Filipino Food Is Fantastic!

[Apicio]

Siopao is the Philippine version of the dimsum item called char chiu bao. They are steamed and are usually the size of hamburger or kaiser buns filled with either chicken or pork cooked in a sweetish thick gravy and dotted with slices of chinese sausage and a wedges of hard boiled egg. They are usually served paired with a bowl of noodle soup. During my university days (in the 60s) there were three preeminent siopao restaurants in downtown Manila you can go to. One was Hen Wa on Rizal Avenue and the other was the unforgettable Ma Mon Luk which first popularized this pairing and in fact served these two items exclusively for a long time right before and after the Pacific War. The third one was called Charlie’s which was famous for their beef mami (noodle soup) and beef siopao. The place was right accross the Manila Times offices in Florentino Torres. You can also pick them up from street vendors late at night but I resisted buying these because of doubtful provenance (and hygiene).

Begging your pardon for overlapping some of the previous replies.

[prasantrin]

My favorite dishes are tocino, adobo, longanisa, siopao and siomai (but that's really Chinese, though?), champorado, fish balls, chicharron bulaklak, pancit in its infinite permutations, balut, turon, puto bungbung, gulaman at sago, bibingka, lechon/lechon paksiw, IUD (grilled chicken intestines, and I haven't had them in YEARS...),  sinigang ng bangus, nilaga, daing ng bangus, diniguan and puto, camaron rebosado, menudo, and I think I better stop before I make myself too hungry...

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Tocino is my favourite Filipino breakfast! I like longanisa, too, but only particular ones. I also like Filipino-style chorizo. I've never particularly cared for pancit, but love lechon and the big fried pork hock--can't remember what it's called now. Crispy pata? I love fried bangus, but only if it's from the fatty stomach part.

Sans Rival is still my favourite Filipino dessert, though, even though it's not really filipino. Brazo de Mercedes is my mother's favourite.

I was thinking...I think Filipino food is much better known in Canada than in the US. In places like Winnipeg, which has a huge Filipino population, there are plenty of cheap Filipino restaurants. The other day my mother and I were at a Filipino buffet, and most of the people eating there were caucasian.

[touaregsand]

Hi again Prasantrin-

I got a hold of my mom and asked her about the gata savory dishes.  She said there was one other coconut dish that my grandmother made called Ginat-an : Jackfruit, coconut milk, beans, pork...  This might be another Bicolano dish, but my mom swears that the rest of my Visayan family makes it.

As far as the family names go, she knows a Tutay Kilayko (one of the deans @ ONI... now UNO).  Also, my uncle... Rudy Ramirez... knew alot of the Kilayko family.

My mother is good friends with someone from Talisay... Ciocon family.

Do any of the following family names ring any bells?  Ramirez, Larracas, Genise

Raquel-

Do you have any reccomendations for LA eateries. I know there are places in Eagle Rock, Glendale and K-Town.

[Stagiaire]

Here's my take on why Filipino food hasn't really taken off outside of the Philippines, actually a confluence of factors:

1) Philippine cuisine is primarily "peasant food" but not in a pejorative sense. Unlike other Asian countries witha history of "elevated" cuisine from which to draw inspiration for restaurant style food (i.e. Imperial/Royal cuisines of China, Thailand, Japan, etc.), Philippine cuisine simply evolved from everyday cooking of the common folk. Everything is served family style with nary a thought given to presentation. It is actually not presentation friendly.

2) Most of the dishes are braises and stews or other heavily sauced dishes. And the sauces, for the most part, are very runny/liquid. This makes the dishes hard to plate, especially for individual service (vs. family style). At the end of the day, plating is not really a part of the food culture.

3) Rice is a major part of a Filipino meal. Filipino food actually is seasoned aggressively due to the fact that rice will be eaten with all the dishes. This adds an additional dimension to difficulty in plating...having to serve a separate bowl of rice or having that same glob of rice on every plate doesn't quite lend itself to fine dining.

