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BEFORE
recipe books became accessible in this country, we
relied on the recipes printed in the boxes and can
labels of food products and ingredients. From can
labels, I learned to make my first leche flan. Then from
the cornstarch bag, maja blanca. Further back in time,
Hershey’s box labels opened my world to baking the most
delicious brownies and Devil’s Food Cake, the
best-tasting cake on earth! To this day, you can bet
your last peso on the soundness of Hershey’s recipes.
Then
came Enriqueta David Perez’s Recipes of the
Philippines, from where I learned everyday dishes,
as well as native delicacies; and from Nora Daza’s many
wonderful cookbooks, more recipes with a touch of
class—as only Nora could share it.
You
must have heard of the Pinoy quip to describe someone
who loves to eat...and really eat a lot. The perfect
mockery for such appetite on a person is “ may
vetsin siya sa dila.” There’s another Pinoy quip that
comes close: “Pinalaki siya sa kusina!” Is it me you’re
talking about?
These
books cemented my life as a kitchen hand, helping my mom
or watching the cook does her chores. Following recipes
and trying them out became my hobby, which delighted my
folks, especially my father that he whimsically kept
buying gadgets and stuff for cooking and baking.
I loved
the fact that just by religiously following recipes from
a book, I could create a dish. The fun of discovery led
me to collect lots of recipes. The side effect of
enjoying recipes was that I became obedient in following
instructions. And this value was what prepared me for my
next passage into cooking—learning techniques from Aling
Asiang, my lola who was one of the greatest
Filipina cooks in her time, by following her every step.
Watch
me!
WHEN we
became teenagers, we were “enrolled” in summer cooking
sessions with my Lola Asiang (Reyes of Aristocrat) and
her battery of assistant cooks. We were made to wear
hairnets (such that our boy cousins mercilessly called
us “pla-pla,” probably because we did look like
one!) and not allowed to wear shorts or miniskirts
inside her comedor, where she personally cooked
and served lunch to friends, family members who dropped
by...and a lot of them did every day! Other than the
restriction on our vanities, we enjoyed the whole summer
of learning from her cooking style.
This
time, recipes did not matter, we had to watch her go
about the mise en place and the actual cooking. And
there was so much I learned that to this day I still
apply them. Some are:
1. In
making sofrito, or the ginisa base of chopped onions,
garlic and tomatoes, we had to keep the heat up and
continuously cook and press the mixture till the tomato
skins curled. Then, I didn’t know this meant
caramelizing and sweating these ingredients.
2.
Adding achuete to cold water and rendering its
color, and then to hot oil and getting more color out
from the seeds. These would then be used for kare-kareng
buntot ng baka.
3.
Bagoong guisado from scratch all started with having to
press out as much liquid as possible from the raw salted
and fermented alamang, and then cooking it in pork lard
and adding lots of garlic and salt and a tinge of sugar
in the end.
4.
Mashing chopped onions and tomatoes with my bare hands
to as mashy as can be, in preparation for sautéing it
and making thick sinigang broth for very fat bangus.
As we
watched her move from one kawa (big iron vat for
cooking in multiples) to another, with different
sandok (wooden spoons) and her personal tasting
spoon, I was awed with how she cooked by instinct,
understood the flavors and textures of ingredients
before and after cooking…without recipe books. Her
techniques led us into more cooking on our own and I
left that summer with a new skill: that of cooking by
instinct.
This is
perhaps why you can’t tease me enough of growing
up—wider and wiser—in the kitchen.
For this
week, I’m sharing a recipe for an Ilocano favorite.
Delicious! Especially if made with sukang Iloco.
This recipe is from Kusina Felicitas of Grandpa’s
Inn in
Vigan
City,
Ilocos Sur.
Sapsapuriket
Cooking
oil
¼ kilo
native chicken, serving pieces
50 gm
ginger, pounded
20 gm
garlic, minced
2 tbsp
patis
4 cup
water
¼ cup
chicken blood with some sukang Iloco
Pepper
Siling
labuyo
Green
finger chili
Sili
leaves
Heat
oil, sauté ginger and garlic. Add the chicken pieces and
sauté till browned.
Sizzle
in the patis. Add water, then boil. Simmer till chicken
is tender.
When
tender, add blood with vinegar, then let boil. When
boiling, lower heat to a simmer, and simmer for 5-7
minutes. Season with black pepper and chilis and sili
leaves.
Serve
hot. |
