Gerry's Chili #2: No Tomatoes

Frustrated by the chili from Shakey's I reviewed here, I decided to go and do may own chili again, specially after I got some really nice dried ancho chilies from the Seven Spice Shop.

I wanted to try one that didn't have tomatoes in it. This time around, this recipe isn't based on anything I saw online. I just wrote the ingredients I thought I would need on paper... ingredients that I feel would make for a good chili and went from there.

Spice Mix:

3 tablespoons chili powder
3 teaspoons cumin powder
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon paprika
2 dried ancho chilies ground finely (seeds not removed)
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon brown sugar

Combine all the spices in a bowl, mix thoroughly and then set aside.

Rest of the ingredients:

1/2 kilo ground beef
1 beef cube
2 stalks celery chopped
1 red bell pepper chopped (seeds removed)
1 green bell pepper, chopped (seeds removed)
4 long green chilies, sliced thinly (seeds not removed)
1 large white onion chopped
6 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
2 cans white beans (strained)
kinchay for garnishing
cheese for garnishing

Procedure:

Heat oil in a pan (around 3 tablespoons) and fry beef until all fat is rendered. Separate the beef from any fat/liquid via colander. Set beef aside.

In a deep pot, heat oil then saute garlic until slightly brown. Add onion and saute until translucent. Add the long green chilies, bell peppers, and celery. Saute for around 2 minutes. Add the beef and spice mix and stir thoroughly until the spice has been evenly distributed.

Dissolve beef cube in 2-1/2 cups of hot water and add into the pot. Boil then simmer at low heat for 15 minutes. Add the beans and continue simmering for 1 hour, occasionally stirring to keep the bottom from sticking. If you feel your chili is becoming too thick you can add a bit more water.

Taste your chili and adjust seasoning. You can add more heat if you like. I found myself adding just a little bit more salt, and another teaspoon of cumin. I would have gone for hotter, but I thought the spice level was just right for the rest of the people in the house.

Garnish with cheese and kinchay.

The Best Steak in San Pablo City

Me and Ilyn were fortunate enough to be invited to try out the menu of a restaurant being developed by friends here in San Pablo City. It's actually already semi-open, but not yet for the general public. It started out as a simple cafe for customers of a spa, but they're now trying to expand it into a full blown restaurant/art gallery.

The owner clearly not only loves cooking but is dedicated to providing the best they could possibly offer.

Our meal started out with an appetizer consisting of wheat pandesal with olive oil/balsamic vinegar dip. I didn't finish it because I didn't want to be full before I finished our meal. I did finish the salad which came next, which consisted of lettuce, alfalfa sprouts, baby arugula, candied walnuts, grapes, and orange. I liked it because it was different from the kinds of salad usually served in San Pablo restaurants (to be honest, I'm kind of tired of Ceasar and Greek salads) and it was very light and refreshing.

Next came Potato soup with croutons. Like the salad, it was very light and of an appropriate amount that didn't threaten to overwhelm the main dish, which was the steak.

The steak was an 8oz Rib Eye cooked medium rare which comes with gravy and mashed potatoes or rice. This, as far as I know, the only restaurant in San Pablo which serves steak specifying weight and one of the few that allows you to choose doneness. For example, you cannot specify doneness with Si Christina's steak. It comes in only one: well done. When I tried it, I was disappointed because it came out as super well done (meaning burnt). For a price tag of more than P1000, I think they could do a better job and get a better quality steak. You can choose doneness with Simple Treat's steak, but it's so thin sometimes it doesn't matter if you choose medium rare because it comes out as well done no matter what.

This 8oz Rib Eye was perfectly medium rare, and it's the softest steak I ever had, not only in San Pablo, but in the Philippines. The only thing that came close to the softness of this is the Filet Mignon I had at Donovan's in San Diego. I wish I could say it's the best steak I ever had, but this comes as a close second. The best steak I had was also served in this place a few weeks ago when they were trying out a much bigger Rib Eye, US Prime Angus Steak, 1 and a half inches thick and done medium rare. That was just incredible, and we're grateful that we were asked to try it. They will try to add it to their menu soon. I don't know how expensive that steak will be (I think it will be very expensive), but the 8oz Rib Eye they served us was P795. For that price, I guarantee it will be worth it. It's the best steak you can have at that price.

The meal was closed out with a desert of mini blueberry muffins, cinnamon roll, and a pot of hot Secret Garden red tea.

The entire meal cost P1,100, which is very much worth it, in my opinion.

Awesome Korean Meals at Cook-Eat, San Pablo City

I first learned about Cook-Eat as me and Ilyn were passing the place aboard a tricycle. I said to Ilyn, look, the old liquor place is now a restaurant. And it's true. This new resto is located where we used to buy wine. If you're at the San Pablo City Fire Station, just start walking up the road towards the Iglesia ni Kristo and you can't miss this place, located on the left side of the road, across Human Heart Nature.

We first tried this a few days ago and had their Bulgogi set, which includes beef, vegetables and a slew of side dishes including soup, dilis, peanuts, kimchi, pickled cucumber, spicy sayote, bean sprouts, potatoes, vegetable lumpia and a desert of mango jello. Being new at this, we asked one of the wait staff to do the grilling for us and he did.

