PPPans

Interesting that you should mention this. There's a parallel discussion going on right now on the yahoogroups "Filipino Food Lovers". Is it the season for binatog right now? ← Ah, (qu)(k)iltiang mais for us Kapampangans. Same root, kulti. I can't find the English term for it. Apicio, HELP! And yes, only our white lacatang mais will do. Same with cooking suam. Here's some binatog/pamitak/kinulti/kiltiang mais for all of us -

Thanks Apicio! I asked my mom about nami and tugui. She doesn't know the former but tugui, according to her looks like a cross between camote and gabi. Seems to tally with your description. By the way, I started a thread about edible insects in 'Elsewhere in Asia/Pacific'. I thought of comparing species and cooking techniques across Southeast Asia but non-Southeast Asians are more than welcome to contribute to the discussion.

Oh, this looks good! One variation I'm familiar with is to cook with salted black beans.

To be honest, I'll need to find the Kapampangan names to know if I've eaten any Tugui and Nami. But the most basic recipe for root crops is boiled then eaten with sugar and grated coconut.

To be more precise on Filipino root crops: Scientific name / Common Name (English, Filipino) Ipomoea batatas Sweet potato (E), Kamote (F) Dioscorea alata Yam (E), Ubi (F) Dioscorea esculenta Tugui (F) Dioscorea hispida Nami (F) Manihot esculenta Cassava (E), Kamoteng kahoy (F) Colocasia esculenta Taro (E), Gabi (F) Maranta arundinacea Arrow root (E), Uraro (F) The above data is from a Philippine Department of Agriculture document.

Thanks for the thread Stef! I'll post the following on the tubers thread but since they are root crops eaten in the Philippines, I might as well cross-post here: Scientific name / Common Name (English, Filipino) Ipomoea batatas Sweet potato (E), Kamote (F) Dioscorea alata Yam (E), Ubi (F) Dioscorea esculenta Tugui (F) Dioscorea hispida Nami (F) Manihot esculenta Cassava (E), Kamoteng kahoy (F) Colocasia esculenta Taro (E), Gabi (F) Maranta arundinacea Arrow root (E), Uraro (F) The above data is from a Philippine Department of Agriculture document.

Since Stef pointed me to this thread, I'm posting a reference page from Cook's Thesaurus on tubers. English-Tagalog/Pampangueño names: sweet potatoes = camote/camuti cassava = camoteng kahoy/camuting dutung purple yam = ube/ubi taro = gabi/gandus

Ah, there they go again calling ube taro, hehehe! But interesting article! I wonder how the Chinese feel about Filipino lumpia and wouldn't it be more interesting if turon/lumpiang saging is brought there too? As for food non-Filipino friends raise their eyebrows at: perhaps I've been fortunate enough to have had very adventurous dining companions. They seem genuinely interested in how we eat. There's actually no issue with balut (but then, many of my friends have been all over Asia). They're even game enough to try broiled mudfish and steamed vegetables with tagilo/balo-balo/burong hipon (fermented rice and shrimp paste).

Stef, I think it's in the amount taken. More for severe attacks, I suppose. Hmmm... But yes, tell him to try it with honey first. Let's see if the experiment works, hehehe! Tinumis seems to be more from the Central Luzon Tagalogs. A blog reader from Nueva Ecija asked me for tinumis and I think it's indeed our tidtad. If without blood, for us it's kilayin or kilawin. Soba, you could be referring to longaniza.

To enjoy uric acid-rich Filipino food without much damage, my mom takes equal amounts of apple cider vinegar and honey (1 tbsp. each) diluted in a glass of water. Everyone who has tried it swears to its efficacy.

