Cream Dory Curry

A lot of us are familiar with Cream Dory fillet, which has conquered a lot of households because of its excellent flavor and texture. The most common and easiest way to prepare this is to have the fillet seasoned with calamansi juice and salt and pepper, set aside for a while or leave in the refrigerator overnight. When ready to serve, coat with beaten egg and flour then fry over medium fire. This goes well with sweet and sour sauce. Another recipe: soak the fish in a marinade of olive oil, prepared mustard, worchestershire sauce, and a sprinkling of dried rosemary, then grill.

Cream Dory came to the country a few years ago. Internationally it is known as the John Dory, with an anecdote that connects it to St. Peter and Jesus. We never saw a fresh Cream Dory, until last week when Venus of South Supermarket offered it to us at P170 a kilo. We thought it looked like a big kandule, with an enormous mouth and prominent lower jaw. We decided to divide the fish into two portions, one we did as curry, the other we will make into adobo – cooked in vinegar, soy sauce with sliced tomatoes and a lot of garlic. So as not to feel guilty about using pork lard, which gives much flavor to any food, pour a bit of canola oil shortly before serving.

We found the fresh Dory too soft, the flesh nearly disintegrating in the process of cooking. Seasoning needs to be stronger, so we had to add more on the second serving of our curry. 

We are happy to note that there are homemakers who seriously monitor and take note of bad advertising and its unfavorable effects on our youth. They are also brave enough to ventilate their views. We got a few e-mail messages and telephone calls from concerned mothers, all expressing disgust at the two commercials we wrote about in a previous column. We forwarded copies to the offices of the Philippine Association of National Advertisers, located at 184 Salcedo Village, Makati, tel. 894-0012 and to the DTI Consumer Complaints desk, at Trafalgar Plaza, 105 de la Costa, tel. 811-8231. We and the others will be waiting for their reaction/action.

Clearing our files, we found a folder with some very useful tips, such as a guide to writing recipes. There are times when creative women or men have recipes in their minds, but working from memory is not always reliable. Once, we forgot one important ingredient in a dip, so when we made it again, the end product was not as good as the original. Here are the steps: 1. List all ingredients in the order of usage. 2. Specify the correct amount and/or proportion of each ingredient in terms of table/teaspoons, cups, kgs, etc. 3. If the dish calls for canned or packed items, specify size of can, bottle or bag. 4. Specify the vessels to be used – large skillet, medium bowl, frying pan, etc. 5. Give approximate time needed to complete the cooking process – stir for five minutes, sauté garlic for two minutes, simmer for about 30 minutes or until tender.

Here is a very simple dip – combine olive oil, freshly ground garlic, juice of a lemon and whole black pepper. For cooking that requires olive oil, to save a few pesos, you can get pomace, instead of pure or extra virgin olive oil. This is actually a third press. A big bottle costs a little more than P800 while the two other variants range from P1,300 to nearly P2,000.

Some might wonder what the difference is between green and black olives. The former are picked and cured before they have ripened and have a sharp flavor. Black olives are picked when fully ripe. They are full of oil, have soft flesh and mellower flavor. Olives contain important fats, vitamins, minerals and proteins. The green we normally use for ‘red’ dishes like caldereta, chicken with green peas, and tomato-based spaghetti sauce. We add black olives to white sauces that have seafood, as well as for dips using tinapa and salmon.

Price watch – dressed chicken has gone up to P117 a kilo with special cuts (legs, wings, quarters, breasts) starting at P133 a kilo. Kenchi (beef) without bones sells for more than P260 a kilo, kasim has remained at P170. One melon can cost more than P100 depending on the size while mangoes are now P85 to P90 a kilo, quite a jump from P69 about two weeks ago. Bangus goes for P130 a kilo, small tawilis are cheap at less than P100, while tilapia ranges from P91 to P110. There are some new oil brands and variants in the market. You might want to compare prices. However, most of these are palm oil. When buying liquid detergent, pay more attention to weight than cost, the lesser-priced one may contain less.

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