"Magic Sarap" and Chefs

Ok, time for something different. I just wanted to make a long winded comment about Maggi's "Magic Sarap" seasoning granules.

I am by no means a chef, but I'm a student of cooking and cooking things right. If there's one thing I learned, if you intend to be a "real" chef, you create everything from scratch as much as possible. If you're making sinigang, you don't buy a sinigang mix. You make that sinigang from scratch with fresh tamarinds.

If you're making something something simple, even something like adobo, you don't buy a ready made adobo marinade mix. You just use soy sauce, vinegar and garlic.

I think that's a great way of cooking because you are aware of and are in control of everything that goes into the food that you serve.

"Magic Sarap" replaces salt in that it provides sodium and many other flavor enhancers like monosodium glutamate (MSG), iodized salt, spices and stuff like "meat powder". It's a flavor enhancer that's supposed to enhance the taste of food.

Chefs are not supposed to need "flavor enhancers" because they can do all of this from scratch. Because as chefs, that's what they're supposed to do. That's what they have studied to do and have trained to do. It's what they're supposed to be proud to do. They don't take shortcuts.

So this is why I'm puzzled why a lot of local chefs, even one I've respected for years, go and peddle "Magic Sarap". There's Judy Ann Santos, and there's even Sandy Daza. I mean, SANDY DAZA?

What really drives me to a rage is this Marvin Agustin ad that seems to show Knorr's Ginataang Gulay mix tastes better than one made from scratch. I mean wtf. Peddle that shit all you want, but when you start to say shit like this is better than one made with real ingredients, then you're out of your God damned mind.

I believe chefs cannot separate their training and what they do in their own restaurants, and the persona they present to us in commercials. They're professionals in that what they practice in their cooking is what the should practice when they try to sell us "products". Is Sandy Daza trying to tell me that he uses Magic Sarap in the food that he serves at his restaurant? And is he happily telling me to don't cook from scratch, just use these shortcuts? Is that the kind of cooking knowledge he wants to pass on to me? To all of us? How does that reflect on him as a chef?

What do I have against Magic Sarap? Not too much, actually. It's just that I had this idealized idea of what a chef is like, and they would never and should never use something like this.

But additionally, Magic Sarap contains MSG, which can exacerbate allergic reactions from susceptible people. READ THIS FOR MORE.

Magic Sarap also includes vaguely described elements like "meat powder". What is that? What kind of meat are we talking here? This means anything cooked with Magic Sarap, even if they're vegetables, cannot be considered meat free. Vegetarians beware.

Lapu-Lapu Badjao

Holy crap, this is a BIG one. My mom brought out a really old book entitled "The Flavour of Manila" Edited by Kenneth Mitchell, which lists the specialties and recipes of several high end restaurants in Manila popular in the 1970s. My eye gravitated towards this dish called "Lapu-Lapu Badjao", which was the specialty of this restaurant called "Badjao Inn". I don't know if that even exists in Manila anymore, although there is a place with the same name in Palawan. I don't know if it's the same place.

But anyway, I was intrigued by it. I've never seen anything like it, and I've never tasted anything like it. There were no ingredients that were too difficult to find so I decided to attempt doing it. "Attempt" being the operative word.

In any case, I'm posting the recipe here so that probably means it was a resounding success.

Here are the ingredients, slightly modified from the book.

Main dish:

olive oil (for frying)
1 medium sized onion
6 cloves garlic
1 large Lapu-Lapu
1 kilo halaan (the book specifies clams)*
1 kilo tahong (the book specifies mussels)*
1/2 kilo shrimp*
1 green pepper (siling haba)
2 red bird's eye chili**
1/2 inch ginger
8 leaves fresh basil
2 tablespoons kinchay
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1-1/2 teaspoon salt
Banana leaf
Aluminum foil

For the garnishing:

olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
8 leaves fresh basil, chopped
10 cloves chopped garlic
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 lemon

Preparation

Steam the tahong and halaan until they open. Take half the halaan, remove the meat and place in a container. Take half the tahong, remove the meat and place in the same container. Take around 3/4 of the shrimp, Remove the shells, devein, and then place in the same container. Allow the halaan and tahong to cool down a bit. Put them all on a chopping board and chop all finely. Place back in the container.

You have some remaining unshelled shrimp and half of both the halaan and tahong still in the shells. Just set them aside for now.

Take the green pepper (siling haba), remove the seeds and chop finely. Chop around 8 big leaves of fresh basil. Chop the same amount of kinchay. Grate the ginger finely with a cheese grater. Chop two red bird's eye chili. Put them all in the same container with the halaan, tahong and shrimp. Mix well.

