Pickled Pork Snouts (Kilawin)

Kilawin is a cornerstone of Filipino nose-to-tail cooking. Boiled pork snouts get sliced into bite-sized pieces and “cooked” a second time in a bold mixture of palm vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, cracked black pepper, and sliced jalapeños. The acid firms up the tender meat and drives flavor deep into every piece.

Fried tofu cubes go into the mix alongside the pork, soaking up the tangy-spicy pickling liquid like little sponges. Green papaya adds a crisp, refreshing crunch that balances the rich, gelatinous texture of the snout.

This is pulutan food at its finest: salty, sour, spicy, and built to pair with an ice-cold beer on a hot afternoon. The vinegar and soy sauce do all the seasoning, so the ingredient list stays short while the flavor goes deep.

Kitchen Tips

• Scrape the snouts thoroughly with a knife to remove all hairs before boiling
• Boil until the snouts are very tender and soft. Undercooked snout is tough and chewy
• Use palm vinegar (sukang paombong) if you can find it for the most authentic flavor
• Let the kilawin sit for at least 30 minutes before serving so the pickling liquid penetrates fully

Variations

• Use pork ears instead of snouts for a crunchier, cartilage-heavy version
• Swap jalapeños for bird’s eye chilis (siling labuyo) for authentic Filipino heat
• Add a squeeze of calamansi juice alongside the vinegar for extra citrusy sourness