Stef, omitting offal significantly reduces the uric acid content of the dish. That's why some substitute other meats even if they still cook with blood. I've never had dinuguan with chicken or tofu though. I should try to cook it one of these days. Our version of dinuguan is called tidtad literally meaning 'chopped' in Kapampangan. The blood isn't mashed though, it's just sliced into tiny pieces. Ay! Perfect for the rainy season. Speaking of which, this month's theme for Lasang Pinoy, the monthly Filipino food blogging event, is Cooking Up a Storm. It's open to everyone, bloggers and non-bloggers alike. Edited to add the link for last month's Lasang Pinoy round-up. We had 36 entries with recipes ranging from laing, bico, turron to pancit Molo. We hope eGullet denizens can join this month's event.

Oh wow! This thread is jumping tonight (Philippine time)! This occurred to me just now. I wonder if the Brazo de Reina and Brazo de Mercedes were once the same Brazo de Reina Mercedes in the name of Alfonso XII's young queen who died in 1878. If we can trace when the these desserts appeared, perhaps we can solve the puzzle behind the names. I just remembered this because there's a Reina Mercedes town in Isabela and apparently, it was ecclesiastically separated from Cauayan in 1886 in honour of the late queen. Ok, will cross-post this on the LatAm-SouthAm thread. Mooshmouse, I've also had lumpiang saging with macapuno and I liked it too. Edited to say it's cross-posted now.

To add to what Stef said, ulam for Tagalogs is something savoury eaten with rice to make up a meal. I just wanted to be more specific because we recently found out that it is common to eat fruits with rice. Now we see another of those regional nuances. In Pampanga, sopas refer to milky soups usually with macaroni. "Native" soups like sinigang or tinola are referred to as sabo or sabaw in Tagalog. Both can be ulam if eaten with rice, as Stef mentioned. Is Brazo de Gitano similar to the Chileño Brazo de Reina? From the recipes I've seen, it's also similar to our Brazo de Mercedes except that it has flour instead of just meringue. The Mexican version is a tamal, on the other hand. Perhaps I should start a thread on the Latin American section. Below is a picture of Stel's version of Canonigo. More pictures and the recipe are on her blog.

Hi Mooshmouse! Is that a picture of the turron mansanas? I should add this to the list of Filipino adaptations abroad. I only have pears in the house today, will try to find apples later. This would also go well with vanilla ice cream, like the turron a la mode in many Manila restaurants nowadays. Some even sprinkle some sesame seeds on top. Don't forget about macapuno in halo-halo! Apicio, I wonder if the organism(s) that affect the coconut tree to bear macapuno are endemic to the Philippines or if macapuno in other places are just ignored. Hmmm... I wonder how much research has been done on macapuno. I've never had green papaya in escabeche before. I might as well try it too. Right now, I'm trying to psych up myself for an escabeche with avocado, a South American recipe I saw and lost a long time back. Escabeche float? Hehehe, that conjures an image of a beverage but with escabeche as base. In Tagalog, was it karong escabeche? I better take note of what we feed the Stabat Mater cantors for the Good Friday procession. Who knows if they name the procession after what they eat?

Adapted to our local taste also means it has some variations not unlike Oriental sweet & sour recipes.

Oh, so there's a Filipino-Canadian turron/lumpiang mansanas? I can imagine a good cooking apple's texture to be similar to an almost ripe saba banana's. You're right, the turron saging seems a unique Filipino innovation.

Hi Piazzola, We might have to move to another thread on food and culture if you wish to pursue this topic but I'll reply here first. Records would show that the Spanish officials had a long debate if they were to impose a uniform language and they concluded that the Philippines would be much easier to conquer if that happened. For many points in time, there were many outside threats to Spanish rule from the Chinese, the Dutch and the British. There was also the internal insurrection to speak of. You see, multiple languages are spoken in the archipelago, not just dialects. One language to unite the population would then be dangerous to colonial rule. As for the resentment, it really goes deep because first, there were grave abuses from the Spaniards. Unlike Latin American colonies, many who were sent to this far-off land seem to have been those who were 'rejects' or people of questionable character to begin with. And then of course, the mainstream of present-day Latin America is mestizo culture which is very, very different from the Philippines. You can detect the strong Spanish influence in many facets of our lives such as in religion but deep inside, we're still of the East, no matter how other Asians dispute that.