To be completely honest, I was a bit underwhelmed by the Bulgogi. I thought there was something lacking in the taste. The beef was chewy. I didn't like the soup. Mango jello seemed to be made of instant mango than actual real mangoes. But the kimchi was really, really good, as well as the pickled cucumbers. That being said for a meal that fed both Ilyn and me rather well, I thought P399 for everything was rather cheap.

I was a bit more happy when we visited the second time. Actually, we were more than happy. I thought our meals the second time around were amazing. Ilyn ordered the Bibimbap with an extra side order of pickled cucumber:

Ilyn really liked it. To me it looked like Tapsilog with 5 different types of atsara. Which is exactly what Bibimbap is, I think. I mean, it's true! There's the beef, which is both salty and sweet. I asked to taste the beef and it was really really soft. I really liked it. There's the rice and sunny side up egg. Then there's an assortment of side dishes including bean sprouts, carrot and a few leafy things I can't tell what they were but Ilyn says tasted really good.

Meanwhile, I had the Ramyun, with an extra side dish of kimchi, which I didn't know already came with a small side dish of kimchi:

The broth was just AMAZING. It tasted really thick, beefy, with a slight hint of anise and just the right amount of spiciness. The beef itself is really soft with a slightly more anise taste. The noodles were cooked perfectly right and complemented the soup really well. There were a couple types of mushroom in there as well a couple of slices of tofu. One of the best ramen noodles I've tasted in a while.

By the way, I don't know what they use for rice here, but it's really really good. One of the best tasting rice I've had as in literally anywhere. What is this magical rice? They must tell me!

I see myself coming back to this place and try their hotpot! Next time soon, Cook-Eat!

Here's Cook-Eat's Facebook page!
https://www.facebook.com/CookEatSPC/

Lucky Finds: Ox & Palm Corned Beef, Landana Cheese

I love going to the grocery. I always say it's kind of therapeutic, but it's more than that. I really enjoy going and seeing all the colorful and interesting things in it. There's something bountifully optimistic about them. That said, if I don't have money it's deeply depressing stepping into one. But when me and Ilyn have a bit of extra cash, we indulge in one of our very few guilty pleasures, and that is food.

A couple of weeks ago we went to Rustan's in Makati to see what new and interesting things we can take home. I love going to Rustan's because it has so much more than what your regular grocery usually offers.

For one, they have an absolutely awesome deli with incredible selections of cheeses and meat. In the old days we would buy things like Roquefort and Brie because they're the famous ones. Roquefort is notorious, being a blue cheese, for it's dark greenish mold all over it. Sounds disgusting? It smells weird and tastes weird, but strangely awesome. Check out this video of me eating Roquefort. To me Brie smells even weirder. Ilyn likes it. I like it too but not often. Because these cheeses are so er... unique and well, rather intense to eat, we don't get to eat it often so it just sits in the ref until it expires. And it's just too bad.

So anyway, when we went to Rustan's we decided to check out other cheeses. There were so many to choose from. Randomly I chose two: Gruyere and Landana Gouda Olives and Tomatoes. I don't know why I chose them, I just did.

That's not the actual cheese package I bought (that's just some random photo I saw online). The one in the deli was a big block and I asked to get just 200 grams, sliced thinly. The gruyere we got as a block because it's a hard cheese and it's usually grated.

Wow, did we luck into these cheeses! We love them both! First the gruyere. It's actually a melting cheese that's put in pasta and soups and can be eaten as a snack. I love eating it as is because it tastes really mild and not overwhelmingly salty. It also works really really well with pasta. It melted right on the pasta without any additional heating and added a really nice taste.  But the Gouda. Oh my God. It smells very slightly weird, but you forget about it as soon as you put it in your mouth. It's mild, and the olives and tomato are just in the perfect proportion to give a slight herby taste. We couldn't get enough of it. We finished all 200 grams in just a few days.

I also did a grilled cheese sandwich combining both gruyere and gouda and Ilyn really enjoyed it!

We loved it so much that when we went to a different Rustan's the past weekend (Marketplace at BGC), we got another 300 grams! At around P170 per 100 grams, I think it's very worth it!

Earlier in this blog I wrote about my favorite Corned Beef. My favorites included brands like Delimondo and Purefoods, both local Philippine brands. I really, REALLY hate to say it, but I found a new favorite in Ox & Palm. I only heard about this brand from a few, well, older people on Facebook, asking if we of the younger generation even heard of this brand. I do vaguely remember it, but I haven't been seeing it on the shelves at all lately.

So when I saw it at Rustan's I knew I had to get one. It was actually kind of expensive at P145 for a 200g can. I think that's twice as expensive as Purefoods. Would it be worth it? You see I love to try different canned corned beef brands. And more often than not I come away disappointed. I don't like brands like Libby's or Target because the meat is shredded a little too fine. I like my corned beef to have some body and heft and still looks like it did come from beef.

When the first spoon of Ox & Palm entered my mouth it was like holy crap this is awesome. It has a slightly intense smoky beefy flavor that was seasoned perfectly right. The beef still had some body to it like the beef had just fallen apart (and not mechanically shredded).  It was amazing. At P145 it's absolutely worth it. Sorry Purefoods and Delimondo! I still love you guys (and will still hang out with you once in a while), but for now Ox & Palm is my beef buddy!