4) Even in the Philippines, there are very few examples of local fine dining restaurants, I guess for the most part due to the reasons stated above. It then makes it hard to "export" something that you do not really have to begin with. For the most part, Filipinos east Filipino food at home, and go out to have Thai, Japanese, Chinese, French, etc.

5) Philippine cuisine itself isn't as "Asian" as the rest of its Asian neighbors. Normally Asian food is characterized by light, bright, refreshing food. Filipino food goes against that notion and is thus harder to qualify. The influence of the Spanish who occupied the Philippines for 400 years is very evident in the cuisine, and a Asians actually find it more Western than Asian although it has some similarity to Malay cuisine.

6) At the end of the day, again due to the reasons above, most restaurants opened outside of the Philippines cater mostly to the Filipinos in the area and tend to be downmarket. Cendrillon might be an exception but I don't really consider Cendrillon to be authentic despite what (Gary) Barawidan states several pages back. I actually worked with him at some point (and we've actually had this discussion) and know that he's born and raised in NY so his reference is Filipino food in NY.

I believe that 2 things need to happen before Filipino food goes mainstream (1) first it must go through a process of refinement which is slowly happening now in the Philippines (in the past few years, a whole generation of Filipino youngsters have gone to cooking schools all over the world, learned french technique for the most part and are now applying it to Filipino cuisine...no more boiling to death as is normally the case...simmering is beginning to enter the culinary vocabulary). A Filipino restaurant rennaissance has been taking place in Manila (the capital of the Philippines) and Filipino food has never been better nor more exciting. (2) a lot more thought must be put into presentation (especially in the prep phase where it would actually make the most impact on plating) before its ready for its international debut. And I say this because admittedly Filipino food is hard to appreciate from a non-Filipino perspective. (I can explain this further if it doesn't quite make sense to you)

Somewhere on the 2nd page, SKChai makes sense of all of this and I wholeheartedly agree with him.

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A few comments on several other posts:

Soba,

- "adobong rellenong" isn't a dish. I think what you were trying to get at was Adobong Manok which is chicken adobo. You might be confusing it with Rellenong Manok. Manok = Chicken, Relleno = reference to a ground stuffing preparation.

- The indian version of adobo (with coconut milk) you refer to is actually an adobo variation from the south (Bicol and Visayas, I think) and has it's influences coming more from Malaysia and Indonesia rather than India.

- The peeled hard boiled egg is usually a component of another (though similar looking) dish called asado. At least that's what I've seen.

===

Pan and others,

- ube is actually purple yam and it has more in common with Camote/Kamote than potatoes or taro.

===

oh, and the correct terms and spellings are Philippine, Philippines, and Filipino.

[Apicio]

Thanks to stagiare for doing the bulk of the analyzing for me. Although it has puzzled me since I started thinking about food, I have not really sat down and fleshed it out like you have done. I simply chalked it to: 1. We have not really worked on the style side of presentation;

2. The better dishes are labour intensive; 3. We are not chauvinists. The Filipinos community is a very open and welcoming group even when it comes to food; we travel to and settle in other places but hardly ever wither in the absence of our every-day food (say unlike the Japanese, for example). But the more important question for me (and here I know I am going on a tangent), is why does Filipino cuisine have to go mainstream in the first place? I shall keep it to myself if I happened to hit upon the mother load. It bugged me no end when my Filipino customers rave about my empanada because their friends liked them. Why does our food have to be validated by others before we begin to think better of it? Specially by the mainstream that presumambly allowed the proliferation of McDonalds, Burger Kings and Krispy Kremes around the globe.

[prasantrin]

But the more important question for me (and here I know I am going on a tangent), is why does Filipino cuisine have to go mainstream in the first place?  I shall keep it to myself if I happened to hit upon the mother load.  It bugged me no end when my Filipino customers rave about my empanada because their  friends liked them.  Why does our food have to be validated by others before we begin to think better of it? 

