Lechon is a Spanish word meaning "suckling pig". In the Philippines, Lechon always means a whole roasted pig commonly known as Lechon Baboy. Beef and chicken are also popular as lechon commonly known as Lechon Baka and Lechon Manok, respectively.
The method of cooking the lechon is that the whole pig is roasted slowly over live charcoal. This method is also similar to the way the Chinese Peking duck or the Balines Guling celeng is cooked. The tedious method of long-hours roasting the whole pig leaves the meat very tender inside and a crispy skin outside.
The lechon is a popular dish in any of the festivities in the Philippines such as fiestas, holiday seasons, and special occasions like birthdays, weddings, and other family gatherings. It is said that celebrations are not complete without the lechon as the table's centerpiece. It is always served with a liver-based sauce making it more tasteful and delicious.
The lechon kawali is another version of lechon in the Philippines. The method of cooking includes boiling the pieces of pork first then fry till it turns into golden brown.
The leftover lechon is recycled in the Philippines. It is easily turned into another delicious dish called Lechon Paksiw.
In Manila, Philippines, La Loma is the popular place where one can buy the delicious lechon. Many food establishments are selling it throughout the year in this area.
Cebu City, Philippines is famous for cooking the mouthwatering lechon. Other regions in the Philippines have their own way to cook lechon but the ones from Cebu City are the favorite. The lechons are air-shipped from Cebu City to different food establishments throughout the Philippines.
The lechon in Cebu City has its own distinctive taste that is why it is the Filipinos' favorite. Cooking lechon is very simple but arduous.
A whole pig is cleaned very well, taking the pig's internal organs out at the belly's opening. After cleaning, seasonings are stuffed into the pig's stomach such as garlic, onions, soy sauce, lemongrass, salt, and monosodium glutamate. The measurements of the seasonings are according to the desired taste.
When the seasonings are all stuffed in, the pig's stomach is stitched to keep the seasonings from spilling out. The whole pig is impaled on a clean bamboo pole like a barbecue. The pig is then bathed in soy sauce and roasted over live charcoal.
The average time for roasting the pig is about two hours. When it is cooked, the pig is now turned into a lechon. A crispy and juicy lechon can really satisfy your appetite.
A subtle savory of beef steak cooked with canned pineapple goodness. Native cuisine Pineapple steak, or “pinya con bistek,” is a native dish wonder that suits every discriminating taste bud well. And also, beef is a good source of iron for healthy red blood cells. Here’s how this native cuisine is cooked.
The ingredients of this native cuisine are as follows: a fourth kilogram of tender beef sirloin (sliced tapa-style); a piece of large onion (sliced into rings); a can (234 grams) of pineapple tidbits (drain and reserve syrup). After this comes the marinade of this native dish.
For the marinade of this native cuisine we need: eight cloves garlic which are crushed, three tablespoon soy sauce; one and one-half tablespoons calamansi or lemon juice; one-fourth teaspoon ground black pepper, and the reserved pineapple tidbit syrup. With this marinade prepared, we’re ready to cook this native dish.
To cook this native cuisine: First, we marinate the tender sirloin beef for about one hour in the refrigerator. After this, drain and reserve the marinade. Then fry the tender sirloin beef in one-fourth cup of oil until light brown. After frying, set it aside. Next, retain two tablespoons of oil in the pan. Use this to sauté onion until tender enough (about 10 seconds). Then add the marinade. Simmer everything for about two minutes. Then add the fried beef and Pineapple tidbits into the pan. Then let the whole thing simmer once. This native dish serves 5 persons.
Pineapple steaks are said to have originated from a Spanish recipe localized by early kitchen chefs working in Spanish haciendas and mansions in the country. This localized version was later called “pinya con bistek” or “pinya con carne” and handed down to grandmoms and moms for home cooking.
Some versions of this native cuisine apply pounding strokes on the beef using a big mortar and pestle to tenderize tough beef. Some people felt back then that tenderizing beef by simmering in water took away some of this native dish’s health benefits and flavors. So they pounded the meat instead. The effect was something like a crumpled or overused cardboard, unappealing to the sight. The taste was still intact, but its presentation was compromised.
Other beef tenderizing techniques for this native cuisine in the past were marinating beef in salt for a few minutes before cooking or drying the beef under the sun for days, as in the tenderizing technique used for the native dish beef “tapa.”