EXTRA!  I'm always on the lookout for new and interesting sodas, or different iterations of common brands. So when I saw this Coca-Cola Life, I just had to try it. They say Coke tastes better when cane sugar is used. I actually couldn't tell the difference taste wise, but drinking this, which is sweetened by both cane sugar and stevia (the new hipster sweetener), it felt softer in the mouth, a bit more subtle.

Anyway, that's it for now. If ever we visit the not so usual grocery again like Rustan's or Makati Supermarket (which is curiously in Alabang), or South Super Market (in Los Baños), I'll make sure to post some of the unique and interesting things we might find.

Really, REALLY Good Burgers at Hungry Gorilla, San Pablo City

I'm very particular and picky when it comes to burgers. INCREDIBLY picky. I've tasted lots of them from all over, and I've had very few favorites. In Manila, my favorite go-to fast food burger is Tropical Hut's Classic Burger, and probably my all time favorite is the house Hamburger from Dayrit's. I've had a few really memorable ones from Borough at the Podium, as well as really spectacular Angus burger at Highlands Prime Steakhouse at MOA. I like simple burgers, and generally shy away from the more elaborate, monster burgers a lot of people seem to like.

Since I'm based in San Pablo City, I really don't want to go to Manila every time I wanted a really good burger. So I pretty much try anything that pops up locally. I'm looking for the thing I really like in a burger.... unobtrusive bun, really beefy taste (without extenders), juicy, and not a whole lot of things added in that distract from the flavor of the beef.

When I saw this new place that offered burgers along Mabini St., I decided to try it! Now the venue is a little unusual. It's beside the San Pablo District Jail, along Mabini St. There's a ramp and stairs going up to a long hallway. At the end of a hallway is a gym, and facing the gym is Hungry Gorilla. It was a bit noisy because of a Zumba going on in a gym on the second floor, and a Taekwondo studio on the third, both of which overlook the dining area.

I ordered the "Classic Kong" while Ilyn ordered the "Gorillets". At any new burger place, the first thing  I always try is their simplest, most basic burger. This is the one that gives the least distraction to the taste of the beef patty. If I like it, I will try their other, more elaborate burgers the next time I visit. But first their house fries called "Conggo Fries (p49)".

Their fries are pretty standard stuff, but better than the ones from Jollibee or Mcdonald's. The fries are firm, almost crunchy and lightly seasoned. The dip is pretty good though. I can't determine what it is, except to say that it's mayo based with herbs, spices and it's slightly sweet. I wanted to keep eating the fries just so I can dunk them into this dip. But I didn't want to ruin my appetite, so on to the burger.

Their "Classic Kong" (P59) is described on the menu as: "100% Beef with fresh tomatoes, lettuce, white onion, topped with mayo and ketchup." When it arrived, I was a bit surprised because it was quite bigger than I thought it would be. At P59 pesos I assumed it would be much smaller with a patty that would be a bit thin, but I'm glad I assumed wrong.

One bite into it and I was like, WOW. Just WOW. I couldn't believe what I was tasting. It was soft, juicy, perfectly seasoned with a strong beefy taste. The bun was appropriately soft and  didn't take attention away from the patty. The patty itself was surprisingly thick and substantial. The tomatoes, onion and lettuce complimented it perfectly. Yes, there's no cheese, but this burger didn't need it. Besides, I always thought cheese, having a rather strong taste, would distract from the taste of the beef.  Even as I continued to bite into it, my mind was going holy crap THIS.IS.AWESOME.

You know, I've pretty much tasted most local burgers up for offer here in San Pablo. I've tried Brand X Burger, All-Star Burger, Angry Burger, RC Burger, the house burger of places like Si Christina, and Simple Treats. I even tried burgers from places like Ramzi and of course from franchises like Jollibee and Mcdonald's.

I'm declaring right now that the burgers from Hungry Gorilla is the best I've tasted so far. And you have no idea how happy that makes me because now I don't have to go to Manila for an awesome piece of burger. And at that price!! It's amazingly cheap compared to most other burgers I've had. The burger at Highlands was like P600!! For that you get TEN Classic Kong Burgers and yeah I'll say it, they taste even better.

"Gorillets" (P109) are six sliders or mini burgers. They don't have the veg of the "Classic Kong", but they do have caramelized onion and cheese. I wasn't able to taste it because my burger left me full, but Ilyn said she loved it. And coming from her, it's something else, because she's even more picky about burgers than me. In fact, she doesn't like eating meat that often, but she's really glad she tried it.

The Gorillets were so substantial that Ilyn was able to finish only two and that was enough for her to feel full. We took  home the other four and I'm now really just waiting to be hungry again so I can eat them!

I was so happy with my meal that I just had to tell the dude behind the counter (who both took our order and cooked the burgers) that their burgers tasted really really good. The smile on the dude's face, so awesome. And he deserves it too. Did I say that these burgers were incredible? Yes, I DID! I told the dude that we'll be back. And we definitely will be.

Highly, absolutely, recommended! If you're in San Pablo and would like to have just one the most awesome burgers you'll ever have, check out this place. It's just beside the San Pablo District Jail (don't let that bother you, haha), along Mabini St.

