HOME MADE TAPA

Traditional Tapa is dried or cured beef, mutton or venison. Filipinos prepare thin slices of meat and cure it with salt and spices as a method of preserving it. Tapa is best fried or grilled, often served with rice, fried egg and achara (pickled raw papaya strips).

Tapsilog is the term used when tapa, garlic-fried rice (sinangag), and fried egg (itlog) are combined into one meal, which is served primarily during breakfast. The word tapa is related to the Sanskrit term tapas which means "heat".

In Tagalog, a restaurant that primarily serves tapa is called a tapahan, tapsihan or tapsilugan. Tapsilog and tapsihan are colloquial slang words. However, these terms are used by those restaurants and many Filipinos of all social strata. Tapsilog and tapsihan, therefore, may be considered standard words in the Filipino language rather than slang.