Exotic Filipino Food

[thekfc]

around here they are swimming in almost all of the ponds/lakes. maybe i'll have to buy a big net 
 
 
pig

A net?
All that time I thought you guys up there just shoot them or hit them with a club. 

[KanoJoe]

I have tried durian. As mentioned before the smell is the worst part. It tastes something like almonds and has a custard type texture. The smell is pretty bad. It is bad enough to be banned from places like hotels and that smell can stay with you. Make sure you wash your hands and brush your teeth after eating one or you may not be very popular with the ladies. I have been told not to eat it while drinking. It seems durian has sulfur compounds in it that doesn't mix well with alcohol.

I have seen balut and had the chance to eat it but it looked too nasty to me. You can find pics on the internet but they don't look nearly as nasty as what I have seen.

[piglett]

A net?
All that time I thought you guys up there just shoot them or hit them with a club. 

I'm trying to be a kinder, gentler, kind of guy.
 
 

[robert angel]

I always wanted to try pinikpikan chicken where the chicken has been beaten to death to tenderize the meat and to infuse it with blood. It is then burned in fire to remove its feathers then boiled with salt and pork. The act of beating the chicken in preparation of the dish apparently violates the Philippine Animal Welfare Act 1998.

I wonder if you can find it or even make it yourself in the Philippines anymore.

Now that was one thing my wife had never heard of and she lived way out in the country. Not that I doubt that it's true. She doesn't care too much for P-L already, but the mention of something so 'primitive' irked her.
I bet most guy's with Filipina wives (probably guys wives period) find that they either ignore P-L, find it an anoying distraction for their husbands, or just find it pretty nutzoid all together.
I mention some of the stuff I hear from other posters here about other regions and although she's traveled from one end of the nation to the other, with family from Mindanao to Luzon, sometimes she really can't relate.

[KanoJoe]

I have to admit it is one of the reasons I brought it up. I had heard of it and wondered if there was any truth to it. I have heard people talk about it but never tried it myself.

[robert angel]

Speaking of 'exotic stuff'---I never saw any shrunken heads and never was able to get a head hunter's knife either in the Philippines. By far, most of the stuff they tout as being such is phony.

On the other hand, I have a lot of ancient artifacts from what's now known as N. America, including what were almost certainly used for close quarters combat, including skull crushers. War was pretty rare here though, as it was typically a matriarchal society and women decided if the men would go to war. Things like tomahawks, traditional stone axes, arrowheads, stone knives and spear points, weren't used much in warfare here until after the Europeans came, when things got brutal. Europeans introduced 'scalping' victims, before the Indians followed suit.

I think a lot of brutality that came to the Philippines initially came with the Spaniards, although as is N. America, I'm sure there were a few tribes here and there that were known as being outside the norm--even as 'savages'. Like Planet Love, I suppose!

[piglett]

well Marily has heard about it , i guess they still beat chickens to death in atleast some provinces 
 
 
pig

[savvy]

I will definitely try durian. It's good to know about the smell because I doubt I would try it if it smells bad. It's good to hear about the balut as well. Those google pics don't look too bad but they don't always capture the real thing. That's why I'm glad to hear from someone who actually has experience.

[jm21-2]

Jm, how much is the duck on your side of the country?
 
Roast duck here is around $18 for a whole one - we usually buy half a duck for around $8.50/$9.

Roast duck would seem to be around the same price. But we have to drive about an hour and go over a toll bridge to get to it .


Every time we go to the Asian stores we pick up a couple packs of raw duck legs or hindquarters, which aren't that bad...I want to say around $4 per pound? I saw some boneless duck breasts at Uwajimaya though for something like $16 per pound :O.


Chicken is about $6 for a roasted one, about $1 per lbs for legs and thighs, $2 per pound for wings and boneless/skinless of any sort.


Usually get thin sliced pork belly on sale for $2.99/lbs, thin sliced ribeye or boneless short rib for $2.80-6.00 per lbs. Seafood varies a lot. We buy salmon (wild, not farmed) and shrimp mostly, with a smattering of other seafood. Salmon is usually $6-7 per lbs, shrimp maybe $5 per lbs, clams $3.00 per lbs, tuna loin when available about $6.99 per lbs. I don't eat much steak anymore but will get them when they go on sale ($3 per lbs for ball tip a few weeks ago).

[robert angel]

Roast duck would seem to be around the same price. But we have to drive about an hour and go over a toll bridge to get to it .


Every time we go to the Asian stores we pick up a couple packs of raw duck legs or hindquarters, which aren't that bad...I want to say around $4 per pound? I saw some boneless duck breasts at Uwajimaya though for something like $16 per pound :O.


Chicken is about $6 for a roasted one, about $1 per lbs for legs and thighs, $2 per pound for wings and boneless/skinless of any sort.