8:00am to 9:00pm from Monday to Saturday, 4:00pm to 9:00pm on Sunday.

YOu Japanese Canteen & Sushi Hauz, San Pablo City

I really have to talk about this discovery we made just this past week. It's an unassuming... VERY unassuming Japanese food place near the Mabini side of Central School. They don't even call themselves a restaurant. The call themselves a "canteen" and that's exactly what it looks like. It's alfresco, there's nothing fancy about it, the tables don't have tablecloths and you don't know where the kitchen ends and the dining area begins. The more snobbish eaters probably won't be caught dead in a place like this, but I'm so glad we stopped to try it, because OMG the food was just terrific.

First up was the Kani Salad (P110). Because our table was just next to part of the kitchen (without a wall separating us) and we were just a couple of feet away, we had a full and clear view as the dude chopped and prepared it. Tasting it, I was just agog. It was amazing. I would put this up alongside the best Kani Salads from high end Japanese restaurants in Manila. It was just soooo good.

I had the "Gyu Saikoro" (P189) which was beef chunks in onion with mixed vegetables. This, along with several other dishes, is the most expensive item on the menu. Miso Soup (P70) and Java Rice not included. I had their Tenderloin Steak (P99) the other night and it was as every bit as good as the beef in this dish. Very soft, very tasty. The sweet soy based sauce complimented it very well.

I loved the Miso Soup. It's not too salty and it had just the right balance of flavors that I like in a Miso Soup.

Ilyn had the Tori Negi Yakitori (Chicken BBQ) (P49). Yes, FORTY NINE PESOS! Ilyn says it was really REALLY good. She says she would have paid more for an extra stick, but for that price,we thought it was more than worth it!

There are a lot of really inexpensive items on the menu, but the dishes themselves reflect that. Their P99 Tenderloin steak comes with two small, really small medallions of beef. You will definitely find yourself saying "Ang liit naman!!", but at that price, I think it's to be expected. Wait until you taste it though, you'll probably find yourself ordering another one!

In spite of the fact that they have "Sushi Hauz" in their name, they actually don't have any sushi items on the menu. But upon asking, they said they have Tamago and Kani sushi made to order if we wanted. We got the impression that they will start rolling it out soon enough.

It was a very satisfying dinner for Ilyn and me, and it completely erased the horrid experience we had at another place the previous night.

The crew was really friendly and accommodating, but seemed somewhat awkward. We attribute that to the canteen being new and this being probably their first outing running a restaurant. In spite of that, and more importantly, they cook like absolute pros. Yes, they do misspell stuff on their menu ("hauz" is a little cheesy, to be honest) and their decors do leave a lot to be desired, but Ilyn and I both think there's a certain charm to that. But we expect a lot of great things from them and we will be back here often!

This was our second time in this place, having gone again after only two days of trying it for the first time. We went tonight because I thought, man, I just HAVE to write about this place. I love the food here so much that it triggered my restarting this blog again. Last I checked they didn't have any Facebook presence. I really just want to help them find a few more customers. Try it if you're in town and you're not that fussy about where you eat.

YOu Japanese Canteen and Sushi Hauz can be found at the Farmers Bldg, corner of Malvar and A. Fule (Lopez Jaena) Sts., San Pablo City. It's a corner a way from the Mabini side of Central School.

Food Hopping Disaster

The one reason why I really haven't posted here is because my enthusiasm and my appetite for food aren't as healthy lately. I think it came with me being sick a lot the past year. But I'm slowly getting my appetite back up again and I think it's about time I started writing here again.

Sorry, no photos this time, but OMG, I just wanted to talk about the experience we had food hopping tonight. There are lots of new places opening up here in San Pablo City. I, for one, really love that there are a lot of new local businesses opening up. Can't have foreign franchises cornering the entire food market now can we?

With that in mind, I will NOT be mentioning the restaurants we visited tonight because I don't want them to lose any business. Any local business is a precious business. Just because I didn't like their food doesn't mean other people don't as well.

This first resto is quite a popular one, with a large hip following on Facebook. I ordered one of their beef dishes and Ilyn ordered a pork mince dish. It looks nice online, and it looks well, OK, in front of me. With the first bite I'm like... uh, oh. This isn't good. It tastes old. Weird. Not spoiled, just strange. Like it had been cooked days ago. As much as I wanted to finish it, I couldn't. Ilyn had a similar opinion about her pork mince dish. She didn't finish it either. We asked to take the leftovers home. Probably the dogs would like it. No, they didn't. Well, there you go.

Not feeling really satisfied, we wandered to a coffee shop a couple of doors down. Ilyn wanted to have either Americano or drip coffee. I wanted the same, maybe a tea or something. I didn't see any hot tea. So I asked for black gulaman. Not available. Ilyn looked somewhat horrified at the menu as she saw they didn't have either Americano or drip/brewed coffee listed, even though they had things like Espresso, Cappuccino... things like that. Which is just damned weird. Americano is nothing more than Espresso with additional hot water. No, they couldn't do it. We left.

On the way home I bought a dozen Lucban Longganisa along Mabini. At least this won't fail me.

More posts soon!