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I don't think it has to go mainstream, but perhaps the desire to have it go mainstream is a result of that subconscious inferiority complex that so many Filipinos have. There used to be a joke going around BBS about different Asian ethnicities..."You know you're [fill in the ethnicity] when you..." All the other ethnicities ended with something like "...when you think you're the best in the world" but the Filipino one ended with something like, "...when you want to be American." Having people enjoy Filipino cuisine is one way Filipinos can feel better about their culture--it seems to me that so few (in or outside the Philippines) really do.

About food...would you like to share your empanada recipe? I'm still looking for a good one!

[Apicio]

To prasantrin, I refer you to a recent thread titled Empanada and another older thread about dan tarts (chinese custard tartlets) where I posted our puff pastry crust recipe. When you are ready to try them, pm me and I shall walk you through it.

Further to the restaurant topic, I recall an article about a second generation Chinese American with an Ivy League pedigree asking her dad why he went into the restaurant business probably wanting to confirm her romantic assumption that it was a longing for the food he had known as a child but instead received a frank reply that it was to make a living. The food business is a toilsome craft (un metier penible), most Filipino immigrants anywhere in the world have more than a passing acquaintance with the English language (part of our not being chauvinist, no doubt) with them and thus have more choices about the way they are going to make their way in the new world they have chosen. The other groups dont have as much.

[Stagiaire]

...most Filipino immigrants anywhere in the world have more than a passing acquaintance with the English language (part of our not being chauvinist, no doubt) with them and thus have more choices about the way they are going to make their way in the new world they have chosen.  The other groups dont have as much.

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I really don't think it's that simple. With the current pay scales in the Philippines, place, harldy anyone can get ahead working in the food industry. Working your way up in that industry is simply unheard of. Of course there are exceptions to that rule, but for the most part, that's the reality. The only way of making money in food is owning the restaurant/business. So those migrating for financial reasons would not be coming from that subset of society who are in the food profession (as they wouldn't have the finances to migrate). Those of means who choose the profession would normally either hire cooks to man their kitchen and just go on and manage the business, or those who want to be a bit more involved go to the US and France to get their culinary degrees, stage or work a year or two or three, but then go back home and open their restaurants. So there aren't too many that migrate to open restaurants, especially those that are in pursuit of gastronomy as against getting into the food business a basic form of livelihood.

An example of this is that while I was doing my stage at Per Se, there was only one other Filipino in the kitchen who was born and raised in the Philippines. The chefs would always kid around that we were there doing due diligence in preparatation to actually buying Per Se at some point. They would always point to our knife rolls filled with Masamotos and Misono UX-10s and to the fact that we were the only two people in the kitchen who didn't think twice about wearing Rolexes in the kitchen (no they were clearly not of the bling bling variety). I would like to think that the initial fear of Filipino spoiled brats running amock in the kitchen gave way to acceptance mainly because they realised that we weren't there for the benefit of our resumes or for financial gain (we weren't paid) but simply because we were motivated by nothing other than passion for food. But I digress. A lot.

Also, much like other third world countries, the social structure is best depicted by a very steep triangle where the top 10% represents the number of people controlling the 90% of the country's wealth while the bottom 90% would have to make do with sharing the balance of 10% of the country's wealth. This then leads to a society which is the farthest thing from egalitarian. It's almost as though that society has accepted this and the mantra seems to be "No, not everybody is created equal." Sad, really. Anyway, against that backdrop, historically there simply aren't that many "haves" who would considering toiling in a kitchen to make food for others. Owning it, sure, but working in the kitchen, hardly. On the other hand, the "have nots" who are in the kitchens have no need to refine the cuisine. What for? It tastes good. That's all you want food to be. Besides they have other problems to worry about other than making something, which will be consumed in 10 minutes anyway, look pretty. I know this sounds harsh but if you've been to Manila in the past decade, you would know that to be true. But then again, things are changing. With more Filipinos travelling, some migrants coming back home, the internet, TV and all that (Food Network is now shown in Manila too!), the acceptance of food as a professional pursuit has been gaining acceptance. As a matter of fact, in the past 5 years or so, at least two culinary schools have been set up in Manila.

