* Pinoy is the name the people of the Philippines call themselves.
The Local Market |
| If you like to taste the real Philippine cuisine, you should not reserve a table in your favourite Manila 5-star hotel, nor eat in Boracay's luxury resorts. You should go out. First you should visit the local market. Start your visit early in the morning (06:00 a.m. would be fine). Your nose will be grateful for your early getting up, because when the sun rises higher, your nostrils will be loaded by smells you are not really familiar with. |
Fishmarket in Tagbilaran, Bohol (click!) |
Fishmarket in Tagbilaran, Bohol (click!) |
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| To start, we recommend the vegetable and fruit section. Depending on season you will find a great variety - known and unknown. If you do not know a fruit or a vegetable, ask the vendor. Most of them know the English name and otherwise it's your first lesson in Tagalog. This morning I have been at the market in Kalibo (Panay). A girl had a big white block on her table and did cut it in small slices. I had never seen that before. "What's that?" I kindly asked her. "This is a palmtree top", she replied with a smile to the stranger who did not know this fine vegetable. I have not yet tried to cook, so tere will be more to read. |
A large choice of vegetable in the big market in Kalibo, Panay, Province of Aklan (click!) |
Vegetable inside the big market in Kalibo, Panay, Province of Aklan (click!) |
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| Then you should visit the fish "department". Did you expect such a variety of fish beneath you, when you swam in the ocean yesterday afternoon. Usually the fish is fresh. Look in the eyes of your favourite prey, if the eyes are clear and transparent, the fish is cleared for your kitchen. Cooking fish is a game of try and error. Try to prepare them on your BBQ. Perhaps it is awfully dry, perhaps it is like cooked potatoes, but maybe it is excellent and you earn a standing ovation of your guests. Note the result in a scrapbook. If you failed you do it otherwise (boil, steam or prpare in a pan or aluminium-sheets) next time. If it's a success, you mark it with a star. |
Fishmarket in Tagbilaran, Bohol (click!) |
Fish inside the big market in Kalibo, Panay, Province of Aklan (click!) |
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And finally the meat section. Western citizens buy there meat either in the supermarket, where the pieces are plastic wrapped and sealed. In some countries they still go to the butcher's store, which is usally cleanshaven (the butcher) and clean polished (the store). Sorry, but this is not the picture here in the Philippines.
You will find beef, poultry, porc and carabao (kalabaw) in any state of dissection - here a leg hanging, there a side being cut. This is not a sight for everybody. But the meat is first class (at least early in the morning, when it is fresh). My preferred meat is carabao filet. It's price is reasonable and you can even prepare raw dishes like carpacio or tartar of it. |
Meatmarket inside the big market in Kalibo, Panay, Province of Aklan (click!) |
Meatmarket inside the big market in Kalibo, Panay, Province of Aklan (click!)
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Cooking Recipes |
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The Philippines, a country between East and West. This is also reflected in the culinary offer. The Philippine cuisine is composed of culinary delights of the Orient and the Occident. Discovering the Philippines means also discovering the Filipino cuisine.
Kainna! ( "Let's eat!") or
Tikman! ( "Why not try it!").
You can hear in the Philippines again and again. Food for the Filipinos is therefore an important part of their art and culture.
Although based on the malay culture, the Filipino cuisine reflects the influences the country has been facing in its turbulent history was exposed. All the Asian and European cultures did leave their footprints in the Filipino cuisine.
Indian merchants brought new spices in addition to their eating habits, as well as Chinese and Arabs did . Chinese woks, the shallow, in which meat and vegetables are cooked briefly. Even the Spaniards have their business card in the Philippine food delivered. Witness dishes like Paella or Adobo and Pan de Sal, the breakfast bread. The culinary contribution by the Americans was limited primarily on hamburgers and hot dogs. |
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All the follwoing recipes have been compiled and written down by 17 year old Nara . Skilled Nara lives in Dumatad, on the Island of Panay.. She's up to become our Java programmer. If she codes as good as she cooks, then our site will become the best in this world ... |
| Adobo is a popularly common dish found in the Philippines , thus a national dish among the Filipinos . Typically made from pork or chicken or a combination of both, it is slowly cooked in soy sauce , vinegar , crushed garlic , bay leaf , and black peppercorns , and often browned in the oven or pan-fried afterwards to get the desirable crisped edges. This dish originates from the northern region of the Philippines. It is commonly packed for Filipino mountaineers and travelers. Its relatively long shelf-life is due to one of its primary ingredients, vinegar , which inhibits the growth of bacteria . |
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| Menudo, Spanish in origin, is similar to cocido , except that no chorizo de bilbao , (spanish sausage) is added. Menudo is a rich dish with sauce thickened and flavored by finely chopped onions, tomatoes and bell peppers. The acidity of the tomatoes and tomato paste is tempered by the sweetness of raisins. |
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| Chicken with Pineapple
Feel the island fever with this succulent chicken dish that has a wonderful fruity flavor.