Satori Japanese Restaurant, San Benito, Alaminos

SATORI, a new Japanese restaurant just opened in San Benito, just a few steps from the San Pablo boundary next to Honda San Pablo. I'm always excited when a new restaurant opens. I'm even more excited when it's a Japanese restaurant because I just love Japanese food! Yes, there have been a few Japanese type restaurants in (or near) San Pablo before, but although they were just OK, to be honest, they're just not worth writing about. But Satori is, so here we are.

The first thing I ordered was their Miso Soup, and then their Sashimi platter, which they call "Sashimi Moriawase" (Mixed Sashimi). Based on their menu, this platter should contain Norweigan pink salmon, tamago, sea urchin, crab stick and tiger prawns. The menu didn't say, but there's tuna in there as well. Price was P360 for the platter. As sashimi platters go, this was on the less expensive side (compared to other Japanese restaurants in Manila).  The salmon and tuna were just excellent. They're of course, my favorite sashimi cut. The sea urchin was rather curious. I've had sea urchin before at Haru Sushi Bar in Kapitolyo, and it looked nothing like the sea urchin in this platter. I remember it being really disgustingly slimy like brain matter. But it tasted delicious. I assume the sea urchin in this platter is the one on the far right, which is kind of a dried, preserved version I think. Not as delicious. But just OK. Could it have been eel instead? I don't know. That's what I get for the price I guess, so that's just all right. All in all, I was very satisfied with it.

I also loved their Miso Soup. Not too salty. Not as subtle as I would like, but it's better than most I've had.

Ilyn was with me and she ordered the Beef Curry toppings. She has an issue with the presentation of it, insisting that when a dish is called "toppings" it should be in a rice bowl with the toppings on top. This was on a plate with the toppings on the side. It's cosmetic, of course, but sometimes, presentation does affect your enjoyment of it. Personally, I didn't like the look of this. It should have been better if it had been in a bowl as toppings, or maybe the rice and curry be served in separate bowls. Taste wise, she said it was just OK.

Me, I don't go to Japanese restaurants for curry. It's the raw fish that makes or breaks it for me. I wouldn't mind going back here for another round. If you're looking for the best Japanese restaurant in the San Pablo area, this is definitely it.

Looking around online for other reviews of this restaurant, I came upon this blog. They said when they went there, they were given free soup while they waited for their order. What? Really? We didn't get any. Was it kind of an opening promo? I really don't know. It's just interesting to note. Reading through their blog entry, they got OTHER free stuff. WTF. We're definitely missing out.

Feijoada

Feijoada is a dish I've learned of only recently through a long time online pal of mine from Brazil, Bira Dantas. I finally met Bira in person early in October during a comics festival in Algeria. Like many cartoonists I met at the festival, Bira was extremely proud of his culture and he wasted no time sharing all the great things he loved about Brazil. Food was of course, one of those things.

He invited me to visit him in Brazil and if ever I found myself there, he would cook Feijoada for me. He described it to me and the bean and meat lover in me immediately stood at attention. I love beans and I love meat, although they really don't love me back. These things are full of uric acid you see, and uric acid is something I'm trying avoid. It's the cause of gout and other arthritis-related ailments. And I've had a problem with gout for quite a while.

Nevertheless I wanted to try this out. Feijoada is composed mostly of beans and assortment of meats from bacon, to smoked ham, to sausages, etc. So yeah, in this house this is alternately called "Uric Acid Surprise".

I don't have access to a few authentic ingredients so I decided to just replace them with what's available here in the Philippines. These is is the set of ingredients I decided upon:

150 grams black beans
1/4 kilo bacon
300 grams kielbasa sausage
5 pieces San Pablo longganisa
1/4 kilo smoked ham
1 piece chopped T-bone
1 big white onion chopped
5 cloves garlic minced
chopped parsley for garnishing

I had difficulty finding black beans locally. What's available mostly are red kidney beans and pinto beans. I've had to go to Healthy Options to find a bag of black beans which were organic (which is I suppose, a good thing) and kind of expensive (oh well). Of course I could have just as easily replaced the black beans with some other kind of bean, but if I can get black beans then I would rather go with that since that is what is specified traditionally.

To add a Filipino touch, I used locally available sausages like the native longganisa. I also had a frozen T-bone steak lying around so I thought I'd just throw that in.

OK, here's how I did it (with some tips from Chef John of Food Wishes):

I first submerged the black beans in water overnight. The following day, I drained the beans, placed them on a deep pot with 4 cups of water. I chopped up the T-bone and threw that in (including the bones) and boiled it for 2 hours. I brought the pot to a boil in high heat then brought down the heat to low as soon as it started boiling. In the first few minutes of boiling, scum rose to the top so I removed all of that.

Around 15 minutes before the 2 hours are up, I chopped the garlic and onion. I sauteed that in some oil (you can fry up some bacon and sautee the garlic and onion in that if you like). I chopped the meat into bite size pieces. I cooked the longganiza in oil until it was browned and chopped that. If you are using uncooked meat at this point, you better cook it first before throwing it in.

At the 2 hour mark, I placed the sauteed onion and garlic into the pot of boiling water and beans, threw in all the meat, added one and a half cups of water. I turned the heat to high once again, and once it starts boiling, I brought the heat back to low. I continued simmering for another hour, with occasional stirring.

Before the hour is up, I mashed up some of the beans in the pot with a potato masher. This will help make the liquid a bit thicker.