If you go back to Manila these days, you will sense a sort of revolution in Philippine cuisine. The Filipinos who have gone to culinary school in the past 8 or so years have now reached the point where they have matured as chefs and earned the discipline to run a proper kitchen (juxtaposed to the first wave of these "new" Filipino restaurants basically run by kids fresh out of CIA without much kitchen experience....needless to say, being there wasn't much of a dining experience and most of them were boarded up in no time). The process of refinement I was referring to earlier is well its way.

Although there isn't anything near fine dining yet in the true sense of the word, I think it's on the right path....it will only be a matter of time...

Sorry for the long stream of consciousness post...just had to throw it out there....

[Apicio]

I am grateful for your thoughtful and though provoking post stagiaire. My quote was not clear enough though. What I meant is that because of the relative facility with the English language of most Filipino immigrants, they find a much easier way to earn a living than going into the food business. It was a propos that that I added a comment about the challenges facing a person running a food business.

[prasantrin]

...most Filipino immigrants anywhere in the world have more than a passing acquaintance with the English language (part of our not being chauvinist, no doubt) with them and thus have more choices about the way they are going to make their way in the new world they have chosen.  The other groups dont have as much.

←

I really don't think it's that simple. With the current pay scales in the Philippines, place, harldy anyone can get ahead working in the food industry. Working your way up in that industry is simply unheard of. Of course there are exceptions to that rule, but for the most part, that's the reality. The only way of making money in food is owning the restaurant/business. So those migrating for financial reasons would not be coming from that subset of society who are in the food profession (as they wouldn't have the finances to migrate).

I think perhaps I interpreted Apicio's post differently. I thought what he was saying was that the average Filipino immigrant, because of having greater ability to speak English, was able to get more work outside the food service industry. To me, the average Filipino immigrant is one of the greater 90% of the population which controls a mere 10% of the wealth. In Canada, at least initially, the average Filipino immigrant was an English-speaking skilled worker. At first it was garment factory workers, and later nurses. These people came with job offers in their fields. I think this agrees with what Apicio was saying. Initially, at least, Filipino immigrants were able to avoid working in the food industry because they a) could speak English and b) had skills which allowed them better paying, higher status positions. In my experience, not a lot of Filipinos from that upper class would even bother to emigrate--why would they when they had far more power and more status in the Philippines than they would anywhere else in the world?

Also, much like other third world countries, the social structure is best depicted by a very steep triangle where the top 10% represents the number of people controlling the 90% of the country's wealth while the bottom 90% would have to make do with sharing the balance of 10% of the country's wealth. This then leads to  a society which is the farthest thing from egalitarian. It's almost as though that society has accepted this and the mantra seems to be "No, not everybody is created equal." Sad, really. Anyway, against that backdrop, historically there simply aren't that many "haves" who would considering toiling in a kitchen to make food for others. Owning it, sure, but working in the kitchen, hardly. 

Ain't that the truth! Many of those "haves" also don't have a lot of experience eating or cooking Filipino food on a regular basis. My mother comes from a family of "haves" (though her immediate line is probably in the bottom of that upper 10%) and she didn't even learn to cook until she was married and living in the US (she was 29...). She also remembers the family cook making more European-style foods than anything else. They were even eating pizza in the 40's or 50's and were drinking Spanish-style hot chocolate made with freshly roasted cacao beans. I also remember her once saying that foods like mongo and pancit were, more or less, peasant foods (though she denies ever saying that). "Haves" would certainly never want to do anything that might associate them with the "have nots." When those who have the power to promote Filipino foods have disdain for, or prejudice against, those very foods, they are not going to do a very good job of promoting them.

