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!

Kinulob Style Afritada

I had this one whole chicken in the freezer waiting to be cooked and this time around I thought I'd do Afritada, with a few special adjustments. I would be cooking the chicken whole, stewed in my favorite Capri canned whole peeled tomatoes, pimiento, pepperoni (left over from pizza I made earlier), and the standard afridata ingredients potato and carrots.

These are my ingredients:

1 whole chicken
1 400g can Capri whole peeled tomatoes (doesn't have to be Capri, as long as it's Italian)
1 113g small can Capri pimientos (also doesn't have to be Capri), chopped
1 tsp dried tarragon
1/3 cup sliced pepperoni (cut from sausage, not the precut kind), or any smoked sausage
1 green bell pepper sliced
6 cloves garlic, crushed
1 big white onion, chopped
1 large potato, cubed
1 small carrot, sliced
2 cups water or chicken stock
1 chicken bouillon cube
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (more or less, according to taste, also optional)
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper (to taste)
1 teaspoon brown sugar

I first sauteed the garlic and onion in oil in a medium sized deep pot or dutch oven (I actually used a rice cooker pot), added the chopped pimientos and tomatoes. Crush the tomatoes with a potato masher or if you don't have that,  a large spoon will do. Add the tarragon, bouillon cube, 2 cups water, teaspoon salt, sugar, 1 teaspoon ground black pepper, pepper flakes and the pepperoni. Now I like putting pepperoni or some other smoked sausage so it will give the afritada somewhat of a smokey flavor (which I like).

Place the chicken at the center of the pot. Most likely the liquid won't cover the entire chicken but that's OK. Add the cubed potato, sliced carrot and bay leaves around the chicken.

Put the heat on high and once it starts boiling, turn the heat down to low and continue simmering for the next 45 minutes. Turn the chicken over, and then continue simmering for another 30 minutes. Most likely you would no longer need to add any more water. Before the 30 minutes ends, maybe 5 minutes before you take the chicken off the heat, add your sliced green bell peppers. Taste the sauce to see if you still need more salt or if you want it more spicy.

McDonald's McSpicy Burger Taste Test!

Ok, sorry, I wasn't able to take a photo of the burger myself. It was an unexpected thing, walking into McDonald's one day and I saw this new burger. I asked the counter person if it was chicken and she said YES.

So yeah! I just had to order one. Like I said, I wasn't able to take a picture, but the one I got actually generally looked like that photo, except of course mine wasn't THAT thick. It was thick, but not that thick.

I had given up  the standard McChicken Sandwich after KFC came out with their Zinger sandwich which I reviewed here. Up to this point my favorite chicken fast food burger was the Zinger. Now it was time to see if I'll have a new favorite.

What did I think?

I thought the McSpicy was just awesome. Well, as awesome as KFC's Zinger sandwich is. In fact, it tastes very much like a Zinger with that crunchy breading on a chicken fillet with just the right amount of heat that I can tolerate and still enjoy. The only real difference is that the McSpicy came with lots more lettuce. So is the McSpicy my new favorite burger?

Let me just call it a tie. I love them both. I'll eat them both if I can. If I'm in McDonald's I'll eat this one. If I'm in KFC, I'll eat the Zinger. That's pretty much it!

Fathers' Day at Savory Restaurant

Of all the restaurants here in San Pablo City, Savory Resturant is my dad's favorite. I think it may even be his favorite restaurant of all time, I suspect for sentimental reasons. He loved eating at this joint back when he was still working in Escolta, Manila, where there was this Savory Restaurant just across from his office. Dad would always wax sentimental about "Miki Bihon Binondo", but he could explain just how different it was from the regular Miki Bihon.

So come Fathers' Day, it was only natural that he'd pick this place to have lunch. SM San Pablo has a branch of it, a rather frustratingly small one, but at least there is one. I say frustratingly small because it is small, almost like just a hole in the wall.

And yesterday during Fathers' Day, the place was already packed as early as 11am with a long waiting list. Hey Savory, time to expand, I think. Take a chunk of McDonald's next door, which is a little too large. They already have several branches in San Pablo already. FOUR branches? They have too much space!