I served my Feijoada topped with chopped parsley with rice. (Traditionally topped with orange peels so you can go with that if you like.)

Chawarma at Algiers, Algeria

Ilyn and I recently had an opportunity to travel abroad. We visited two countries, Algeria and France. Being food nuts we were excited at the opportunity to try authentic dishes from both countries.

In Algeria we stayed at the Hotel Safir, which is known as an "International" hotel, As such, they normally serve international cuisine. We were in Algeria for a comics festival and our meals there were "set" meals. Meaning, what they give you, that's what you eat. For the most part, they served attempts at international cuisine. Steaks, pasta, all all that kind of stuff. And honestly, they weren't really that good.

Ilyn and I decided that if we ever want to taste authentic Algerian food, we have to go out of the hotel and eat where the locals eat.

So during our last day in Algiers we went for a walk and found this place that had this familiar vertical meat spit. Here in the Philippines that meant "shawarma".

I thought, hey, I have to see what shawarma in Algeria tastes like! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to catch the name of the restaurant, but I did see a big sign inside the store that said "CHAWARMA", so I guess that's what they call that there.

Algerian people speak French and a local native language, none of which I know. So it was pretty difficult to communicate. But all I did was point to the spit, and the dude (pictured above) immediately knew we wanted to eat. We proceeded to sit at one of the tables. The dude approached us and asked us what we wanted and we said well, "Chawama".... and he was making all these kinds of gesticulations with his hand and saying stuff we don't understand. Apparently, he's asking us something specific about what we wanted. He was drawing circles in the air and my best solution is to just say yes to everything.

He then asked us to move and transfer to another table. I didn't understand at first why. Then we moved to another table. And then he asked us to move again. I was scratching my head at this point because he was pointing us towards the wall. He wanted us to go to the wall? What?

And then I saw that next to the wall was a very small stairway going downstairs. They wanted us to go downstairs? But why? I hesitated for a moment, and then I went ahead downstairs... and then I understood. The downstairs area was airconditioned. Ah OK.

We were all alone downstairs in this basement dining area for a while before the dude brought us our food. And it was on a plate. Apparently, they serve chawarma two ways. On a bread or on a plate. That was what he was tying to ask us earlier. When he drew circles in the air, he was drawing a plate. So when I said yes, he understood that to mean we wanted our chawarma on a plate.

That was just fine. We loved all the little side dishes that came with it! There were beets, olives, carrots, cucumber, pickles, chopped cabbage, fries, and well, mayonnaise. They don't use that creamy and spicy garlic sauce that we use over here.

And man, the meat was just incredibly nice and flavorful. Ilyn and I both loved it. And the side dishes complimented the meat perfectly. It was one of the best meals I've had in Algeria. We took our time eating it because it was quite a lot! I was already full halfway through. Computing it to our money here in the Philippines, one set of the plated Chawarma  and Fanta drink amounted to something like P250 pesos, but it's definitely worth it! Specially since it came with a complimentary plate or bread.

More food adventures in Algeria and France coming soon!

Jollibee's Ultimate Burger Steak And Why I No Longer Want It. (UPDATED)

UPDATE (December 2014): Hey, what do you know? They now include mashed potatoes with their Ultimate Burger Steak! YEAH! Now I like it again. I recently tried it and I loved it, although it still included fries, and the mashed potatoes just wasn't enough. I wanted more! Hopefully, I can order extra next time!

Yes! I'm back from a bit of a hiatus on this blog, and I'm back with a RANT! Yes, a RANT. You know I kinda like Jollibee's burgers, and this Ultimate Burger steak is no exception. I really like it, apart from the damned soggy fries.

Whoever thought it would be nice to put the burger steak on top of fries and drown it in gravy must have confused "fries" with "mashed potatoes", which is well, NOT THE SAME THING.

Drown mashed potatoes in gravy YES. That's AWESOME. More gravy, please!

Drown fries in gravy? Well, that's just STUPID. Who wants to eat soggy, limp fries? I don't know. Certainly not me!

I solved my problem by asking the clerks at the counter to separate the fries when the prepare it for me. That really shouldn't be a problem, right? Well, yes, for the most part. The couple times I was able to request this I came away really happy.

Well, a while ago, I went back to Jollibee (this is the branch here in San Pablo City next to the SPC Medical Center), ordered Ultimate Burger Steak and requested the same thing. Please separate the fries.

The manager downright said "NO". And then offered to separate the gravy instead. Huh? WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE? I don't get the logic. I don't understand what sense that makes. Are they saving on paper (the paper bag that comes with separating fries)? But then they are using an extra plastic cup if they wish to separate the gravy. Again, I don't understand.

We told the manager we were able to ask to separate the fries before and then the manager went off and angrily scolded his staff for separating the fries. "WE DON'T SEPARATE FRIES!!"  wtf. I mean, wtf.

Jollibee SPC Medical has just earned its special place in Bizarro world.

I complained about this online to Jollibee's customer service, but not having received any reply, I'm posting this here for everyone to read.

I'm not buying any more Ultimate Burger Steaks in that branch. Or maybe not at any branch anymore.