If you go back to Manila these days, you will sense a sort of revolution in Philippine cuisine. The Filipinos who have gone to culinary school in the past 8 or so years have now reached the point where they have matured as chefs and earned the discipline to run a proper kitchen  (juxtaposed to the first wave of these "new" Filipino restaurants basically run by kids fresh out of CIA without much kitchen experience....needless to say, being there wasn't much of a dining experience and most of them were boarded up in no time). The process of refinement I was referring to earlier is well its way.

Although there isn't anything near fine dining yet in the true sense of the word, I think it's on the right path....it will only be a matter of time...

Sorry for the long stream of consciousness post...just had to throw it out there....

←

One of my cousins (second cousin, actually) is hoping to open a high-end Filipino restaurant in the Phil. sometime in the future. In his current position, though he has nothing to do with the kitchen, he has the ability to promote Filipino food to the upper class masses of the world, and he would like to do the same in the Philippines. Plus his immediate branch of the family is probably in the upper 1 or 2% of the upper 10%, so he can afford to do it. He's actually one of the few Filipinos I've met who is really proud to be Filipino--and not in a bravado kind of way.

[SuzySushi]

...most Filipino immigrants anywhere in the world have more than a passing acquaintance with the English language (part of our not being chauvinist, no doubt) with them and thus have more choices about the way they are going to make their way in the new world they have chosen.  The other groups dont have as much.

←

I really don't think it's that simple. With the current pay scales in the Philippines, place, harldy anyone can get ahead working in the food industry. Working your way up in that industry is simply unheard of. Of course there are exceptions to that rule, but for the most part, that's the reality. The only way of making money in food is owning the restaurant/business. So those migrating for financial reasons would not be coming from that subset of society who are in the food profession (as they wouldn't have the finances to migrate).

I think perhaps I interpreted Apicio's post differently. I thought what he was saying was that the average Filipino immigrant, because of having greater ability to speak English, was able to get more work outside the food service industry. To me, the average Filipino immigrant is one of the greater 90% of the population which controls a mere 10% of the wealth. In Canada, at least initially, the average Filipino immigrant was an English-speaking skilled worker. At first it was garment factory workers, and later nurses. These people came with job offers in their fields. I think this agrees with what Apicio was saying. Initially, at least, Filipino immigrants were able to avoid working in the food industry because they a) could speak English and b) had skills which allowed them better paying, higher status positions. In my experience, not a lot of Filipinos from that upper class would even bother to emigrate--why would they when they had far more power and more status in the Philippines than they would anywhere else in the world?

Also, much like other third world countries, the social structure is best depicted by a very steep triangle where the top 10% represents the number of people controlling the 90% of the country's wealth while the bottom 90% would have to make do with sharing the balance of 10% of the country's wealth. This then leads to  a society which is the farthest thing from egalitarian. It's almost as though that society has accepted this and the mantra seems to be "No, not everybody is created equal." Sad, really. Anyway, against that backdrop, historically there simply aren't that many "haves" who would considering toiling in a kitchen to make food for others. Owning it, sure, but working in the kitchen, hardly. 

Ain't that the truth! Many of those "haves" also don't have a lot of experience eating or cooking Filipino food on a regular basis. My mother comes from a family of "haves" (though her immediate line is probably in the bottom of that upper 10%) and she didn't even learn to cook until she was married and living in the US (she was 29...). She also remembers the family cook making more European-style foods than anything else. They were even eating pizza in the 40's or 50's and were drinking Spanish-style hot chocolate made with freshly roasted cacao beans. I also remember her once saying that foods like mongo and pancit were, more or less, peasant foods (though she denies ever saying that). "Haves" would certainly never want to do anything that might associate them with the "have nots." When those who have the power to promote Filipino foods have disdain for, or prejudice against, those very foods, they are not going to do a very good job of promoting them.

