ensaimada

ensaymada – /en-say-má-da/ Tagalog and almost all other dialects bread/pastry; dw Span. saim [pork lard] > ensaimada <>ensaimades) [n.] spiral soft cheese bun.

• Also spelled as ensaimada in almost all languages and vernaculars in the Philippines 

Filipino ensaymada has its origin in Majorca, Spain, where it was originally made with flour dough, water, sugar, eggs, and pork lard called saim. Thus, it is called ensaimada. 

The Pinoy version substituted pork lard with butter, and several sub-variants of ensaymada are now seen and sold anywhere in the Philippines that include: ham ensaymada, ube ensaymada, mongo ensaymada, ensaymada Malolos, and the all-time-favorite cheese ensaymada. 

Pinoy ensaymada is still a soft dough bread in a spiral form that wounds towards the center, often glazed with melted butter or margarine and lightly sprinkled with or pressed and rolled on refined white sugar and topped with grated cheese. 

Enhanced variations have strips of ham, macapuno strings, or a sweet paste of ube or ube jam. 

The Bulakeños started making before World War II their large version of ensaymadas topped with lots of grated cheese and thin slices of salted duck egg.

The latest variation of ensaymada is no longer spiral in shaped but a clustered several pieces of softy yellowy buns made with the same ensaimada ingredients and still glazed with butter or margarine sprinkled with white sugar and generously topped with grated cheddar or filled cheese.      

Some Batangueños migrated and brought their baking expertise to Mindoro. These ensaymadas in Roxas, Oriental Mindoro came from a Batangueño bakery in town.

Almost all bakeries in Metro Manila are selling ensaymadas. These ones are from a bakery in Apitong, Brgy. Cembo, Makati City.

These are the ensaimadas of the Red Ribbon bakeshop in Metro Manila.

All photos by Edgie Polistico are copyrighted. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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Encouragement and enthusiasm are not enough. I also need moral support, prayers, and anything else that can uplift my spirit and keep my good reasons. Keep them coming. All I know is that I am happy with what I am sharing and giving away. If you are pleased and happy with what I am doing, just smile and please share the happiness. Keep sharing and include to share the PHILIPPINE FOOD ILLUSTRATED. I feel energized when my blog becomes one of the reasons why you are happy and smiling. 

Edgie Polistico 

potato rib

potato rib - /po-te-to rib/ (Tagalog snacks) [n.] potato twist stick. 

Other local names:

• a.k.a. potato twist, twistix or chipstix in Tagalog

A spirally sliced potato fries in a stick. The whole piece of unpeeled potato is sliced spirally thin continuously from end to end using a rotating shaft. It is skewered in a pointed-end bamboo stick and deep fried until crisp and dusted with salt and the optional powdered cheese and other flavorings of choice.

This looks like a modified version of twister fries.

Commonly is served with a sprinkle of finely ground salt or a dipping sauce of catsup or mayonnaise or their combination. It also has a variety of flavors that includes cheese, sour cream, BBQ, pizza, ketchup, and sweet and spicy, among others.

potato ribs freshly cooked at a food stall in the ground floor of SM Supermarket in Makati City.

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Encouragement and enthusiasm are not enough. I also need moral support, prayers, and anything else that can uplift my spirit and keep my good reasons. Keep them coming. All I know is that I am happy with what I am sharing and giving away. If you are pleased and happy with what I am doing, just smile and please share the happiness. Keep sharing and include to share the PHILIPPINE FOOD ILLUSTRATED. I feel energized when my blog becomes one of the reasons why you are happy and smiling. 

Edgie Polistico 

walkman

walkman – /wok'-man/ (Tagalog delicacy) [n.] pig's ear barbecue. 

Other local names:

• a.k.a. taenga ng baboy BBQ or tenga ng baboy BBQ in Tagalog. BBQ here is read as "barbecue".

Walkman is a popular colloquial name for tainga ng baboy barbecue from the 1980s until the early 2020s. 

The ears of pigs are scalded, shaven well, and the outer skin scrapped off. This process is often done while the slaughtered pig is still at the abattoir. But barbecue makers would and must clean it further well. 

