Kosher Tocino

Okay, here’s a shameless plug: Support Chevon Tocino. It’s good for your health and it tastes good. It’s for the thesis of a former student, Emilie Baldimo, a graduating Food Technology student. “Milay”, as I fondly call her, is a very diminutive girl: she barely reaches my shoulders. Open the dictionary to the word “diminutive” and her picture would be there. She was one of my first students when I began to teach in 2008; so we were both freshmen, so to speak. She was then an Accountancy student but divine providence led her to shift to Food Technology. We would remain in contact ever since that first semester when we had English 1.

Food Technology is a degree program that deals with food preparation. It is different from the more popular Hotel and Restaurant Management (HRM), which I could say deals more with food preparation. (Okay, that’s a gross oversimplification.) It’s kind of like the difference of Computer Science and Information Technology. Computer Science deals with code-level programming: they are “behind the scenes”. Information Technology deals with the presentation side of computers, like website development. Another example is Civil Engineering and Architecture: the former deals mostly with the structures that hold a building up (again, behind the scenes); the latter mostly deals with the design of these structures. None of these degrees are more important than the other: because one needs another.

What is chevon? Chevon is goat meat. Back during the Norman Conquest of England, the British were under the rule of the French. So the British would raise the animals: goats, sheep, swine, & c. and that British would eat them: chevon, mutton, pork, & c. Thus, the English had the words for when the animals were alive; and the French had the words for when they are dead.(See a Wikipedia entry here.)

Going back: I found out about her project on social networking. So I contacted her and we met. She gave me a packet and gave me instructions on how to cook it. Milay told me that Chevon Tocino is actually a continuation of an earlier study. Besides making an improvement on the recipe, she wanted to find out how to package and sell these. (She claimed that she had to process nine kilos of goat meat.)

I told her that goat meat is “kosher”, that is, considered “clean” under Jewish dietary laws. (That’s “halal” to you, my Muslim friends.) Well, the goat had to be slaughtered by a sholchet or kosher butcher; to make sure that all the blood has been drained (eating blood is forbidden in the Torah) and that the animal has been slaughtered humanely. (But then, as a Christian and as a Gentile, Jewish dietary laws do not apply to me: Mark 7:19; Acts 10:9-15.)

So washed the meat in water and prepared a Teflon pan with water. When the water began to simmer, I tossed in the tocino. When all of the water has evaporated, I got this:

Chevon Tocino has a very strong and exquisite taste, with just the right amount of tang (from the pineapple juice). My older brother (who is not used to eating goat meat) said that the tocino tasted “weird” and “different”. Meanwhile, my grandmother remarked it tastes like beef. That night, I relished my cooking with gusto.

My only suggestion is that the cooking instruction should be printed on the package. And also there should be a caveat to people who are dealing with arthritis or gout: chevon, veal (calf meat), and others are rich in uric acid, so they better stay away from it. (See an article in Livestrong here.)

So there you have it. Support Chevon Tocino; and help a charming and bright girl finish college.