on weight) of the pork.
Patis is a salty fermented fish sauce native to the Philippines. Other Southeast Asian countries have their own versions with different names. Patis has a rather strong odor that is particularly noticeable when served on its own as a dunking sauce at the dinner table. It is not so apparent when patis is used as a seasoning and mixed with the dish itself. It is not absolutely necessary to use patis in cooking tinola. Salt may be used instead. However, patis does have a very distinct flavor that is lost when substituted with plain salt.
When I was a kid, every time my father cooked chicken tinola, he would always include a piece of chicken liver so he could make a special dunking sauce to go with it. He would take the chicken liver from the cooked dish, mash it with a fork and mix it with a few tablespoons of patis. Try it if you’re thinking about cooking chicken tinola.
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[...] Okay, so today, I really am feeling sick. I wish I could stay home and make myself sick day soup, but I can’t. I just wanted to say, that I think I found the soup that this was originally based on, I think it’s called Tinola. I found this pork version over at Pinoy Cook and it sounds similar. Are there any Filippinos out there that can help educate me on Tinola? [...]
tinola was the soup of the katipuneros. i think i read that here. how do i use these tinola cubes and other mixes? they are very popular in the philippines. saves money on ingredients they say.
“how do i use these tinola cubes and other mixes? they are very popular in the philippines. saves money on ingredients they say.”
they won’t give you the natural flavor that you only get from fresh ingredients.
hi! i’m not fond of chicken so, when i like to have a taste of tinola, i would use pork. however, we use the spareribs instead of pork shoulder, and we never fail us add sotanghon…. yumyum!
its my fave and my sister too! though, husband swears he still like the chicken version!
which makes me think…if you can make pork tinola, can you make a pork sinigang sa miso? all the sinigang sa miso i’ve seen had seafood…
Why not? What an intriguing idea, Gus.
Hi Connie,
I’m Jenny, 25yrs old, and an amateur when it comes to cooking… I usually just fry stuff. But I started learning a year ago and now more than ever (I am now living on my own), I need to learn how to cook. I found your website while browsing for recipes and this recipe is delicious! OMG! Someone might actually think I’ve been cooking for a long time!
I made some modifications to your recipe since I’m trying to eat healthier. I used boneless chicken thighs and baby bokchoy coz I can’t find sili leaves in Vegas (I’m not even sure the English word for it). I also just used salt and pepper and a dash of dried of rosemary. This is so awesome! Thanks a lot!!!