Piazzola, Off-topic now but a cultural note: In the Filipinos' common consciousness, any western white person is a "Kano" or American, they being our last colonial masters. The rolling 'r' can't be bastardised Irish-English because like Cuba, we were only very briefly part of the British Empire - during the years 1762-1763. Their presence was hardly felt, an Irish influence much less. I'm not sure what you mean with your last sentence. But if you were not impressed by the people's inability to speak Spanish, that's because it was never the country's lingua franca. Even at the height of the Spanish occupation, only 10% of the populace could speak it, unlike the colonies in Latin America. Ah... but when it comes to food, it's different. Edited to say a very well-meaning person called my attention thinking the above is an irked reply. Pardon my language if it seems terse but I didn't mean it that way.

To chime in on Filipino empanadas, there are indeed different varieties of sweet and savoury. But the sweet ones are usually smaller and called empanaditas with fillings of jam and/or custard. There are two very well-known native adaptations, the Ilocano empanada and the Kapampangan Christmas 'panara. Both are made from a dough of ground rice, have vegetable fillings such as bean sprouts (Ilocos) and grated green papaya (Pampanga), bits of longanisa and raw eggs, then deep-fried or baked.

Ah, how interesting! Thanks for that info, Apicio! That reminds me of our asan, which is Kapampangan for ulam but we use it to mean fish too. If we wish to distinguish fish with ulam, the former becomes asan danum - danum meaning water. Always interesting to do a bit of anthropology! Will we create a culinary map? I'm game, just tell me what to do!

On dinengdeng and inabraw, some Ilocana bloggers say it's practically the same. My theory is it may be, perhaps same dish with different names from different Ilocano provinces - just like how in the same province, Kapampangans call buro tagilo and balo-balo. What does Ms. Cordero-Fernando say? On Mariano Henson's cookbook, I'll check with the Center for Kapampangan Studies if it was published and get back to you on that. Desserts! Yes, you just succeeded in making my mouth water, Apicio! Interestingly, I was telling my mom the other day how I only encountered the term 'turon saging' in Manila because it goes by the name 'lumpiang saguin' in Pampanga. 'Turon' for us only means 'turrones de casoy' and further reinforced because one of the original makers are our neighbours!

Oh, how about the cocido which ranges from nilaga to sinigang? Apicio, perhaps we can start that culinary map as a new thread? I'm sure many eGullet Filipinos will have a lot to contribute.

I agree! There are everyday versions for dishes. The basic afritada is livened up with added ingredients for a special occasion. There's also an everyday kare-kare. We also have a paksiw na pata which is for ordinary days and a lengua estofado like what Apicio mentioned. Wouldn't it be wonderful to do a taxonomy of Philippine cuisine?

There is actually a Kapampangan humba (and it's pronounced 'umba' hehehe!) which is much closer to the Tagalog. No banana blossoms, no saba bananas. It does have black beans, sanque (star anise), cloves and a bit of canela (cinnamon bark, never powder). It's marinated and parboiled on the first day, steeped and covered in a clay pot, simmered on the second day. The proper way of cooking it takes at least five days when the pork is well-cured and melts in the mouth.

Ah so there! Thanks Apicio! Do you have the other terms? I remember they were around four or five, if I'm not mistaken. Even the term merienda is precisely for the afternoon snack. I am not sure if it's the same case in Tagalog, but the morning snack is minindal in Kapampangan. My grandmother used to bristle at us if we interchanged the terms. Hmmm... one thing about Filipino food is that we'll have to be very conscious of the regional variations and terms. Perhaps linaga is from a southern Tagalog dialect? Unlike the French and other cuisines that descended from the royal courts, our recipes have not been standardised for the whole archipelago. Notice how the Visayan humba is paksiw na pata in the Tagalog region.