Fusion and Diversity

A close friend had this novel idea–why not fuse traditional cooking techniques with those of continental California? The idea is a take-off from the television series in the US which featured two renowned chefs, the culinary guru Julia Child and one of the world’s great chefs, the very French Jacques Pepin. They co-wrote the book Cook At Home where they each contributed interpretations of recipes. Taking off from there we did the fusion adventure and what came about was "fused and diverse" dishes, both satisfying to the palate, pleasing to the eye and enticing to the nose. Sounds like seduction? You might call it that, but what we recently did with an innovative chef from San Francisco, the bubbly Ludette Moy, was something that you and any of your family and friends can do together, anytime, in your kitchen or when you are co-hosting a lunch or dinner. As Jacques said, "No recipe is written on stone."

We did the fun sessions at Rustan’s Supermarkets with the help of SySu International. The 50-plus-year-old recipe for Pancit Filipino was re-named Pancit ng Pihikan (discriminating) for which we used native vegetables like puso ng saging, eggplant and sitao with flaked fish. We sprinkled our pancit with Lee Kum Kee sesame oil producing a much more savory dish. On the other hand, Ludette did her Pasta Pilipino, adopting some of our basic ingredients like the eggplant, but bathed the noodles with her version of herbed white sauce. Our old Biñan morcon recipe of rolled beef with liver sauce took on new flavors as Ludette did her California Pot Roast with the meat soaked in Lee Kum Kee chicken marinade while we seasoned our version with Kikkoman soy sauce. Two dishes perfect for Christmas or any special occasion.

The above endeavor meant that you can very well innovate. You need not go strictly by the recipes in cookbooks. They are very good and practical guides (hence you still need to have cookbooks in your kitchen libraries), but you can very well add flavor, change it, increase/decrease ingredients, adopt various techniques (bake instead of simmer) and come out with specials.

And speaking of being culinary creators, this Christmas you can produce your own gifts such as spreads, mixes and sauces. Put them in jars, decorate with ribbons and yuletide bells and red balls. Do your own labels on the computer. Go to Divisoria for the bottles (150 gm capacity) which sell at P2.80 per. You can also get ribbons and other decor items here. Alternatively, SM carries lots of these tiny Christmas accents. From any supermarket there are lots of microwaveable plastic containers in varying sizes (from 150 ml to 750 ml). These are very cheap. You can also purchase gift boxes for your baked goodies. Personally produced gifts always have more value as they are labors of love.

For readers who might want to try our Ultimate Fruitcake: Killion Merchandizing on Orozco Street in Quiapo sells dates, mixed fruits, etc. You can buy them by the kilo or by the balde. They have local and imported supplies. The mixed fruits cost from P95 (local) to P200 a kilo, dates from P85 to P250, dried apricots at P180, walnuts at P360 (P575 for the Diamond brand), almonds from P360 to P450, kasuy nuts from P170 to P190, glazed cherries at P230.

Traffic to Divisoria and Quiapo will test your patience, so you might want to hit these two places on the same day, starting very early in the morning, on a week-day preferably. You might have to park a distance away, but in Divisoria, you might as well use the covered Tutuban parking facility.

Chicken is again starting to disappear from the market, specially the big ones that weigh 1.5 kgs each. So if you are cooking them for Christmas, stock up. Remember they are cheaper in the supermarkets. This is also true with chicken liver–P120 to P130 in the wet markets while the groceries sell them at P93.

While we were sourcing materials in the Sta. Mesa area, a passenger jeep scraped the side of our car. The driver would have escaped were it not for the heavy traffic. But the police on duty at the outpost on the corner of V. Mapa and Sanchez waved our driver away and told him to simply report a hit and run case. Tamad!