If you go back to Manila these days, you will sense a sort of revolution in Philippine cuisine. The Filipinos who have gone to culinary school in the past 8 or so years have now reached the point where they have matured as chefs and earned the discipline to run a proper kitchen  (juxtaposed to the first wave of these "new" Filipino restaurants basically run by kids fresh out of CIA without much kitchen experience....needless to say, being there wasn't much of a dining experience and most of them were boarded up in no time). The process of refinement I was referring to earlier is well its way.

Although there isn't anything near fine dining yet in the true sense of the word, I think it's on the right path....it will only be a matter of time...

Sorry for the long stream of consciousness post...just had to throw it out there....

←

One of my cousins (second cousin, actually) is hoping to open a high-end Filipino restaurant in the Phil. sometime in the future. In his current position, though he has nothing to do with the kitchen, he has the ability to promote Filipino food to the upper class masses of the world, and he would like to do the same in the Philippines. Plus his immediate branch of the family is probably in the upper 1 or 2% of the upper 10%, so he can afford to do it. He's actually one of the few Filipinos I've met who is really proud to be Filipino--and not in a bravado kind of way.

←

Interesting thoughts. I can see all these points.

Here in Hawaii, the emigrant Filipino society seems very much divided between the "haves" -- professionals, not only nurses, but doctors and our former governor -- and the "have nots" -- service workers like gardeners and hotel maids.

Strangely, though, none of the "haves" I've met (including the former governor) seemed like snobs. And some, I know, do cook Filipino food. A prominent woman doctor even gave a public demonstration a few years ago of how to make some Filipino sweets (purple rice & coconut milk).

[Stagiaire]

I'm sorry, I never meant to imply that the "haves" do not eat Filipino food. They do, of course. And quite often Filipino food is what's served in most homes on a daily basis. The cooking part though is another thing altogether. Most if not all of them have household help, including cooks. The thinking, I guess, is why reinvent the wheel when your cook could probably cook the stuff better than you ever can.

I've been trying to do my share in promoting Philippine cuisine myself. In restaurants I've worked in, I've always brought ingredients which I think the chefs would appreciate if only they were familiar with it. I noticed that chefs both in the sweet and savory sides tend to like Philippine ingredients, even if just for the sheer uniqueness of it. The hits usually are ube/purple yam, calamansi, dalandan, tamarind leaves, and crab butter (taba ng talangka). All of these ingredients were used at Per Se sometime last year while I was there. I just noticed thought that the Pastry Chefs were more eager to incorporate the ingredients into their repertoir although the crab fat was used for several lobster dishes at some point.

JB even asked me to prepare staff meal for the entire PM shift one sunday. He specifically asked for adobo. The funny thing was, due to the ingredients I had to work with, that was the one of the most awesome Filipino meals I've ever had. The pork was marinated overnight and was cooked in the combi. It was later fried just to give it an exterior crunch. As I was given carte blanche (for the most part) in terms of raiding the larder, well, let me tell you that adobo made with Pe Se veal stock and pork cuisson (instead of water) to go with the vinegar and soy sauce makes for an out of this world adobo. Instead of using small shrimp as is commonly done in Manila for this shrimp and garlic dish called Gambas (actually a Spanish adaptation) we had to use lobster claws as we don't normally have shrimp at Per Se. On and on it went...lentils for mung beans (monggo), and salmon and cod as well as pedigreed vegetables (you know, Tokyo turnips, King James Leeks, etc.) for the sinigang...I tell you, it doesn't get much better than that!

---

edited for spelling

Edited July 18, 2005 by Stagiaire (log)

[Stagiaire]

I am grateful for your thoughtful and though provoking post stagiaire.  My quote was not clear enough though.  What I meant  is that because of the relative facility with the English language of most Filipino immigrants, they find a much easier way to earn a living than going into the food business.  It was a propos that that I added a comment about the challenges facing a person running a food business.

