''Silog'' is a class of Filipino breakfast dishes containing '' sinangag'' (fried rice) and ''itlog'' (egg; in context, fried egg). They are served with various

viand A cuisine is a style of cooking characterized by distinctive ingredients, List of cooking techniques, techniques and dish (food), dishes, and usually associated with a specific culture or geographic region. Regional food preparation techniques ...

s or ''ulam'', usually meat dishes such as tapa, longganisa or ham. The name of the accompanying meat dish determines the portmanteau name of the ''silog''; for example, the former three would be known as

tapsilog ''Silog'' is a class of Filipino breakfast dishes containing ''sinangag'' (fried rice) and ''itlog'' (egg; in context, fried egg). They are served with various viands or ''ulam'', usually meat dishes such as tapa, longganisa or ham. The name of th ...

, longsilog, and hamsilog.

History

The first type of silog to be named as such was the ''

''. It was originally intended to be quick

breakfast Breakfast is the first meal of the day usually eaten in the morning. The word in English refers to breaking the fasting period of the previous night.Anderson, Heather Arndt (2013)''Breakfast: A History'' AltaMira Press. Various "typical" or "t ...

or late-night hangover fare. It developed from ''tapsi'', which referred to meals of beef ''tapa'' and ''sinangag'' with no fried egg explicitly mentioned, and diners which mainly or exclusively served such meals were called ''tapahan'' or ''tapsihan'' in Filipino. The term ''tapsilog'' was originally established in the 1980s and came from the Tapsi ni Vivian ("Vivian's Tapsi") restaurant in Marikina. According to Vivian del Rosario, owner of Tapsi ni Vivian, she was the first to use the term ''tapsilog''. Due to the popularity of this type of cuisine in the Philippines, some restaurants,

fast food Fast food is a type of mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. It is a commercial term, limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheated or precooked ingredien ...

chains such as Jollibee and McDonald's Philippines and even hotels have included silogs on their breakfast menus, and some restaurants and fast food chains like Tapa King and Rufo's Famous Tapa exclusively or mainly serve this type of dish. Some diners like the first Tapsi ni Vivian in Marikina and Rodic's Diner in the University of the Philippines Diliman campus in Quezon City have also opened other branches after becoming recognized for their silog dishes.

Types of silog

Following the development of ''

'', many other types of silog have been created, all based around garlic-fried rice and fried egg, and

suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns, adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can carry ...

ed with ''-silog''. Due to the malleable nature of the dish, basically anything can be silog if served with fried rice and fried egg. Abbreviated examples (in alphabetical order) commonly seen in silog eateries and restaurants include: * ''Adosilog'' – adobo, fried rice and fried egg. * ''Bacsilog'' or ''baconsilog'' –

bacon Bacon is a type of salt-cured pork made from various cuts, typically the belly or less fatty parts of the back. It is eaten as a side dish (particularly in breakfasts), used as a central ingredient (e.g., the bacon, lettuce, and tomato sand ...

, fried rice and fried egg. * ''Bisteksilog'' –

beef steak A beefsteak, often called just steak, is a flat cut of beef with parallel faces, usually cut perpendicular to the muscle fibers. In common restaurant service a single serving has a raw mass ranging from . Beef steaks are usually grilled, pan ...

, fried rice and fried egg. * ''Daingsilog'' – '' daing na isda'' (dried fish), fried rice and fried egg. ** ''Bangsilog'' – dried ('' daing''), marinated ''bangus'' ( milkfish), fried rice and fried egg. ** ''Dangsilog'' – ''daing na danggit'' (dried rabbitfish), fried rice and fried egg. * ''Chiksilog'' or ''noksilog'' –

fried chicken Fried chicken, also known as Southern fried chicken, is a dish consisting of chicken pieces that have been coated with seasoned flour or batter and pan-fried, deep fried, pressure fried, or air fried. The breading adds a crisp coating or ...

(''piniritong manok'' or ''pritong manok''), fried rice and fried egg. * ''Chosilog'' –

chorizo Chorizo (, from Spanish ; similar to but distinct from Portuguese ) is a type of pork cured meat originating from the Iberian Peninsula. In Europe, chorizo is a fermented, cured, smoked meat, which may be sliced and eaten without cooking, or ...

, fried rice and fried egg. * ''Cornsilog'' –

corned beef Corned beef, or salt beef in some of the Commonwealth of Nations, is Salt-cured meat, salt-cured brisket of beef. The term comes from the treatment of the meat with large-grained rock salt, also called "corns" of salt. Sometimes, sugar and sp ...

, fried rice and fried egg. * ''Hotsilog'' – hot dog, fried rice and fried egg. * ''Litsilog'' or ''lechonsilog'' – '' lechon'' or ''

lechon kawali ''Lechon kawali'', also known as ''lechon de carajay'' or ''litsong kawali'' in Tagalog, is a Filipino recipe consisting of pork belly slabs deep-fried in a pan or wok (''kawali''). It is seasoned beforehand, cooked then served in cubes. It ...

'', fried rice and fried egg. * ''Longsilog'' – '' longganisa'', fried rice and fried egg. * ''Masilog'' or ''malingsilog'' - Ma-Ling brand Chinese luncheon meat, fried rice and fried egg. * ''Porksilog'' – pork chop, fried rice and fried egg. * ''Sisilog -'' '' sisig'', fried rice and fried egg. * ''Spamsilog'' –

Spam Spam may refer to: * Spam (food), a canned pork meat product * Spamming, unsolicited or undesired electronic messages ** Email spam, unsolicited, undesired, or illegal email messages ** Messaging spam, spam targeting users of instant messaging ( ...

brand luncheon meat, fried rice and fried egg. * ''Tosilog'' or ''tocilog'' – ''

tocino Tocino is bacon in Spanish, typically made from the pork belly and often formed into cubes in Spain. In Caribbean countries, such as Puerto Rico and Cuba, ''tocino'' is made from pork fatback and is neither cured nor smoked but simply fried un ...

'', fried rice and fried egg. Beef ''pares'', another common Filipino short-order diner dish, may sometimes be known as "paresilog", "paressilog", etc. if served with a fried egg, since both dishes traditionally include fried rice. There is a similar dish from Malaysia, the

nasi lemak ''Nasi lemak'' is a dish originating in Malay cuisine that consists of fragrant rice cooked in coconut milk and pandan leaf. It is commonly found in Malaysia, where it is considered the national dish. It is also the native dish in neighbouri ...

, which is served in a variety of manners using meat, egg and rice with

coconut milk Coconut milk is an opaque, milky-white liquid extracted from the grated pulp of mature coconuts. The opacity and rich taste of coconut milk are due to its high oil content, most of which is saturated fat. Coconut milk is a traditional food i ...

. While a proper silog has ''sinangag'' or fried rice, some diners have tried passing off the "si" in silog to stand for ''sinaing'', plain boiled rice, in order to cut costs. Sometimes the boiled rice is topped with fried garlic flakes and passed off as "garlic rice", though the term "garlic rice" is properly understood as rice stir-fried with garlic. More honest places will call this "kalog", from ''kanin'', the general term for cooked rice. It is also possible to come across "silog" as its own menu option which is just fried rice and egg. If one wishes an additional fried egg, the order may sometimes have an additional "log"; i.e., tapsilog with extra egg is "tapsilog''log''", etc. and this may be extended ad infinitum.

References

{{Rice dishes Philippine rice dishes

History

Types of silog

See also

References