Usually get thin sliced pork belly on sale for $2.99/lbs, thin sliced ribeye or boneless short rib for $2.80-6.00 per lbs. Seafood varies a lot. We buy salmon (wild, not farmed) and shrimp mostly, with a smattering of other seafood. Salmon is usually $6-7 per lbs, shrimp maybe $5 per lbs, clams $3.00 per lbs, tuna loin when available about $6.99 per lbs. I don't eat much steak anymore but will get them when they go on sale ($3 per lbs for ball tip a few weeks ago).

For those foods, those are pretty good prices compared to our area--the S.C,. GA and Florida Atlantic coast. There's a kazillion shrimp in the waters, but the not as good ones from S. America and Asia are treated with sulfites and who knows what else, flash frozen, then imported here and sold for less than what the local shrimpers can bring them in for. We pay at least what you pay for pork, poultry and beef too.

Same with fish, especially tilipia--almost all imported here. The Govt, in the 1970's and 80's set up the Vietnamese, who sided with us in the V.N. war, with free shrimp boats and start up costs and even those guys have quit. Govt. regs make it illegal to go to the remaining boats and buy right there. The only growing market for the shrimpers is to go after canon ball jelly fish, which they export to Asia.

We're the second largest largest container ship port in the USA and one of the top three export products, along with wood pulp, is 1000's of tons of chicken feet to Asia. They send us manufactured goods, we send them chicken parts, wood pulp and cotton! Who's the first world nation?

[Jeff S]

Bet you miss Little Saigon and Koreatown in SoCal, eh JM? Cut those prices in half around here.

[savvy]

I have seen some giant shrimp that came from China. I bought them for a while until I found out how they raised them. Now that is exotic food!

[KanoJoe]

I have seen some giant shrimp that came from China. I bought them for a while until I found out how they raised them. Now that is exotic food!

I stay away from those Chinese raised shrimp also. They can't be much worse than those BP marinated in oil shrimp we get from the gulf.


Speaking of shrimp I like a filipino dish called chicken binagoongan. It is chicken cooked in a shrimp paste. Very delicious.

[jm21-2]

Bet you miss Little Saigon and Koreatown in SoCal, eh JM? Cut those prices in half around here.

Not to mention restaurants with good food. We've got maybe 1 restaurant we like within about 40-50 miles so far. And we only go there for happy hour because their normal prices are ridiculously high for what you get.


We got some frozen seafood imported from various Asian countries at h-mart and so far it's pretty much all been inedible. Sticking with stuff produced in the US and Canada now.

[thekfc]

Not to mention restaurants with good food. We've got maybe 1 restaurant we like within about 40-50 miles so far. And we only go there for happy hour because their normal prices are ridiculously high for what you get.

We got some frozen seafood imported from various Asian countries at h-mart and so far it's pretty much all been inedible. Sticking with stuff produced in the US and Canada now.

Danm!! You guys are really suffering over there.
I though there would be a bigger and better selection in your neck of the wood.
 

Speaking of shrimp I like a filipino dish called chicken binagoongan. It is chicken cooked in a shrimp paste. Very delicious.

Glad that you enjoy is & find it masarap.
I have eaten/tasted a few dished made with bagoong and they are indeed sarap but I try to avoid bagoong mainly because of the smell.
 
 

[jm21-2]

Danm!! You guys are really suffering over there.
I though there would be a bigger and better selection in your neck of the wood.

Restaurants are over-priced and shoddy as heck here....we go out now and then just to do something different but that's about the only reason. For $10-12 per person at an Asian restaurant close to us you basically get what would be street food in Taiwan you could get for $2. Quite a few good restaurants in Tacoma and Seattle but most are about an hour drive....whenever we go to the Asian food stores over there we usually stop somewhere, but otherwise eat at home. When she first got over here we ate out maybe 1-2 times per week just to try places out but very quickly she was disgusted at paying $30+ (for the two of us) for a crap dinner she could barely stomach.


We do alright though....I rarely went out anyways so not much of a change for me. She couldn't really cook much in Taiwan because her apartment didn't have a kitchen and she likes trying to cook different things here. She can't find the right type of taro here though which is her favorite food. Anyways, in a few years we might be in the Australian outback munching on salt bush and Kangaroos so who knows.....

[robert angel]

Excuse the expression, but restaurants can really eat up a lot of cash. Asian restaurants in our area tend to be in two categories. #1-buffets and a couple others, where the price is reasonable, but after a while you feel the food kind of all tastes the same.
Then there's #2: Stand alone Asian restaurants that typically cost about $35  for two and you may not even leave feeling you're full. Tiny portions, served 'artistically'. Maybe that's their way of getting people to order more appetizers and side dishes, but unless it's a very special occasion, we're not going to drop $50 on dinner for two.

