Visiting Chefs (part 1)

Cebu was venue for a Filipino Food Festival last May 20 to 21 and two women chefs came to show the specialties that made them institutions in the Philippine food industry. Pino! Filipino Restaurant (Wilson Street, Lahug, phone numbers 232-0939, 231-0131) provided the “muted elegant ambiance, the singular cutlery and the smooth service flow that the establishment is famous for,” according to my good friend and La Chaine colleague, Al Evangelio.

Women chefs are very lucky to be Filipinos and be accorded the acclaim that they truly deserve. In other countries, like France, such status is rare; indeed, very rare can a woman get the category of Three-star Chef using the Michelin guide. Only one woman, Anne-Sophie Pic, 37, won the award in the last 50 years. And she is the fourth woman: the other three were Eugénie Brazier, Marie Bourgeois and Marguerite Bise because the two world wars had significantly reduced the number of male chefs. Murag hereditary ang talent of Ms. Pic since her grandfather and father also earned three stars in their time.

Visiting chef Nancy Reyes Lumen has similar bloodlines; she is the granddaughter of Doña Engracia “Aling Asiang” Cruz-Reyes and Justice Alex A. Reyes of the Aristocrat Restaurant. Chef Nancy is also known as a food researcher and critic while serving as editor of Cook Magazine and a food writer for the Business Mirror.

In the late 60s, living on a very limited student’s budget, to eat at the Aristocrat Restaurant was considered a luxury. Your favorite food columnist has fond memories of sinigang, crispy pata, kare-kare and the house specialty, Honey-cured chicken barbecue. Such reminiscences were rekindled when I took a bite of the Boneless Chicken BBQ (Aristocrat style).  However, if these gasoline prices keep on increasing, I will be living on a very limited Food Columnist budget!

Another dish she introduced that night was the Pork Belly, Adobo Roll and when I hear the word adobo, I remember that Chef Lumen was co-author of The Adobo Book. My loyal followers know that adobo traces its roots to the French verb abobar (to dress a knight in armour); it moved to Spain and became adobar (to dress meat) and finally in 1918, a recipe for chicken adobo was born in the Philippines.

One year later, pork and beef adobo was added and annatto was used to color the sauce. Very well-informed gyud are my beloved readers because in the past, I wrote “All About Adobo” and my followers have near-photographic memories.

The second visiting chef during the Filipino Food Festival was Cely Kalaw, the original maker of Bicol Express. Tita Cely operates the Sinigang Bar at the Market! Market! and maintains a regular spot in Saturday Salcedo Market and the Legazpi Village Sunday Market. 

My reference about sinigang is the book Wow! Ang Sarap!, The Best of Philippine Regional Cuisines, by Reynaldo Alejandro and Vicente Santos. What is called tinowa in Cebu, cocido in Bicol is sinigang in Tagalog. My favorite author, Doreen Fernandez (Sarap, Essays on Philippine Food) refers to sinigang as the National dish of the Philippines (instead of adobo!).

Although other countries (Malaysia, Thailand, Burma and Indonesia) have their versions, what makes the sinigang unique is “the use of rice water, instead of plain water, as stock base.” Chef Cely Kalaw’s version of this dish is the Sinigang na Balut.

Balut is called Trung vit lon in Vietnam, Pong tea khon in Cambodia and Máodàn, literally “feathered egg,” in China. It was featured as a challenge to a contestant in May 2008, Deal or no Deal: Around The World (Howie Mandel, co-host Kris Aquino). The Balut was worth $10,000, Mata ng Isda (Fish Eyes), $5,000, and Adidas (Chicken Feet), $1,000. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balut).

This must be the most expensive balut in the world! And your favorite food columnist prefers a 17 days old balut (balut sa puti) for pulutan and can determine with some authority that it is really 17 days old because I studied intawon for six years in Veterinary Medicine. Add the sinigang (especially if prepared personally by Chef Cely Kalaw) and you have a most delicious soup.

The gabi plant (Colocasia esculenta) or taro took a limelight during the Filipino Food Festival because you need gabi to make laing and Bicol express. Different regions use only certain parts of the plant in their cuisine: in Bicol, only the leaves are eaten; Laguna (leaves and stems); Tarlac (stems only) and the other provinces, including Cebu, only the tuber (also called corms) acoording to Philippine Food & Life by Gilda Cordero-Fernando.

But not all gabi are created equal. The green-stemmed variety with large reddish tubers is preferred in Bicol while Cebuanos prefer the dark purplish stemmed gabi with slightly purple leaves. However, in its raw form, gabi is toxic due to the presence of calcium oxalate and some varieties have higher concentration. A different variety is cultivated in Camiguin and Mindoro.

Dried and cooked with coconut milk, it is the comfort food of the Bicol region (aided of course, with the ubiquitous chilli pepper). This is the formula for laing and there are two versions of the dish: laing with dried fish and laing with Prawn. Chef Cely Kalaw served the second version and it was one of the best laing dishes I ever tasted. There are trade secrets in the dish and one of this is the coconut milk used. Only the first squeeze of the grated meat of the coconut is used…definitely only a “virgin” is suitable!

The original Bicol Express served was too “hot” for the average Cebuano taste. But not for your favorite food columnist who has decided years ago to immunize his palate so that he can taste and appreciate all hot and spicy food in its original form and not a mere, excuse me, watered-down version. Remember that many of our Asian neighbors’ cuisine are loaded with chilli hotness and I have to decipher their food and render a culinary account to my beloved readers.

Dessert was Guinomis, an icy confection with coconut cream, sago and pinipig (toasted rice flakes). To make the perfect guinomis, you have to start with the pandan leaves in boiling water and end with the shaved ice, the finer the better.

The rest of the secrets in preparing all these signature dishes has become the exclusive property of Pino! Filipino Restaurant. And they are ready to serve their patrons. [email protected]