A super spiced up ready-to-cook delectable fish dish is dried milkfish. It is a popular local and native cuisine that is a favorite on family dinner tables. How is this special cuisine cooked?
Bangus (or Milk Fish) is the Philippine’s National fish. The milky white scales on its body earned its name of being a “milk” fish. It can be found all over the country. They are raised in fish ponds in large amounts. It is one of the favorite dishes of Filipinos and “balik-bayans.” Its cooking versatility ranges from simple to superb menus.
A simple but delicious bangus cuisine is “daing.” For cooking this native dish, we need the following ingredients: one kilo fresh bangus (sliced daing-style or butterfly cut). Cut it in half at the middle of the body. Better still, have it sliced for “daing” at the wet market upon buying. Then mix into a marinade for this cuisine the following: three-fourth cup of red cane vinegar; one and a half teaspoon of iodized fine salt (or one and a half iodized rock salt); one teaspoon of peppercorn (crushed), and one ear of garlic, finely crushed. Once these ingredients are ready, we’re ready to cook this native dish.
The cooking procedure for this milkfish cuisine is as follows: first, combine marinade and stir thoroughly to mix everything evenly. Then, arrange bangus slices in a plastic container. Pour marinade in the container with the sliced milkfish. Cover and refrigerate everything at least overnight. Turn the fish over at least once. Lastly, fry the marinated milkfish with a new batch of minced garlic until brown.
This native cuisine is perfect when accompanied with a dipping sauce of say sauce and lemon, or a mix of fish preserve sauce and vinegar or lemon. Another option for a dip of this native dish is a mix of two tablespoons of vinegar, two chili pepper pieces (chopped), an ear of garlic (crushed). Mix all the ingredients in a saucer for a hot and super spicy sauce that further enhances the taste of fried “bangus” milkfish. This native cuisine also goes excellently with many native spice concoctions preserved with water, salt, and a little vinegar, like preserved or “buro” onions, mangoes, or “kamias.”
This native cuisine, fried “daing” milkfish, is a favorite on both simple and grand family dinner tables. This native dish is one of the cuisines that bring out the rich savory flavors of Philippine milkfish.
Here’s a super healthy and super yummy Philippine native recipe. This native dish’s loaded with protein, omega 3 and calcium. It’s a mighty combination of the tasty features of fresh water fish and the subtle zesty goodness of Chinese black beans and spiced tofu.
For a kilo of milkfish here’s the list of ingredients for this native recipe: a small plastic pack of Chinese black beans or “tawsi,” a small pack of spiced tofu or “tawre,” 4 pieces sliced tomatoes, 2 pieces sliced onions, 5 pieces minced garlic, non cholesterol cooking oil, a cup of water, and salt to taste. With this list ready, we’re ready to cook this very tasty native dish.
After washing and cleaning the fish, slice them in 3 pieces. Fry them in cooking oil in a pan till brown. To avoid fish from sticking on the pan, make sure the pan and the oil are heated enough before putting in the fish. Another technique of this native recipe is to rub flour on the fish pieces before putting them in the hot cooking oil. When brown, put away in a plate. Don’t over fry the fish of this native dish. Fry just enough to keep the fish’s juiciness intact.
Sauté the garlic pieces, onions, and tomatoes in a new batch of cooking oil in a different pan. Keep steering till the tomatoes are melted. Put in the fish pieces and sauté for some 2 minutes. Put in the black beans and spiced tofu and sauté for a minute. Pour in water and cover pan. Cook for 5 to 10 minutes, or until boiling. Put out fire and serve. This native serves 5 to 6 people.
A word of caution: make sure the milkfish of this native dish is thoroughly cleaned. Avoid getting the fish gull ruptured. This embitters the fish and spoils the whole native recipe. Also, make sure the gills of the milkfish are taken out. Some versions of this native recipe still have the gills in the fish. This results to a rancid taste in the native dish.
This native recipe is simple and easy enough to cook. The key here is in the food preparation, especially on the handling and cleaning of the milkfish.
Philippine native recipe for milkfish with black beans and spiced tofu is a healthy native dish that will surely stimulate the taste buds and rouse the appetite for more servings.
Philippine native and local cuisines are always special dishes worth serving on elegant dinner tables. They will never let us down even in dinner banquets. Here are some basic culinary techniques for cooking some local dishes.
