Pork BBQ, liempo, chicken inasal. This trifecta of beloved inihaw classics will have your friends and family declaring you the King of Summer Ihaw.
If it’s your first time behind the grill, don’t worry; it’s easy! We’ve lined up all the tips you need for a successful ihaw. And with a little help from Maggi Magic Sarap, these three inihaw recipes promise so much flavor, sawsawan becomes completely optional.
If using Maggi Magic Sarap in a no-heat application, grind the granules up with a mortar and pestle until you get a finer, more powder-like consistency. This ground-up Magic Sarap will dissolve easily without heat.
For perfect inihaw, set your grill up with a two-zone fire
A two-zone fire heats up your grill on one side only. This divides your grill into two areas:
- a hot zone with direct heat
- a cool zone with indirect heat
With this setup, you first sear your meat over the hot zone, then move to the cooler zone for basting without overcooking or burning.
To set up a two-zone fire, pile charcoal or light gas burners on one side to form your direct heat zone. Leave the other side empty or unlit for your cooler zone.
Soak barbecue sticks in water before use
This is important! While you heat up your grill, soak your barbecue sticks or skewers in water for at least 30 minutes. All that stored moisture reduces their chance of burning on the grill.
Classic Pork BBQ
Par-freezing your pork makes it easier to slice thinly. Pop it in the freezer until it becomes very firm around the edges, about 20-30 minutes. With a sharp knife, the pork should be easier to slice into ½-inch pieces, then into 1-inch squares.
Ingredients
Pork
- 1 lb (450g) kasim or pork shoulder, cut into 1-inch pieces, ½-inch thick
BBQ Marinade
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup banana ketchup
- ¼ cup oyster sauce
- ½ cup Sprite or 7-Up
- ⅛ cup calamansi juice
- 1 ½ tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- 1 tbsp Maggi Magic Sarap, ground finely
Prepare marinade: Combine soy sauce, banana ketchup, oyster sauce, Sprite or 7-Up, calamansi juice, brown sugar, minced garlic, and Maggi Magic Sarap in a mixing bowl. Whisk until brown sugar and Magic Sarap are dissolved.
Marinate pork: Transfer marinade to a large ziplock bag or airtight glass or plastic container. Add sliced pork shoulder to the marinade, tossing until well coated. Seal bag or cover container. Transfer pork to the refrigerator and let marinate, 3–6 hours.
Cook marinade: Drain BBQ marinade into a skillet or saucepan. Bring marinade to a rolling boil over medium-high heat. Cook, skimming off any foam or sediment that rises to the surface, 1-3 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and prepare a silicone brush for basting later.
(If reusing the marinade makes you anxious, you can remake a fresh batch.)
Prepare BBQ skewers: Soak barbecue sticks in water for at least 30 minutes. This prevents the sticks from catching fire on the grill.
Skewer pork pieces through each barbecue stick, making sure to leave at least a 2- to 2 ½-inch allowance at the bottom of each stick.
Grill pork: Heat up one side of a gas or charcoal grill to medium-high, leaving the other side unlit or unheated. This creates direct and indirect heat zones in your grill. Make sure to oil the grill grate.
Add BBQ skewers to the hot side of the grill, and cook, turning as necessary while constantly basting each skewer, about 2 minutes per side. Repeat with remaining BBQ skewers.
Serve: Serve BBQ skewers immediately with your favorite sawsawan.
White Liempo
Just like an adobong puti (white adobo), this white liempo or grilled pork belly has zero soy sauce. All the savory umami comes from Maggi Magic Sarap.
Ingredients
Pork
- 1 lb (450g) pork belly, sliced into ¾- to ½-inch thick pieces
White Liempo Marinade
- ¾ cup calamansi juice
- ¼ cup sugar
- 10 garlic cloves, roughly minced
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tbsp Maggi Magic Sarap, ground finely
- ½ tbsp salt
- freshly ground black pepper
Make marinade: Combine calamansi juice, sugar, garlic cloves, bay leaf, and Maggi Magic Sarap in a mixing bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Whisk to incorporate sugar and Magic Sarap.
Marinate pork belly: Transfer marinade to a large ziplock bag or airtight glass or plastic container. Add pork belly to the marinade, turning to coat both sides. Seal bag or cover container. Transfer pork to the refrigerator and let marinate, at least 3 hours (but not overnight!).