←

Sorry, I wasn't meaning to contradict or argue, but rather add to and explain further. What I should have added is that migrant workers tend to be from the fields of nursing, IT, and the sciences. People working in the food industry by default and not by choice normally do not have the means to migrate thus supporting your theory....

[Apicio]

"JB even asked me to prepare staff meal for the entire PM shift one sunday. He specifically asked for adobo. The funny thing was, due to the ingredients I had to work with, that was the most awesome Filipino meal I've ever had. The pork was marinated overnight and was cooked in the combi. It was later fried just to give it an exterior crunch. As I was given carte blanche (for the most part) in terms of raiding the larder, well, let me tell you that adobo made with Pe Se veal stock and pok ciusson (instead of water) to go with the vinegar and soy sauce makes for an out of this world adobo. Instead of using small shrimp as is commonly done in Manila for this shrimp and garlic dish called Gambas (actually a Spanish adaptation) we had to use lobster claws as we don't normally have shrimp at Per Se. On and on it went...lentils for mung beans (monggo), and salmon and cod as well as pedigreed vegetables (you know, Tokyo turnips, King James Leeks, etc.) for the sinigang...I tell you, it doesn't get much better than that!"

Now that’s what I would call my “repas imaginaire” for a last meal request or even for hereafter. Filipino food prepared with care and imagination by a competent and intelligent cook using the best ingredients that ample resources can assemble. In fact that’s just what I noticed when invited to dine in affluent homes in the Philippines. The dishes they serve are more or less the same ones a trained and resourceful housewife would serve except that the freshness and extraordinary quality of the ingredients used and the care with which they were prepared and served kicked them up several notches to the ideal height they so well deserve. My experience might very well be unique but Filipino food snobbery I dont recall having ever come accross. On the contrary, some of them surprised me with their penchant for Filipino food items that a lot of us tend to pass on or altogether avoid such as bagoong na alamang, tuyo or daing and the discourangingly unappetizing various buro they tend to produce at home throughout the Tagalog region. Filipino food pairing though is sublime. Munggo is simply great with escabeche.

[SobaAddict70]

Soba,

- "adobong rellenong" isn't a dish.  I think what you were trying to get at was Adobong Manok which is chicken adobo. You might be confusing it with Rellenong Manok. Manok = Chicken, Relleno = reference to a ground stuffing preparation.

- The peeled hard boiled egg is usually a component of another (though similar looking) dish called asado.  At least that's what I've seen.

←

That's probably what I was referring to. Sorry for the confusion.

Not disputing you but this is a recipe for rellenong manok. As you can see, it demonstrates part of the wonder that is Filipino cuisine.

See this also:

Rellenong Manok: Baked chicken often stuffed with ground pork, ham, frankfurters, pepperoni, onion, garlic, raisins, hard-boiled eggs; stuffing ingredients vary among regions.

I forget what asado is.

[Stagiaire]

Soba,

- "adobong rellenong" isn't a dish.  I think what you were trying to get at was Adobong Manok which is chicken adobo. You might be confusing it with Rellenong Manok. Manok = Chicken, Relleno = reference to a ground stuffing preparation.

- The peeled hard boiled egg is usually a component of another (though similar looking) dish called asado.  At least that's what I've seen.

←

That's probably what I was referring to. Sorry for the confusion.

Not disputing you but this is a recipe for rellenong manok. As you can see, it demonstrates part of the wonder that is Filipino cuisine.

See this also:

Rellenong Manok: Baked chicken often stuffed with ground pork, ham, frankfurters, pepperoni, onion, garlic, raisins, hard-boiled eggs; stuffing ingredients vary among regions.

I forget what asado is.