Baking. When food is cooked in dry heat in an oven, modern or stone ovens, the cuisine is baked. With modern ovens, it is important to keep track of the oven heat with the use of thermometers. Most ovens, though, have built in varying heat degrees. Baked local dishes are baked spaghetti, lasagna, creamed lapu-lapu, and other delicacies.
Braising local cuisines is when the meat or veggies are cooked to a brown in some amount of fried fat. Then it is followed with simmering with some water, slow cooked for a long period of time. The lid is kept tightly closed over the food. Braising is done especially with dishes that have tough meat cuts to tenderize. Braising, with its slow cooking, also allows the full flavors of cuisines come out and mix thoroughly with other flavors from the spices.
Sautéing is a popular Philippine cooking procedure for cooking native cuisines. It often involves minced garlic and chopped onions and sliced tomatoes sautéed in an amount of cooking oil. When light brown, other ingredients---meat, fish, vegetables and other spices----are poured in and mixed with the sautéed ingredients. Sautéing brings out the savory flavors of dishes and blends different food flavors into a subtle mix. Butter is also a favorite for sautéing dishes and other classy cuisines.
Simmering takes a longer time to cure and cook some cuisines. It is slowly cooking local dishes with the use of water that later turns into s savory stew. It is cooked on low fire. Simmering meat often takes long hours, while fish and veggies often take some minutes. The longer simmering takes, the better the local cuisines are bound to come out.
Boiling is another popular cooking technique. Boiling tenderizes and blends cuisine flavors with a shorter time span. Boiling is often just a matter of 3 to 5 minutes. Longer than this, it means simmering the local dish is what’s needed. Long hours of boiling may spoil food flavors---or even burn the food---not to mention the enormous and impractical electric consumption.
The techniques for cooking local cuisines are varied, and one cooking technique is often specified for cooking a particular local dish. It is a culinary wisdom to learn them all.
Chop suey is a popular native dish in both classy and ordinary restaurants. It is one of the healthiest native recipes available. It combines choice-cut meat and liver portions, and the best of crunchy native vegetables mostly from the salad capital of the Philippines.
To cook this native recipe we need the following ingredients: one fourth kilo pork thinly sliced liver, one fourth kilo thinly sliced pork tender loin (or any pork cut), one fourth kilo peeled and thinly sliced fresh shrimp, one fourth small ball of chopped cabbage, some cauliflowers, some thin and flat string beans or “sitsaro” (or Baguio beans will do), a bunch of chopped “pechay” leaves, a small chopped carrot, a small chopped “sayote,” 4 small chopped onions for sautéing, 5 chopped small onions for later cooking, two bundles of chopped “kinchay” leaves, 5 pieces minced garlic, 2 cups water, four tablespoons flour, and one fourth cup soy sauce. With these ingredients all in, we’re ready to cook this native dish.
This native recipe needs sautéing of the garlic and onions until garlic pieces are brown,in a pan, on medium fire. Add in the meat and shrimp. Cook stir for a minute. Then put on low fire. Mix the water, soy sauce and flour in a cup until thoroughly dissolved. Then pour this mixture into the pan. Put on high fire. Put on the pan lid and cook till the concoction is boiling. When boiling, put in the rest of the ingredients. Put back the lid on and cook for a minute. This native dish serves 5 persons.
This native recipe is perfect with a sauce of soy and “kalamansi” or lemon squeeze. This native dish is perfect to go with fried or grilled pork chops or fish, or any barbecued dish.
Chop Suey sounds Chinese but it's a Filipino native dish. Many Filipino tourists who visit Hongkong or mainland China are surprised to discover that both countries are strangers to the dish. It’s because it’s a purely Filipino native recipe. A tale goes that a Filipino who once lived a long time in China came back home and was asked to cook up a Chinese dish. Not knowing what to do he just threw various ingredients into the pan and called it “Chop Suey,” the native recipe.
Chop Suey is a well balanced native recipe of lean meat, fresh and crunchy vegetables, and natural spices. This native dish emits a subtle blend of sweet vegetables and the delectable taste of meat and liver for a perfect dinner meal.
A sweetened and all spiced up pork and chicken adobo is another variation of the general native cuisine adobo. This native recipe caters well to those who prefer a subtle blend of sweet, sour, and spicy pork and chicken.
