Marco Polo Plaza’s: Pinoy! Pinoy!

June is the month when we celebrate Philippine independence and Marco Polo Plaza (phone 253-111, www.marcopoloplaza.com) joined the rest of the nation in commemorating the 110th anniversary by inviting guest chefs, a father and son team, Gene and Gino Gonzalez for Pinoy! Pinoy!, a festival of traditional Filipino cuisine.

Both chefs are members of La Chaine des Rotisseurs: Gene has a rank of Conseiller Culinaire National and Gino is the Vice Conseiller Culinaire de Manille. Gene is the proprietor of Café Ysabel and is the President of the Center for Culinary Studies while Gino also teaches at the Center for Asian Culinary Studies. Like father, like son, gyud!

During lunch at Café Marco, which featured Comidas de Ayer: a collection of treasured family recipes from yesteryears, your favorite food columnist had to work very hard, tasting so many dishes and I felt like eating 110 years of culinary history.

Cold appetizers consisted of the following: Galantine of chicken, Buro ampung mustasa, Vela de lomo, Jamon Sulipeña and the Sisig Terrine.

 Lútûng Kapampangan prevailed because the roots of Gene Gonzalez come from Sulipan, Pampanga. Unfortunately, the town has disappeared (said to be located between Calumpit, Bulacan and Apalit, Pampanga); it would have been a great tourist destination where foreigners can live and sample 19th century Philippine culture. Luckily, many of the dishes are documented in a book Cocina Sulipeña and one of the grandchildren of Sulipan is very active in promoting its culinary heritage.

After the soup, Suam na hipon (grated white corn soup), I was ready for the main dishes: Cochinillo Asado (lechon Spanish style), Paella, Adobo del Diablo, Mondonggo Serrano and the Kalderetta de Cabrito.

The latter merited utmost scrutiny since caldereta is only one of two Filipino dishes that I know how to cook and my beloved readers know that I dabble only in Chinese cuisine. Long ago, my friends teased me about my being “unpatriotic” about my cooking and I decided to cook caldereta, which is called a Filipinized Spanish beef or goat stew.

Research na pud and caldereta is defined as a “dish of meat, fish or vegetables that is cooked by slow simmering” or cooked just below the boiling point (bubbles rise lazily to the surface!).  The Arab “sinabi” is said to be the precursor of the “caldereta” although in Spain, it can also refer to a kind of bird (Saxicola dacotinae) found in the Canary Islands.

Spanish caldereta uses tomato produce in its recipes and two versions emerged in the Philippines:  the Batangas version uses Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce, sweet pickle relish, black peppercorn, and garlic to marinate the dish, Anchor butter to brown the meat, lots of onions and the sauce is thickened by liver paste, while the Laguna version uses peanuts (murag Kare-kare) in the sauce.

I decided to make my own version (that is cooking with character!) using the best elements of each version: Spanish edition (fresh tomatoes preferably plucked ripe from the vine, skins removed and because the medium is acidic, only clay cooking pots are used), Batangas version (using liver paste from fresh liver and charcoal grilled) while adding sweet pepper paste (also charcoal-grilled, skins removed) and some grated cheese before serving. And my beloved readers know that the meat is ready when it starts to be dislodged from the bone. And excuse me, no adulterants like pineapple and extenders like potatoes!

It took me one year to perfect the dish; unfortunately very few people were able to taste this hybrid (only 10) when I cooked this dish some eight years ago, assisted by a fellow cooking enthusiast from Batangas.

Anyway, back to the Pinoy! Pinoy! Food Festival. Finishing touches for the two-hour lunch was the Pasta Juan and the Tocino del Cielo. I only wish that I had written this article earlier and my beloved readers could have tasted these heritage dishes because Pinoy flavors ended at the Marco Polo Plaza (June 9-22) I write about the food events in chronological order when the invitations were received.

There is one dish featured in the book, Cocina Sulipeña, the Lengua Legislativa (Braised Tongue Congressional Style) that has intrigued me.  Is this dish exclusive only to members of congress?

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