Cooking

Sautee the garlic and onion in olive oil in a pan for a few minutes on medium-low heat until the onion becomes soft and the garlic becomes slightly brown. The reason why this can't be on high heat is because it will brown the garlic quickly and make it bitter.

Turn the heat to medium high and then throw in the shrimp-tahong-halaan and vegtable mixture you made into the pan. Add the ground black pepper and salt and stir for several minutes until the shrimp is cooked. This is now your stuffing for the fish. Allow to cool for several minutes.

In the meantime, prepare your Lapu Lapu. Cut the stomach side of the fish so you can open it up like a book. Carefully remove the backbone. You can have them do this in the market or do it yourself, although the former is much MUCH easier. Salt the outside of the fish on both sides.

Place a large piece of aluminum foil on a flat surface. Take your banana leaf and pass it carefully and quickly over the fire on your stove to make the leaf more pliable. Place the banana leaf on the aluminum foil. Place the fish on the banana leaf. Open the fish and stuff the cavity with your stuffing. You don't have to jam all the stuffing in. If it's already full, you can set aside extra stuffing in the ref for the meantime (you can make tortang talong out of that if you like at a later time).

Carefully close the fish back up again, and if it doesn't close all the way, that's OK. Wrap the banana leaf completely over the fish, and then wrap the aluminum foil over everything. Make sure it's completely sealed in the foil.

Place the wrapped fish in a pre-heated oven at 200 degrees C for 45-50 minutes.

Garnishing

While the fish is baking, take the tahong and halaan  that's still in the shell that you set aside earlier, and remove half of the shells that do not include the meat.

In a pan, place a small amount of olive oil in a heated pan, add the butter and allow the butter to melt. Add the garlic and stir for a few minutes. Throw in the shrimp and stir until it is almost cooked. Throw in the tahong and halaan, sugar, salt, ground black pepper and chopped basil. Stir on high heat for a few minutes. Turn of the heat and pour in the sesame oil. Stir it well. Set aside to cool.

Slice to lemon into circles.***

Serving

Once the fish is done, carefully remove from the oven and transfer the fish, along with the banana leaf into a serving tray. Decorate the the fish with your tahong, shrimp and halaan, along with the lemon. You can further garnish it with some kinchay leaves and pepper (like in the picture!)

That's it! I was pretty nervous how it would turn out, but it turned out great! Everyone loved it!

****************

*The recipe specifies 100g each of cooked mussels, clams and shrimp. It doesn't take into consideration that when buying from the market, you have to include the weight of the shells, which in the case of tahong and halaan, is quite substantial. It also doesn't take into account additional tahong, halaan and shrimp that's needed to garnish the dish. I added quantities of each accordingly.

**Bird's Eye Chili is different from Siling Labuyo. If you've seen "siling labuyo" sold in the market that's longer than an inch, it's not actually labuyo but Bird's Eye Chili which originates from Taiwan. The true "siling labuyo" is far shorter, and packs a hotter punch.

***The lemon is not just for show. You can use that the squeeze lemon juice into the fish while eating. It gives the fish a much fresher flavor.

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.

Home Made Pork and Beans

Who else is frustrated when they crack open a can of pork and beans and see only a small sliver of pork fat amidst all the beans? Ridiculous right?

I wanted to finally set things right by making my own home made pork and beans, and jam it with a ton load of pork, with a big dose of smoked bacon. REVENGE.

Here are my ingredients:

Two 400 gram cans of cooked beans (I used pinto beans)
1/2 kilo pork liempo, sliced into bite size pieces
200 grams smoked bacon, cut into 1 inch strips
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon molasses
1 cup tomato ketchup
1 tsp mustard
3 cups water
1 tsp ground black pepper

The first thing to do is put the bacon in a deep pot on high heat and let it sweat out its oil. If the oil isn't enough, add just a little bit more and fry until the bacon for a couple of minutes. Add the pork and stir for another few minutes.

Add the sugar, ketchup, molasses, mustard, black pepper, beans and water. Stir until everything is properly mixed and then bring to a boil. Once it's boiling, bring the heat down to as low as it goes until it's just barely bubbling. Cover, and let simmer this way for the next 3 hours. Longer if you like.

I cook it that long because I want everything to be almost falling apart. It will probably already be fine after 2 and a half hours, but no, I want the pork to be incredibly soft.

Notice I no longer added salt. That's because the bacon already brought in a lot of sodium, but if your taste buds call for more salt after tasting it, then by all means.