You know, I can be asked the same thing. What's the difference if Jollibee wants to separate the gravy instead? Well, genius...it's the fact that they refuse to grant a customer's request, which is in my opinion, not really unreasonable. I can pay for the God damned extra paper bag if they want because that's HOW I WANT IT. I eat my food how *I* want it, and not how *they* want it.

Maybe I'll just stick to the CHAMP. Sorry Jollibee. Your twisted sense of logic has lost you an Ultimate Burger Steak customer.

Gerry's Chili

Yep! I like my own chili so much that I decided to name it after me! It's one of the very few things I cooked that I'm proud to attach my own name to it.

Chili is one of my all time favorite dishes. It's not a traditional Filipino dish by any means, but I don't mind. The first time I tasted something like this was at Wendy's, and it seemed interesting. I decided to try it whenever and where ever it popped up on a menu. One of the best chilis I tasted was in restaurant in Detroit, but I've forgotten the name of the place. Its distinct quality was it was fine, thick and soupy, as if all the ingredients have completely dissolved into one consistent goop. It was awesome.

The next best chili I tasted was the one in Mile High near Camp John Hay in Baguio. The waiter was a bit of an ass, but we put up with him because the chili was awesome. Very different kind of chili. You can still see the meat, vegetables and beans in a relatively thin soup, but all together it was very nice.

I didn't like the chili of both Chili's and Johnny Rockets. TOO OILY.

I decided to try to make my own and after several attempts, I finally found one that suits me perfectly. These are the ingredients I used:

1/2 kilo lean ground beef
200g smoked bacon, chopped into 1 inch pieces
1 big onion, finely chopped
8 cloves garlic finely chopped
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon rock salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon dried oregano leaves
1 400g can Molinera red beans
1 400g can Molinera white beans
1 400g can Capri whole peeled tomatoes
1 small can Molinera pimientos
5 pcs. green finger chili peppers (siling haba), seeded and chopped finely
2 tablesooons Tabasco Chipotle Pepper Sauce
2 sticks celery, chopped
2 medium sized green bell pepper chopped
2-1/2 cups water
cheese (for toppings)

First, throw in the chopped bacon in a deep pot on medium high heat. Let it cook for a few minutes to render out the fat. Add just a little bit more oil and then throw in the garlic and the onion. At this stage you need to add the chili powder, cumin and oregano. Stir very well until the spices are absorbed by the onion and becomes soft.

Throw in the ground beef and add the salt and ground black pepper. Stir very well. Now I know the bacon will already bring a lot of saltiness, but I think you need this additional salt for the entire dish. Don't add anymore salt until you've tasted it much later.

Add the whole peeled tomatoes. With a masher or big spoon, mash the tomatoes very well. Add the pimientos, celery, green bell pepper, green chili peppers, and beans and stir very well. Add the chipotle pepper sauce, garlic powder and water. Stir and bring to a boil.

Once it's boiling, turn the heat down to low and allow to simmer for an hour.

After one hour, taste it. If it's not salty enough for you, feel free to add more salt. If it's not spicy enough, feel free to add more chipotle sauce.

Spoon over onto a serving bowl, top with your favorite cheese and there you go!

*I specified Molinera beans and Capri tomatoes, but feel free to choose any brand you wish, if those brands are not available in your area. I used the green chili peppers that are commonly available here in San Pablo, commonly called "Siling Haba", but if I had my way, I would use fresh jalapeno peppers. The closest thing I can get to that is Tabasco's Chipotle Pepper sauce (Chipotle is smoked red jalapeno), which is available at the local SM.

That's it! I hope you give it a try and let me know what you think.

Corned Beef From Scratch: Sinigang

If you're visiting this site for the first time, this is PART II of my Corned Beef From Scratch series. It's probably best if you read PART I first where I talked about creating corned beef from scratch in full detail.

I took half of the corned beef I cooked yesterday, put in on the ref with the stock and kept it there overnight.

Today, I made sinigang out of it.

Ok, now here's where I admit that I did not make the sinigang out of scratch. I used a combination of instant mixes of Sinigang sa Bayabas and Sinigang sa Sampalok. I know... I KNOW. If I had bothered to make corned beef out of scratch, then I should have taken the trouble to make sinigang out of scratch as well.

Well, I throw up my hands and say that you're right. But being only 60% happy with my corned beef, I wanted to know right away how it would do with sinigang and I really couldn't be bothered to go through the trouble. Perhaps when I'm completely happy with my corned beef, I'll be happy enough to do sinigang from scratch as well.

With perhaps around a liter of water from the wash water of rice, I threw in some crushed garlic and quartered tomatoes. I put the mixes in (I want really sour soup so I put more than what is usually indicated in the package), brought everything to a boil, added my vegetables which are okra, labanos, sitaw and the beef. I had cut the beef into smaller cubes, being very careful not to break it apart because by now it's so soft it's really falling apart. After boiling for some 5 minutes (you don't need to boil longer than that because the beef is already cooked, and the vegetables cook quickly), I added kang kong leaves on top, boiled for a minute more, and turned off the heat.

How was it? I was definitely happier with this, than I was with the Corned Beef Hash I made yesterday!

Corned Beef From Scratch

After tasting some awesome home made corned beef at Cafe Juanita, it pretty much inspired me and challenged me to create some of my own corned beef, from scratch of course!