To cook this native cuisine, here are the ingredients we need: half a kilo of Pork Kasim chopped for adobo, half a kilo of fresh chicken chopped into serving pieces, four pieces of sliced hotdog, three tablespoons minced garlic, one tablespoon ground pepper corns, two tablespoons sugar, one piece laurel leaf, half cup of soy sauce, three-fourth cup of cane vinegar, 2 cups of boiled water, and a dozen hard quail eggs. With these ingredients ready, we’re all set to cook this native recipe.
To cook this native cuisine we first combine all ingredients in a saucepan (except the quail eggs and hotdogs). Then boil the mixture on high fire. On boiling, reduce the heat to a simmer and cover with the lid for some forty five minutes. Then, remove the lid cover and simmer again for some five minutes to reduce and thicken the sauce. Check the tenderness of the pork. If the meat and skin of the pork is tender enough, the rest of the ingredients should follow. Check also the sweetness and sourness of the sauce. Aim for a balanced sweet and sour flavor. Lessen the taste by adding a little water. Add to the taste by adding either more sugar or more vinegar. Finally, when everything is balanced, add the quail eggs and hotdogs for another two to three minutes. This native recipe serves 5 people.
This recipe is a favorite native cuisine in picnics and outdoor potlucks, as well as in elegant dinner meals for the family and guests. Because of the introduction of vinegar into this native recipe, sweet and sour pork and chicken adobo lasts longer than other native cuisine. Hence, it is suitable as a picnic viand for a packed dinner when traveling far to eat out. It goes well with sliced and salted tomatoes on the side, coupled with some sliced preserved eggs with chopped onions and tomatoes. This native recipe is also partnered with chopped green mangoes and onions with a dash of native preserved fish or “bagoong.”
Sweet and sour pork and chicken adobo is a popular native cuisine almost always present in every Filipino dinner table, at home or in native restaurants. It is one of the Filipinos’ culinary legacies.
Worried about having guests for dinner? Thinking of what delicious food to serve that would also be economical to serve? Thinking of having food delivered or eating out? Hold one’s horses! Here’s a favorite Philippine cuisine that is super tangy and super cost-effective---yet is a common native dish in classy restaurants. And here’s the best part, the bonus. This Philippine cuisine can be served with some hot supplements to really work out sweat in its devourer.
Introducing the Philippine cuisine “Tinola.” It is not only delicious and inexpensive; it is also a healthy balanced food for your guests and family. This Philippine cuisine can be cooked with various main ingredients: chicken, milkfish, shellfish, or even edible, cultured frogs. But in most cases chicken is used in this native dish, especially the native chicken. So for a kilo of chicken, one needs an average size ginger, onions, native “sili” (chili) leaves, a small green papaya, eight garlic pieces, about four cups of water, and some 4 spoons of fish sauce (“patis”) to taste.
Cooking this Philippine cuisine is quick and easy. Just sauté chicken in right amount of cooking oil with sliced ginger, garlic and onions. Make sure the spices (especially the ginger) turn light brown first before joining in the chicken pieces---and the fish sauce. After a minute of sautéing, pour in water and sliced papaya and boil until everything is tender. Finally, put in the “sili” leaves, simmer for another minute, and there we have it. Now here’s to give it some delectable kick: serve hot with a separate fish sauce with ground raw “sili” in a small saucer.
A really old style of cooking this native dish is using a live chicken. After slaughtering, the chicken's blood is mixed with raw rice and put in the pot when everything is tender.
Now, if native chicken is used, the cooking gets yummier flavors. But more time will be devoted to tenderize the chicken flesh. Native chicken are often tough (so get younger ones). But they’re also known for bringing out pungent chicken flavor.
So we use the same procedure with sautéing and all, but when water is poured with the papaya, more time is needed to simmer everything. Hold the “sili” leaves awhile. When the flesh gets tender enough (How do you know it’s tender? Sample it) the leaves go in next. Simmer a minute and serve.
Tinola has been a Filipino solution to affordable but classy and tasty native dish. This Philippine cuisine easily impresses guests of any nationality with regards to taste, aroma, appeal, and balance.
In Philippine culinary practice, as in many places, vegetables are not just cut any which way. Some native dishes require specific cut styles. There are specific styles or kinds of cutting vegetables to go with specific native recipes.
Julienne cutting style is for native recipes requiring fine and narrow vegetable sticks. They are about 2 to 3 inches long and about an eighth inch square thick. Some native dishes may require finer julienne styles. This may be used for cooking fried potato or sweet potato as an appetizer, or as a side dish for several native dishes like fried chicken. It may also be used for stuffing vegetables in rolls, like fried or fresh “lumpya.”