I also used canned cooked beans because raw beans are really so difficult to soften up. It takes overnight dunking in water and a few more hours of boiling... I thought the cooked can beans would do the job just fine.

It turned out great! Everyone loved it! Me too!

Home Made Ciabatta

I was inspired to try making my own bread after seeing a seemingly simple video recipe from Chef John of Foodwishes.com.

My first attempt a couple of weeks ago ended in a disaster when I "adjusted" the ingredients slightly. I remembered Wolfgang Puck commenting once, "Baking is like an architect. You measure everything VERY exactly."

Baking is like an architect. RIGHT. But I get the essential gist of it, so this time around, I measured everything exactly.

4 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon yeast
2 cups warm water
1/2 teaspoon salt
cornmeal (for dusting the pan)

I mixed all of that in a big aluminum bowl with a wooden spatula. Now as you mix this, you may start to think the dough is a little too dry. The last time I panicked and added more water. That ended in disaster. Don't add any more water. Just keep mixing this and it will come together eventually. Just expect to exert your arm a little bit.

Cover the bowl with aluminum foil. Now Chef John specified 18 hours for the dough to rise. Since I used a fast rising yeast, I went down to 6 hours. Now I don't know if that's right or what, but that's what I did.

At the end of 6 hours, the dough did indeed rise quite a bit. I transferred the dough to a large baking pan previously dusted with a generous amount of corn meal. I formed the dough into shape, using a bit of flour on my hands and on top of the dough. I then covered the dough and the pan with a towel and allowed it to rise for another hour. (Chef John specifies 2 hours).

I then put the pan in an oven, pre-heated to 220 degrees C for 45 minutes.

At the end of 45 minutes, it turned out pretty well! Well, I think it's around 90% successful. The crust was wonderfully crunchy, but although the inside was quite cooked, it was still a bit moist and slightly dense. Now perhaps I should have allowed it to rise 18 hours and an additional 2 hours in the pan. I will try that next time.

KFC's ZINGER VS McDonald's McSPICY

Ok, having recently noticed the McSpicy's uncanny resemblance to KFC's Zinger, I decided to try both sandwiches one after the other just to see who exactly wins.

I got my Zinger sandwich from the recently opened KFC branch at the San Pablo City town proper, while I got my McSpicy from a new branch of McDonald's just a couple of blocks up Rizal Avenue from KFC.

The results, may I say, were surprising.

Zinger had been my favorite for such a long time. For for one reason or another, they don't seem to put as much care into making them as they once did. The recent sandwich I got didn't seem as fresh as I would like. It was a bit dry and parts of it were quite tough. Yes TOUGH.

The McSpicy however, was soft and juicy all around, much more consistent in that regard. And it seemed newly cooked. It also had lots of lettuce. Much more greens than the Zinger usually has.

So yeah, I guess as of today, McSpicy wins it. I feel kind of bad because I liked Zinger for such a long time, but I guess that's just sentiment talking. I'm not giving up on it completely though. I will still try it from to time. I hope KFC doesn't disappoint me or else, I'm switching completely!

My Favorite San Pablo City Longganisa

I'm a hardcore longganisa fan. Whenever I go to Manila, I try to get some of the more exotic local sausages from all over the Philippines. And by this time I've tasted a lot. My all time favorite may still be Lucban Longganisa, but this one I found right here in San Pablo comes really close.

The meat sellers at the local palengke have their own versions of longganisa, with slightly varying recipes and tastes. The general characteristic of San Pablo longganisa is that it's "hamonado" or that it's generally sweet.

The one I like most is the one from the stall of Vivien Laurel. They have two kinds of longganisa, Regular and Smoked. I like them both a lot, but I think their "Regular" longganisa (the whiter one), has a distinctive edge because it has a more subtle taste, and it seems more garlicky than the other. Yes, I'm a garlic fan. That's probably why Lucban Longganisa is my all time favorite.

The person at the stall said that the Regular Longganisa needs to be stewed in a bit of water first, while the Smoked one can be fried directly. I stewed both in water first because it's really only the proper thing to do with longganisa. The purpose of this is to soft cook the sausages, allowing some of the fat in them to melt and come out. By the time the water evaporates, the sausages will be fying in their own oil. If the melted oil isn't enough, you can always add a little bit more.

Also, the stewing in water allows the sausages to be cooked so that you don't have to fry them for too long. The problem with frying anything with sugar content is that sugar tends to burn quickly and you will soon end up with a pan with lots of burned and caramelized sugar.

There you go! Longganisa comes best with fried rice and sunny side up egg. If you buy from Vivien Laurel, them them the Internet sent ya!