Morcon involves a lot of labor of love that it is usually prepared for family gatherings, special occasions like noche buena, New Year festivities or even Christening. Filipino Morcon is actually “stuffed beef roulade with filling of food mixtures such as cheese, sausage, ham, and other food mixtures to achieve a delicious meal.” Looks complicated, right? I added a video demo below the instructions so you can have an overview before cooking. It is best to prepare all the ingredients a day before so that on the actual day of cooking, all you do is mix the ingredients.
Ingredients
for the beef roll filling
1 kilo beef flank, (have the butcher slice 1/4 inch and divided evenly into 3 square slices)
Kalamansi and 2 tablespoons soy sauce to marinate the beef
5 pieces of sausage (substitute with chorizo de bilbao)
1/4 kilo of minced beef liver (leave some for the sauce)
200 grams bacon
3 hard boiled eggs, sliced
2 sweet pickles, cut into half, diagonally
1 medium carrot, sliced lengthwise in 4 slices
100 grams queso de bola (or cheddar cheese) in strips
Thread for tying
flour for dredging rolled beef
For the casserole/sauce:
olive oil for frying
bacon fat for added flavor
3 cloves of garlic
1 onion chopped
2 cups of tomato sauce
1 cup of water
1/2 cup grated cheddar or 1/4 cup queso de bola cheese
5 bay leaf (laurel)
1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon soy sauce
parsely and olives for decoration
Procedure
If you have no idea how morcon is prepared, see the embedded video below.
1. Prepare the 3 beef slices in your working area at the kitchen .You can flatten by hitting it gently with the aid of a rolling pin.
2. Marinate the beef slices with kalamansi juice and soy sauce overnight. Prepare the rest of the ingredients so it is easy to cook the next day.
3. Lay out filling on the sliced beef: cheese strips, sliced eggs, bacon, carrot, pickles, sausage and some of the ground liver (leave some for the sauce). Arrange evenly.
4. Gently roll the beef making sure all fillings are intact.
5. Tie with a string (see video demo below) Set aside.
6. In a casserole, saute garlic and onions using bacon fat for added flavor.
7. Lightly dredge the rolled beef with flour.
8. Fry the rolled beef until brown in all sides. Remove when done and Transfer to a bigger casserole where you are going to simmer the beef with sauce.
9. When rolled beef are in casserole, add tomato sauce, remaining liver, grated cheese, water, pepper, soy sauce and bay leaf. (If you use chorizo bilbao and queso de bola, the sauce may tend to be salty so adjust )
10. Braise over low heat until the beef becomes tender (estimated 2 hours ) and sauce has reduced. Beef will remain moist if one braise it long under slow fire. Cool. Remove strings when cool.
11. Slice into half an inch slices. Serve on a platter with the sauce cooked in the casserole. Garnish with parsley and olives.
1 thought on “Beef Morcon”