Shredding is cutting vegetables into long, thin pieces like when a grater is used. This cutting style is used for cabbage or lettuce. Native recipes requiring shredding are sautéed and/or stewed cabbage, string (Baguio) beans, “pechay” leaves, “patani” flat beans, and sometimes even eggplants and “ampalaya” or bitter melon. Shredding is usually done in stuffed native dishes.
Sliced vegetables are also often used in cooking native recipes. This involves cutting the vegetables crosswise or lengthwise or even diagonally, thinly. This style of cutting is required in the following native dishes: “amplaya” or bitter melon “con carne,” choy suey, vegetable salads, the Ilocano “pinakbet,” some sautéed vegetable recipes, “sinigang” recipes, and vegetable omelets, among others.
Diced cutting is used for quick-cooking native recipes using tough vegetables like potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, tubers, and some fruits used for salads. Diced pieces in native dishes often measure a fourth to a third inch square. Dicing, along with shredding and julienne cutting, is used in stuffing rolls and omelets.
Minced vegetables are cut much smaller than diced ones. Mincing is often done with vegetable spices to better bring out their flavors and better supplement a native recipe. Vegetables in native dishes often requiring mincing are garlic and ginger. Mincing in Philippine culinary often means crushing the vegetable first before cutting it in small pieces.
Chopping is often required in cooking most vegetable native recipes. Chopped vegetables are usually onions, string beans, some “pechay” and cabbage recipes, carrots, apples, onion leaves, celery, among others found in native dishes.
Chunked vegetables are for native recipes with potatoes, radish, carrots, and other tough vegetables. They are used for prolonged cooking of native dishes.
Vegetables ought to be cut as specified or required in a particular native recipe. Vegetable cutting styles contribute much to the precise cooking of native dishes.
Philippine meat cuisine includes chicken, beef and pork as basic stock for its array of dishes. The dishes have East Asian Indian, Chinese, Malay, American, and Spanish influences and has evolved over the centuries. One very popular Filipino dish is Adobo, which may be served any time of the day.
Interesting enough Adobo is Spanish, since Philippine cuisine has a huge Spanish influence. It is the word for seasoning or marinade. Though you'll find a great variety of Adobo in the Philippines the dish is basically made from chicken, pork or both slowly cooked in soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, bay leaves, and black pepper.
You'll often be served Adobo well browned either off a frying pan or even from an oven and get that juicy tingle when the aroma gets to your nose. You can expect it to be a tad salty, but other variants of Adobo aren't always as such when you get to go around the different provinces.
The perfectly awesome Adobo will have a perfect balance of the ingredients. The spices will kick in and will be well counter-balanced by the soy sauce and the flavor of the meat. Filipinos love to eat this mouth water maker with the regular staple -- rice -- to par off the tee on the taste.
Typically enough, Adobo is one of the very first dishes every Filipino learns to cook. It is pretty easy to make and only requires a few ingredients. Though most of the time there'll be some slight variations to the ingredients, the ingredients we've mentioned are the typical ones we'll need to make Adobo.
You'll be amazed when you check out a Filipino cookbook and find different types of Adobo. That may well be the case. Now let's consider one typical type of Adobo. The ingredients would be meat, minced garlic, chopped onions, vinegar, basil leaves/bay leaves, and black pepper.
You'll have to marinate your meat for an Adobo using all the ingredients for at least an hour. One secret Filipino grandmas teach their daughters is to marinade the meat overnight to make the Adobo really adorable. The whole thing is then placed in a saucepan and broiled until the meat is tender. And there you have it -- an Adobo masterpiece!
Adobo is the typical Filipino travel food. Filipino mountaineers, travelers, and folks going on long trips pack Adobo for the trip since the dish has a long shelf life. This is due to the vinegar (it inhibits bacterial growth) and is known as a preservative among Filipinos.
Other popular variations of Adobo include quail, beef, lamb, catfish, string beans, okra, eggplant, coconut milk, or squid.
Whenever you go island hopping or touring the different places in the Philippines take time to try out the different types of Adobo going around. It is a great big mouth watering welcome to Filipino hospitality.
[Tags]Food, Filipino Cuisine, Pinoy Food, Adobo, Philippines[/Tags]