Crispy ulo ng baboy (crispy deep fried pork head)

Ingredients

• meat
• 8 gloves garlic, peeled and smashed
• 2 medium onions, quartered
• 1 large carrot, peeled and quartered
• 1 pieces celery roots (or 2 stalks celery), cleaned
• 1 piece leek, cut to 2-inch lengths
• 2 pieces bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon salt or to taste
• 1 tablespoon whole pepper and enough water or better yet beef broth to cover.

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Preparation

• Place the pork head in a large, heavy casserole and cover with enough water or beef broth, if you have. Let the liquid boil on high heat. Scoop out the scum that will rise during the initial boiling stage. This is quite important. When the broth is cleared of scum, adjust the heat to low and add all the ingredients mentioned above and continue simmering on low heat.
• Simmer until the pork is just tender. The meat should be tender but the skin and fat should still be firmed enough to allow nice blistering when deep frying. Flip the pork head pieces half way to ensure even cooking. This will take about 1 ½ hours to 2 hours. Add some water if necessary, to maintain the level, 1 cup at a time, hot if possible.
  
• When the meat is fork tender remove it from the broth, drain and allow cooling. Filter the broth and set aside. We are using pork head so expect the broth to contain a lot of oil on the surface. Scoop out the oil that floats and set aside for later use, only if you like. If you are appalled by animal fat, you can discard it.
• When the meat has cooled and slightly dried up, wrap and freeze it. It will yield better result if frozen first before frying up. But before frying, it must be thawed and kept at room temperature. You can also cut it into several smaller slabs for easy frying.
  
• To fry, just heat enough oil in a large kawali or deep frying pan. Deep fry the pork head slabs in batches until the skin is golden brown and crispy. Let the meat cool on normal room temperature. Afterwards, fry it again to blister the skin real nice and extra crisp. Observe extra care and proper precautions during deep frying. The large amount of oil on a very high temperature is not something we should messed with.
• To serve, chop the crispy meat into bite sizes. A quick chopping action of a heavy sharp knife is all that is needed to avoid crushing the crispy skin. Prepare your steamed rice and favorite dipping sauce.