Looking through recipes online, at first it seemed rather complicated, but after reading up some more, it really wasn't. It would just take a long time to do. Which is perfectly OK.

I ended up buying half a kilo of kalitiran, which is actually Blade Chuck if we're going by cow terms. I'm not sure if it's the best cut of beef for Corned Beef (it isn't, it's actually Brisket).

BRINING

Brining pretty much means submerging meat in water with a variety of spices. For this stage, these are the ingredients I used:

A container to brine the meat in.
Half a kilo blade chuck
2/3 cup rock salt
1 teaspoon pink curing salt
1 tablespoon pickling spices*
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 liter water

*Pickling spice is a combination of equal parts the following spices:

all spice
mustard seeds
coriander seeds
cardamom (crushed)
a bit of cinammon stick (crushed)
bay leaf
ground ginger
whole black pepper corns
whole cloves
pepper flakes

You would need at least 2 tablespoons of pickling spice. You will use one now for brining, and one for later.

I sealed the container well and placed it inside the refrigerator.

SIMMERING

After 7 days I removed the beef from the brine and discarded the liquid. I washed the beef a little bit to remove remaining brine and spices that stuck to it.

I placed the beef  in a deep pot or dutch oven with around 2 liters of water. Turn the heat to high and bring it to a boil. Remove any scum that rises to the top. Once the scum is removed, I added 1 tablespoon of the remaining pickling spice. I brought the heat down as low as it goes, until the liquid is almost barely bubbling. I covered it and let it simmer like that for 3 and a half hours, or until beef is fork tender, but not disintegrating.

I then cut the beef and half, reserving one half for Corned Beef Sinigang (for tomorrow!) and the other half for Corned Beef Hash (for tonight!).

CORNED BEEF HASH

I sauteed some chopped garlic and onion and oil for a few minutes, added one finely chopped small potato.  and fried it for several minutes until the potato was just about soft and sticking to the pan. I then added half the beef and pulled the beef apart in the pan itself with a couple of forks which was easily accomplished since the beef was extremely tender. I added 1 large pinch of salt, some ground black pepper, and sauteed everything for a few more minutes.

I garnished the dish with a few sliced onions.

What's the verdict?

Well, it could have put more curing salt (I only used one teaspoon) to make the meat more red. The camera somewhat enhanced the color of the meat in the photo above. But I was wary of using too much of it.

I was also kind of puzzled that the meat didn't come out salty from the brining that I had to add additional salt in the cooking. Perhaps I should have just left the beef in the refrigerator after simmering it and used it a few days later to allow the taste to develop? I don't know.

Also, I probably used too much cardamom or some other spice.... because it seemed to be too noticeable in the finished dish.

As an experiment, I would say this was around 60% successful. I will try again!

Tomorrow the Corned Beef Sinigang!

Cafe Juanita: I Died and went to Food Heaven

Yesteray Ilyn and I went to Manila and finding ourselves in the Barangay Capitol Hills area, we decided to eat at Cafe Juanita. It's a restaurant I've heard so much about. In fact, it's been voted many times as the best that serves traditional Filipino food.

Oh yeah? We went ahead to try it out.

The first thing you notice upon entering the place is the visual assault of the many things that decorate the interior. I can't even begin to describe it. Here's a photo, showing just a small segment of the dining area.

Ok, that didn't even begin to show how crazy the decor is so I'll just leave it at that. The food is the important thing anyway. So how was it?

Ilyn and I ordered two things: Corned Beef Sinigang and Laing.

Seemed simple enough. I tasted the Laing first (pictured above). The Laing was presented in quite an ordered way, unlike the usual mush of leaves stirred endlessly together. They rolled the leaves over a meat of some kind and sliced it. I took a bite of one of the slices and oh my God, it was so awesome. I've eaten laing so many times before from so many different places. I don't understand how they can make it taste even better, even spectacular. My eyes were literally rolling in their sockets. I tend to do that when I taste something awesome.

I was eager to try the Corned Beef Sinigang next.

Ok, so they didn't just open a can of corned beef and made sinigang out of that. Apparently, they made their own corned beef but it still looked like whole pieces of beef, cut into thin slices. And once again, oh my God, the beef was probably the softest that's ever passed my lips (softer than that Donovan's steak). It's so soft that the mere pressure from a fork crumbles the beef into shreds. The soup itself is perfectly tart for sinigang, but it has something else in there that makes the taste so soft to the taste. Perhaps bayabas? I'm guessing it is.  Whatever it is, it's brought this dish right to the edge. Once again, I can't believe I'm saying this... I've tasted corned beef before, I've tasted sinigang before, but I'm not kidding when I say this is the best damned corned beef and sinigang I've tasted. It's kind of insane.

The nice thing about their sinigang is, they actually give you a small cup with some of the soup for you to preview its tartness and saltiness. The would ask you if it was all right or if they need to turn it up a little bit or lessen it. I've never seen anyone do that before.

Cafe Juanita, I love you, dammit! I'm coming back and next time I'm bringing my mom and dad.

Cafe Juanita is at 2 United Street, Barangay Kapitolyo, Pasig. Be sure to call to reserve a table at peak hours because apparently, we were lucky to find a free table when we came in. All the tables had "Reserved" on them! (02) 632-0357