My Mom's Mom Stuffed Morcon Meat Rolls

Morcon is a Filipino (with Spain’s influences due to 300 years under colonial rule) meat roll cuisine stuffed with sausage or hotdogs, carrots, pickles, cheese, and egg. It is also called a roulade in Western dishes and considered as a holiday dish and usually served in the Philippines during Christmas and New Year’s eve.

You need the following:

Serves: a family of 3 to 4 members

Ingredients

1/2 k beef round, sliced thinly into four

1 pc. hardboiled eggs, cut into quarters

1 pc chorizo de bilbao (Spanish sausage) or hotdog, cut lengthwise in medium thin strips

1 pc whole pickles, cut lengthwise in medium thin strips

4 pcs cheddar cheese, cut lengthwise in medium thin strips

1 medium carrot, cut lengthwise in medium thin strips

2 Celery stalks, cut lengthwise in medium thin strips

¼ cup raisin

For the sauce ingredients:

1 medium onion, chopped finely

½ cup of celery stalks cut into small cubes

½ cup of carrots cut into small cubes

4 fresh tomatoes, seeded chopped

1/4 cup tomato paste

2 cups broth or water

6 pcs of whole black peppercorns

1 pc bay leaf

½ cup soy sauce

1 T Brown sugar

string to tie beef

It has egg, sausage, cheese, pickles, carrots etc and simmered
in a rich tomato-based sauce … dish consisting of a thin slice of meat that is rolled around a filling and cooked, stewed or grilled….

You may review the steps by watching the VIDEO dedicated to my grandmom, Esperanza Cruz (deceased) and my living and inspiring cookbook writer at 83 year-old for a mom, Pacita Rueda Cruz....

Rub each slice of beef with a pinch of salt and ground black pepper. Mix the kalamansi and soy sauce and marinate the beef slices. Overnight is better. Cover and set aside in the refrigerator.

When ready to cook the morcon, position the following ingredients parallel to the grain of each meat slice to make the beef roulade – sausage, pickle, carrot, celery stalks, cheddar cheese, egg and some raisin.

Roll up the beef slice into a log and secure with a string knot. Set aside or roll these in flour and fry.

In a separate heated pan, stir fry the onions, celery stalks and carrots. Put the fresh tomatoes, tomato paste and broth. Flavor with whole black peppercorns, bay leaf, soy sauce and sugar.

Bring to a boil. Put in the fried beef rolls and simmer for 1 to 2 hours. [You can also simply mix all the ingredients in the above but stir frying celery and carrots and the onions will certainly bring out the flavor and aroma.] Remove meat rolls from pan.

Cut off strings and slice to about 1/2 inch rounds. Serve with the marinade.