Prepare basting mixture: Add neutral oil, white sugar, and Magic Sarap to a bowl. Stir or whisk until sugar and Magic Sarap are well incorporated. Set aside with a silicone brush for basting.
Grill chicken: Heat up one side of a gas or charcoal grill to medium-high, leaving the other side unlit or unheated. This creates direct and indirect heat zones in your grill.
Add pork belly pieces to the hot side of the grill. Grill pork for a few minutes, turning once or twice, until both sides develop some color. Move pork to the cooler side of the grill. Brush pork with a good coat of basting mixture, Continue grilling and basting until pork is cooked through and slightly charred at the edges, about 7–10 minutes.
Serve: Transfer liempo to a serving platter. Serve with your favorite sawsawan and hot steamed rice.
Chicken Inasal Skewers
Boneless thigh fillets make these chicken inasal skewers easier to cook than bigger, bone-in cuts of bird. Boneless thigh fillets cook faster, too—they’re juicy and ready to eat in minutes. But leave them a minute too long, and you’ll get dry, overcooked chicken.
How do you prevent overcooked chicken? We do three things:
- Pound the chicken thighs to a uniform thickness. Evenly sized chicken = even cooking.
- Use a two-zone fire. This splits your grill into a hot and cool zone. Cook your skewers with direct heat in the hot zone. If you see them cooking too fast, give the skewers a break in the cool zone. The indirect heat will keep them cooking.
- Baste, baste, baste. Like how sunscreen shields your skin from the sun, basting your chicken insulates it from the grill’s heat while locking in the moisture and adding extra flavor. You can’t lose!
Ingredients
Chicken
- 1 lb (450g) chicken thigh fillet, skin removed
Inasal Marinade
- ½ cup calamansi juice
- ¼ cup lemongrass root, pounded and finely diced
- ⅛ cup brown sugar
- 1 ½ tbsp finely diced garlic
- 1 ½ tbsp finely minced or grated ginger
- 1 tbsp Maggi Magic Sarap, ground finely
- ½ tsp salt
- freshly ground black pepper
For Basting
- 4 tbsp margarine or unsalted butter
- 1 tsp atsuete (annatto) seeds
- ½ tsp Maggi Magic Sarap, ground finely
- salt, to taste
Prepare chicken: On a clean surface, place chicken thighs between 2 sheets of wax paper or cling wrap. Using a meat mallet or a rolling pin, pound chicken until ½- to ⅓-inch thick. Slice into 1- to 1 ½-inch wide strips.
Prepare marinade: Combine calamansi juice, lemongrass, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, Maggi Magic Sarap in a mixing bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Whisk to dissolve brown sugar and Maggi Magic Sarap.
Marinate chicken: Transfer marinade to a large ziplock bag or airtight glass or plastic container. Add sliced chicken fillet to the marinade, tossing until well coated. Seal bag or cover container. Transfer chicken to the refrigerator and let marinate, 30 minutes to 2 hours.
Prepare chicken skewers: Soak barbecue sticks in water for at least 30 minutes. This prevents the sticks from catching fire on the grill.
Drain and discard marinade from the chicken. Skewer chicken pieces through each barbecue stick, making sure to leave at least a 2- to 2 ½-inch allowance at the bottom of each stick.
Prepare basting liquid: Add margarine or butter, atsuete seeds, Maggi Magic Sarap to a small skillet or saucepan over low heat. Season with salt. Cook mixture, whisking constantly, until Magic Sarap has dissolved into the melted margarine or butter, 2-3 minutes. Strain liquid into a bowl, discarding the atsuete seeds. Set aside with a silicone brush for basting.
Grill chicken: Heat up one side of a gas or charcoal grill to medium-high, leaving the other side unlit or unheated. This creates direct and indirect heat zones in your grill. Make sure to oil the grill grate.
Working in batches, add chicken skewers to the hot part of the grill. Continuously brush atsuete basting liquid over the chicken skewers as they cook, about 2-3 minutes per side. If skewers are browning too fast, move them to the cooler zone of the grill. Repeat until all skewers are cooked through.
Serve: Rest cooked skewers for at least 5 minutes, then serve immediately with steamed rice, atchara, and chili toyomansi.
