(Chicago) – I am familiar with the dish “pochero” (or “puchero”) ever since I was a kid but I never really understood and appreciated the dish...
-
-
Pata Estofado
(Chicago) - The abundance of skin, fats and soft tissues in pig’s trotters/feet or simply called, ”pata”, in Filipino, makes me love this part of the pig. Given enough time to cook...
-
Embutibol
(Chicago) – Embutido is a Filipino meat loaf. It is meat mixture formed in a foot-long log, wrapped in foil, steamed and served in slices. Some cook it twice by pan frying the embutido slices to gain some color and crunch. So if you are serving embutido in a party, your Filipino guests knows exactly what to expect. In my last house party, I thought of serving embutido with a little twist to make it more appropriate for a cocktail settings. Instead of making it look like meat loaf and steaming it, I formed it into small balls and roasted in the oven. I dribbled ginger-scallion oil to turn up…
-
The Spanish in Us: Pork Afritada
(Chicago) – There’s always something Spanish in every Filipino. It is evident in the last names of most of us, in skin color of a few, in religious belief of the majority, in facial structure, in politics, in public festivities, in architecture, in our alphabet and in many other aspects of our lives. With the Philippines under the rule of the Spaniards for more than 300 years, we have them in our system, in our veins and even in our palate. Our food is almost Spanish. “Fritada” means fried. Afritada is made up of browned pork (or any meat) simmered in fresh tomatoes and finished with oven-roasted (browned) tomatoes, onions…
-
Pinoy Menudo
(Chicago) – One of the major (major! :)) effects of food blogging to me is that my appreciation of Filipino food has grown significantly. How many times I denounced my homeland cuisine whenever I was asked if Filipino food was my favorite cuisine. I gave bulls**t reasons such as Filipino dishes are oily, unhealthy or whatever crap. I am guilty as charged, like many others. No matter how often we deny or shy away from Filipino dishes, we crave for it; we long for those crispy skin of lechon and crunchy, yet juicy lechon kawali. Well, if you’re a Filipino and you grew up with your “nanay” or “lola’s” cooking,…
-
Burger Steak, Almost Like Jollibee
(Chicago) – One of my favorites in Jollibee is their burger steak. The mushroom gravy is just soooo good with rice. Since there is no Jollibee in Chicago, I’m stuck to making my own version. This is an easy, quick and inexpensive dish to make. It surely brought back memories of coutnless moments when I crammed for my statistics exams in college while lunching on 2 orders of burger steak in one meal— just for myself, no sharing. Ingredients: 8 burger patties 1 tablespoon EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) 1 tablespoon butter 1 medium onion, chopped 1 tablespoon Worcesteshire ½ cup water 1 small can (10 ½ oz) condensed mushroom…
-
Feeling Filipino at Fely J’s
(Manila) – For my Mom’s birthday, we had dinner at Fely J’s situated at the 2nd floor of one Manila’s posh malls – Greenbelt 5. Fely J’s is serving Filipino cuisine which I am craving for after 4 long months of not being able to visit home. The ambiance is good, fit for family get together as they have tables good enough to accommodate 8 of us. Service is also good as the waiters and waitresses are attentive to diners’ needs. Food is okay but I cannot say that it is excellent compared to others serving the same cuisine. It’s just that it lacks a differentiating factor for me to…