Anyway, we got seats soon enough and we ordered the following:

Dad of course had his favorite Miki Bihon Binondo. The rest were:
1/2 Fried Chicken
Lo Han Chay (Kind of a mixed vegetable stir fry thing)
Shrimp Relleno Roll
Nido Soup

I actually wanted to order their "Kaylan with Garlic" but it was unavailable.

The interesting thing is, this is the first tme I'm eating Nido Soup, also called "Bird's Nest" soup in a restaurant. I've eaten plenty of this through instant packs here at home. But I've never had one made from scratch. The interesting thing is, the main ingredient of this soup is this solid membrane like substance, which turns out to be bird saliva. wtf. For real? Yes, apparently, for real. It tastes interesting, like biting into really soft edible plastic. I know that sounds horrible, but it actually isn't. It's actually very nice.

This ingredient was also prominent in the Lo Han Chay, which as I said was kind of a vegetable stir fry. It included mushrooms, bamboo, mung beans sprouts, young corn, tofu, cabbage, etc. Very nice. Like Chop Suey without the meat, but with more variety of veggies. As usual, it's that sauce that puts it together, a taste that I get only at Chinese restaurants. I can't put my finger on what it is.

Fried Chicken at Savory is always nice. I don't know how they fry their chicken, but the difference with their is that the flesh is amazingly soft, almost like it was slow roasted. The gravy is also unique, but this time I think I know what they put in it, which must have been star anise. It's not too overpowering, but it does give that unique Chinese taste and aroma.

Their Miki Bihon Binondo I found too oily, which is a problem I have with a lot of their dishes. At other times I ordered fried fresh lumpia, and kikiam, and they too were kind of oily. I know they were fried in oil, but still, when I would do it at home, they're never that oily. Perhaps they don't drain the oil in paper towels before serving? I don't know.

The Shrimp Relleno Roll was also nice. My mom liked it a lot. Ilyn didn't so much. I thought it was just OK.

I didn't order it this time, but at other times I've been ordering their Chicken Mami quite a bit, and I like it. It comes with plenty of chicken and the soup tastes really nice. Ever since Chowking stopped serving Chicken Mami. I found I'm eating more at Savory just for Chicken Mami. Sorry Chowking. You may have Ser Chief, but if you don't have Chicken Mami, I'm out of there.

Gumbo at New Orleans, Resorts World

I was at Newport Mall,  Resorts World for a thing a few days ago and while I was killing time I watched some awesome Flamenco Dancers from Spain and enjoyed this Gumbo from Murray's New Orleans Bourbon Street Ribs, Steaks and Oysters.

I myself had cooked some Gumbo not too long ago, sticking to what was purportedly an authentic New Orleans recipe, complete with some creole sausages. It tasted pretty good. I wish now I had written the recipe down or at least took a picture for this blog.

But I wanted to taste one from a restaurant that seemed served authentic New Orleans food, as authentic as one can find it here in the Philippines, that is.

I ordered their standard gumbo dish, which is described as "Creole Cajun stew, shrimp, shellfish, oysters, blackened chicken, andouille sausage, Holy trinity, tomatoes and okra." All right then!

What did I think?

I thought it was pretty good, although I found it a little bit on the salty side. Very salty. It's just probably my taste buds which has been used to less sodium for the past several years. But the taste of the thing was very nice, specially the sausages. The okra was surprisingly crunchy, which was kind of unexpected. All the vegetables were actually kind of crunchy which indicates that they were just perfectly done and not overcooked. However, I thought the shrimp needed a little more cooking time. It was just almost there, and had a bit of a slimy bland taste to it.

I did bite into a piece that turned out to be something like a gob of peanut butter? What the? Peanut butter? That's what it tasted like that is. Perhaps it wasn't mixed in the soup properly? Was it supposed to be a thickening agent of some sort? Upon realizing it was something like peanut butter, I went ahead and crushed it and blended it into the soup. And that worked just fine. The taste was surprisingly complementary to the whole thing.

Based on what I've seen of New Orleans food, it's something I feel I would naturally be attracted to. Jambalaya, for instance, is something also enjoy quite a lot.

I don't mind coming back. I'm hoping I can request for less sodium next time around.

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