In a couple weeks, we're heading to Orlando and we'll probably eat at a place we like, that for about $40 a head, serves a buffet that's great--the big 'catch' is the all you can eat (large) lobsters--after a day doing Disney, we'll be plenty hungry!

It's not haute cuisine, but there's chain around here called 'Cheddars'--American style food that for typically $8 to $14 a person, you will walk out feeling you got excellent service and good food, including a couple sides, including enough to take some home. For $13.99, they have pretty good ribs--the biggest 'full racks' I've ever seen and a couple sides to go along with it. Great values on appetizers too--an area where along with drinks, the other places gouge you on.

[robert angel]

From what I've seen, Filipinos are about the toughest critics of USA 'Filipino food' restaurants and that's why they rarely stay in business very long, especially compared to Vietnamese restaurants in our area. Nether have the staying power of Chinese take out joints---especially around here. From the suburbs to the ghetto, from Cheboygan to Shanghai, decent, cheap lo mien, fried rice and chicken wings alone can keep a take out place going.

I think with the Filipino restaurants, many Filipinos feel "I can cook that better" and/or they have a meal that's not so great and then they tell all their friends how awful it was. Then they bemoan the fact that there's no good Filipino restaurants!

It's true that often a bad meal you've had at a restaurant is the last meal you'll ever eat there.

[thekfc]

She can't find the right type of taro here though which is her favorite food.

We buy taro at the Asian supermarket - most of them carry it. We also buy the "western" version- yautia. My wife prefer the lilac to the white. She also like  ñame.

[savvy]

I have ate at some filipino restaurants here in the US. There is a difference. I think the food I ate in the Philippines is much better.

I liked the food from street vendors also. It's really not a good idea to eat just anything in the Philippines but I had to try it.

[jm21-2]

We buy taro at the Asian supermarket - most of them carry it. We also buy the "western" version- yautia. My wife prefer the lilac to the white. She also like  ñame.

We have tried all the kinds of Taro we could find that were grown in the US and some we found imported from China and she doesn't really like any of them. We found some Taiwanese taro ice cream once and she was in heaven, but it hasn't been in stock since. Oh well.

[Jeff S]

By taro do you mean the Hawaiian version (satoimo in Japanese) or are you referring to something else?





I generally can't stand it because it's just a flavorless starch-ball, but every Asian market around here, and that's hundreds, is stocked to the gills with it. I'd never heard the term yautia, but Googling it I see it looks about the same.

[thekfc]

Yep taro aka satoimo, gabi, toran, eddo or yautia(western). Yautia lilac is less starchy than the white one and thus taste better when cooked.
 
jm, while I was in HK I tried an ice cream made with taro, peanuts, mung beans and some other ingrediences - it was called shave ice "something". Since I eat halo-halo and it look smiliar - I decided to try it & it was good.
 
Since she cannot find the taro that she likes, it would mean that she also miss eating taro balls.

[jm21-2]

I'm not sure which variety they use in Taiwan....didn't really know there was so much variety, but apparently there is. I will have to do some more research on which specific type they use in Taiwan. We've tried ones that look like what Jeff posted and they aren't the same, but closer than the big ones with white flesh. They genetically engineer the crap out of vegetables in Taiwan so it might just be grown there for all I know....


The taro ice cream she got tasted great. It had butter in it which she hates and I thought would be really weird, but the taste was good. I don't really like taro but would be happy to have some more if the store ever re-stocks it....they keep saying "we'll have it next week," and maybe they do but it just goes real fast.


With winter knocking on the door we've been having more winter vegetables. Differentiating between pumpkin and squash can be kind of tricky....she likes pumpkin but doesn't like squash...but what we call squash here they would call pumpkin in Taiwan sometimes....can be pretty confusing. So far she likes the pumpkin flavor of butternut squash pretty well...


Still haven't figured out milk either. We've tried lactose-free, different methods of pasteurization, pretty much everything I can think of, and she still has problems.


Anyways, starting to get off-topic.....


They have balut at one of the stores we go to but without someone daring me to I'd be a bit timid about trying it.


Stinky tofu I was worried a bit about because it smells awful, but actually pretty tasty. And I don't really like tofu.


The worst smelling stuff so far is this dried squid she got, OMFG the stench! Couldn't go near the stuff. Hard to imagine it could taste good.


Tried betel nuts but don't really see what the fuss is about. They're supposed to provide some sort of buzz but I didn't get anything from them. Tastes like chewing on uncooked palm leaves or something like that.

EDIT: Hot pot with congealed blood cubes was not my favorite either...

[Jeff S]

I bet what she likes kabocha (the Japanese word for pumpkin.) It's way better than butternut squash. Most places call it that here now, like Mother's market and all of he Asian stores, even the Vietnamese and Korean seem to use the Japanese name. I even see it in the high end brands of the common grocery store chains (Ralph's here - a part of the Safeway chain, and Pavilions - an uppity version of Von's)