Pork Fat of the Heavens

For most Pampangos, tocino is cured pork, but many old families all over the province have a recipe for a rich flan made with egg yolks, butter, and sugar called tocino del cielo [probable translation, “pork fat of the heavens”]. The flan does not take much technique or skill, but seems to have disappeared from the popular compendium of Pampango recipes. The procedure is fairly straightforward and holds no secrets, yet the few families that still make this recipe say theirs is the original. Perhaps the previous generation of cooks kept this popular dessert such a secret that they have taken the recipe to their graves.