←

What I meant to say was, I think what you were trying to say was Adobong Manok instead of Adobong Relleno. As you initially posted it, it seems you have mistaken Manok (i.e. Chicken) with Relleno (i.e. stuffing). As I read it, you were trying to explain that there were two types of Adobo, e.g. Pork Adobo and Chicken Adobo. Rellenong manok is another thing altogether and does exist. The rellenos I have had is normally served with gravy. Oh, and the cold version of it is called Galantina. Though a slightly different dish, it is normally used as a euphemism for leftover relleno...hahaha

Asado is a somewhat similar dish to adobo but with a markedly sweeter sauce, with little to no vinegar. Seems to be more derived from chinese cookery where adobo is decidedly more spanish in derivation.

[Apicio]

Some more distinction between pollo relleno and galantina are: Galantina is formed into a fat cylinder and wrapped in cheesecloth and poached in stock. The poaching liquid is then usually made into a sort of aspic to accompany the cold slices of galantina. The relleno on the other hand is reformed into a chicken shape. Our insider euphemism for left over

is tirayaki. The pork siopao filling is also called asado although Enriqueta David Perez has a chicken asado recipe that is pretty close to a fricassee without the cream. The giblets are cooked with the chicken pieces and the liver is crushed to form a nice sauce with the reduction. A reversed adobo, if you like.

[SobaAddict70]

What's that dish with mung beans? Can't remember most specifics, but I know it's not a sweet dish.

Maybe it's Chinese influenced?

[Mooshmouse]

What's that dish with mung beans?  Can't remember most specifics, but I know it's not a sweet dish.

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Soba, you're thinking of munggo guisado: stewed mung beans often cooked with prawns/shrimps or pork.

Here's a pictorial recipe link in case you're still curious.

[SobaAddict70]

Chicarron as a topping for munggo is a new one on me. Have to ask my mom about that.

I've been craving it recently for some reason.

[Apicio]

I am not sure if this is what you are looking for but they call it ginisang munggo where I came from. Guisa usually means sauteéd in garlic, chopped shallots or onions and tomatoes. A little bit of meat such as pork or pork crackling (yes, chicharron) and if meant for Friday, shrimps or smoked fish is added to lend flavor and body to the soupy texture. After the mung beans that has been soaked in water and boiled separately is added, it is garnished with sweet pepper plant leaves or bitter mellon vine leaves before serving. Traditionally served on Fridays paired with escabeche. Filipino escabeche, by the way, is very different from the more well-known Mexican but closer to the Chinese sweet and sour fried fish and Jamaican fish escabiche.

[SobaAddict70]

No, I know what chicarron and ampalaya are. I've just never had munggo with either.

[SobaAddict70]

And now that I think about it, some tortang talong would hit the spot.

Decisions, decisions...

[Apicio]

Let me know if something like this has ever happened to you all. A couple of week-ends ago I ate at a Turkish restaurant on 49th and 2nd (NY) and tried their broad green bean appetizer with my shish kebab. Although the vegetable was overcooked, it reminded me of our own bataw without the purple ridges. So I decided to try it at home this week but taking pains not to overcook it. It was like cooking Filipino food, you know, oil, garlic, shallots, chopped tomatoes then the broad green beans. What is different is it calls for bayleaf and also dill. I intend to eat it like a meal instead of just an appetizer so I decided to mix in some cooked lima beans, humongous ones that I picked up from the Korean market here. Remember, Bahay Kubo? Well this my new dish is bataw, patane. I drizzled it with a very good Spanish virgin olive oil that I pick up from a South American store close to my home here in Toronto. Is it ever good. I immediately followed it with a spoon of Argentine dulce de leche that I also picked up with the olive oil. Marvel of marvels, the flavor of ripe durian filled my startled mouth.

[Stagiaire]

And now that I think about it, some tortang talong would hit the spot.

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Do you grill your eggplant first?

If you ever end up with extra grilled eggplants, they're awesome with a bit of chopped onions, tomatoes, a few slivers of ginger and coconut cream (unsweetened) vinaigrette!

...which in turn goes great with inihaw na liempo (grilled pork belly which are first marinated in calamansi, vinegar, garlic, pepper, salt and bay leaves)....

Edited July 20, 2005 by Stagiaire (log)