Surprise! (Dishes will not always turn out the way you want them to)

It's funny how I ended up serving a caldereta-tasting dish when I set about to cook menudo for today's lunch. During this holiday, I have been dabbling around the kitchen cooking our meals (but never pagsaing ng kanin), preparing merienda sandwiches (go, grow, glow present), breakfast pancakes or the no-sweat-pancit canton. Even our Christmas eve feast was concocted by yours truly. Anyway, there's the picture of my menudo -then assumed a caldereta taste in the end. I should probably start calling it "calderudo" or "menureta" (points! for originality :P).



Reasons behind the confusion:
1) I believe, with my heart and taste buds alike, the main culprit is the CDO liver spread. I saw it from the racks for the first time when I did our grocery and it was intended to be a... well... spread for tinapay. I didn't sample the CDO liver spread before putting it in the pot but I did smell it (I rely on my sense of smell when I season and to get an idea of the flavor) and it smelled sweet and of hotdogs or meatloaf. Weird :P. That whiff my nose inhaled at that moment was what I savored in my mouth an hour later.


2) I sprinkled more-than-the-average-menudo-pepper. The spiciness accentuated the richness of the tomato sauce and the other ingredients in the pot.
3.1) The CDO liver spread is paste-like and it messed with the thickness of the sauce. The dish turned out with a texture like that in caldereta.
3.2) While all that mixture was simmering, I did not place the lid fully-on. Liquid evaporated, leaving a thick sauce behind.
4) I added a spoon of sugar.

It turned out good, if you like thick, rich, flavor-punched sauces or if you're a fan of caldereta but wants to skip all the trouble of preparing it. My first ever menudo!... errr caldereta... calderudo/menureta!

Recipe:
1 small onion
4 cloves of garlic
2 small tomatoes
1/2 kilo pork, menudo cuts
1 can of CDO liver spread
1 large pack of tomato sauce
2 carrots
2 potatoes
bay leaves
salt
pepper
sugar

1) Saute garlic, onion and tomatoes. Sprinkle it with a bit of salt to extract the moisture - thus more flavor.
2) Add in the pork. Sprinkle again with salt plus pepper. It's important to season as you go along as this adds a layer of flavor to the dish.
3) If the pork has already lost its pinkness and has absorbed all that taste in the pot, add the CDO liver spread.
4) Pour the tomato sauce. Add water too. Let it simmer until pork is cooked.
5) Dump the potatoes, carrots and bay leaves. Season again with pepper. Wait until the veggies are done.
6) Ta-ta! Serve with a heart-skipping-smile.

Post shout-out (a.k.a. senseless late reaction): This is a free advertisement of CDO and their CDO liver spread. Pay me! Pay me! Pay me!