If using fresh pineapple, be carefule and save all the juice. If using canned pineapple (oh my Lord, no!), use the juice. Add all the rest of the ingredients, including salt and pepper to taste. If using fresh pineapple it may be necessary to add chicken stock to cover the chicken pieces as the fresh fruit will not have as much juice as the canned. |
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| Pork and tomatoes
If you want to make this dish a bit spicier add 1 teaspoon of paprika to the frying pan along with the tomatoes - a dash of red wine also adds a bit of extra flavour
Get as much as the fat off the pork as possible when cutting it into cubes.
Use plum tomatoes if they are in season.
Serve with fresh bread so that no sauce goes to waste!
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For Hardliners |
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A culinary delight
(click to enlarge!)
Click only if you have
a strong stomache! |
Balut: Sooner or later, the visitors to the country are asked to pass the "naturalization test" or "assimilation test": "Let's see, if you are a real Pinoy?" Everybody come to see the visitor and make jokes about the visitor's shock.
First they present to the stanger a balut that seems to be an egg as usual and should be no problem. It is a popular Filipino snack, which is attributed aphrodisiac effect. Before a Filipino shows his stamp collection to his new Sweetheart, he eats two baluts and thenhe washes them down preferably with a bottle of beer or any other alcoholic drink.
A balut is an egg with a nearly-developed embryo inside. After 14 days of breeding the egg reaches maturity, but experts say that 17 days old eggs taste best.
One eats the eggs with salt or sharp vinegar. Some baluts contain a yellowish liquid; therefore first one cuts a small hole to sipp the liquid.. Then the egg can be opened further to the winding meat to eat. The dark brown meat tastes a combination of salinity and sharpness, softness and crunch, the feeling of tenderness and the resistance of the liquid. Generally, the flavour is similar to crab meat.
This culinary delight is usually sold by street vendors or at markets from the late afternoon until midnight, accompanied by long, almost sung shouts of "Balu-uuut". The duck eggs are transported in baskets with warm moist towels or warm sand around. One gets the baluts usually in a bag of newspaper with a bit of coarse salt in the end of the bag. Balut is as cockfights a big business to the Philippines.
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Drinks |
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Drink at least 2 to 3 litrers of liquid (preferably water) per day.
Filipnos do nearly not drink during their meals. But when you are invited, they will serve you cold water or a cold beer.
Not like other Asian people: Filipinos do not drink tea! If you find tea, it's the one in the paper bags you know from home. |
Non-alcoholic
- Water
- Fruit Juices
- Buko Juice (young coconut)
- Calamansi in Water
and any kind of soda water
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Alcoholic
- Beer (San Miguel, Beer na Beer)
- Rhum and Gin (local product)
- Palmwine (
Tuba
)
- Palmbrandy (
Lambanog
)
- Ricewine (
Tapuy
)
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Fiestas |
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Fiestas can be found anytime anywhere in the Philippines. The background is religious, but it is the best chance for you to eat real indigenous food.
Christmas Eve, known as Noche Buena , is the most important feast. During this evening, the star of the table is the Christmas ham and Edam cheese ( Queso de Bola ). Supermarkets are laden with these treats during the season and serve as popular giveaways by Filipino companies in addition to red wine, brandy, groceries or pastries.
A few Filipino women band together and tirelessly prepare more sophisticated dishes at festive occasions. Tables are often laden with expensive and labor-intensive treats requiring hours of preparation. Lechón , a whole roasted suckling pig, takes centerstage.
Lechón ( Tagalog : Litson and Cebuano : Inasal ) is the Spanish word for suckling pig . In the Philippines, it connotes a whole roasted pig , lechón baboy . Chicken and beef, are also popular. The process of lechón involves the whole pig/piglet, chicken, or cattle/calf being slowly roasted over charcoal . Similar in method to Chinese Peking duck , Balinese Guling celeng , or Western suckling pig, this day-long and arduous method of roasting leaves a crispy skin and very moist meat inside.
Other sophisticated dishes prepared include hamonado (honey-cured beef, pork or chicken), relleno (stuffed chicken or milkfish ), mechado , afritada , kaldereta , pochero , paella , arroz valenciana , morcon (variant of the Argentinian matambre ), and pancit canton . The table may also be decorated with various sweets and pastries such as leche flan , ube , sapin-sapin , sorbetes (ice cream), and gulaman ( jello ). |
A big one we had had prepared for our own fiesta in Dumatad, Panay Island 
A smaller one prepared on the Island of Camiguin |
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| Do you know other original Pinoy recipes? Please write us. |
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