The cleaned ears are then sliced into bite-size and soaked in the marinade for at least an hour or allowed to stand overnight in the refrigerator. The marinade could be a simple solution of vinegar, soy sauce, pounded peppercorn, and crushed cloves of garlic. The flavor could be enhanced by adding some muscovado or brown sugar, juice calamansi juice (Philippine round lime), and laurel leaf. 

The marinated ears are then skewered in sharp-pointed bamboo stick, then grilled over red-hot charcoal embers, occasionally turned over, and basted with basting sauce, oil, or with the remaining marinade, until the barbecue are seared.

Pig's ear BBQ got its colloquial name “walkman” after it alluded to that an iconic pocket-size portable-listening gadget popularly known by the same name "Walkman," paired with a set of wired earphones, first invented in Japan in 1979 and reached the United States in 1980 and into the Philippines a year later. The Sony Walkman of Sony Corp went popular in the Philippines in the early 80s and was a fad in the streets of Metro Manila and then to the rest of the country. It was then that tainga ng baboy BBQ (pig's ear barbecue) was named walkman alluding with a jest to one's ears that listen to Sony Walkman.

 

Eventually, the popularity of the Sony Walkman gadget and the walkman barbecue waned when iPod was introduced in 2001 and then the iPhone in 2007 which eventually put Sony Walkman away as a thing of the past as years went by. Walkman as a colloquial name for Filipino pig's ear barbecue also faded its usage in the co-terminus with the Sony Walkman gadget. Filipinos gradually forget walkman and the barbecue got back its vernacular name tainga ng baboy BBQ and that is what it is fondly called again now. 

Tenga ng baboy BBQ of Victoria's Grille. I got this at the Mercato Centrale one weekend at the Bonifacio High Street parking area in Bonifacio Global City (The Fort), Taguig City.

Cooking tip

To help soften the meat of the BBQ, add the marinade with few drops of extracted juice from pounded ginger roots or the extracted whitish resin that comes out from the skin of pricked fresh green papaya fruit. These extracts can also be used in stewing or braising hard-to-cook meats. It will effectively loosen the meat off the bones and the tissues to separate. 

References:

• The New Yorker, "The Walkman, Forty Years On," Matt Alt, June 29, 2020, https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-walkman-forty-years-on

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Encouragement and enthusiasm are not enough. I also need moral support, prayers, and anything else that can uplift my spirit and keep my good reasons. Keep them coming. All I know is that I am happy with what I am sharing and giving away. If you are pleased and happy with what I am doing, just smile and please share the happiness. Keep sharing and include to share the PHILIPPINE FOOD ILLUSTRATED. I feel energized when my blog becomes one of the reasons why you are happy and smiling. 

Edgie Polistico 

igat (dried)

Dried igat (sea eel) sold at the roadside stalls in Brgy. Damortis, Sto. Tomas, Pangasinan.

igat – /i-gat/ (Tagalog, Pampangueño (Capampangan), Pangasinense, Ilocano, Maranao, and Maguindanao sea fish) [n.] dried sea eel.

In Pangasinan, sea eel is made into tuyo (dried) traditionally by sun drying. The igat fish (sea eel) is cleaned of its gills, gutted,  soaked in a brine solution, drained, then sundried. 

When dry, it is cut into pieces (about 2 inches long) and is often sold in cutlet form. Dried igat is considered by Pangasinenses (local folks of Pangasinan) to be a "pampatigas ng tuhod" (potent knee jerker and aphrodisiac). 

It can be fried, grilled, or used as sahog in vegetable dishes.

See also igat 

Below, is a serving of fried dried igats with a dip of sukang Iloko with sliced fresh ripe tomatoes.

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Encouragement and enthusiasm are not enough. I also need moral support, prayers, and anything else that can uplift my spirit and keep my good reasons. Keep them coming. All I know is that I am happy with what I am sharing and giving away. If you are pleased and happy with what I am doing, just smile and please share the happiness. Keep sharing and include to share the PHILIPPINE FOOD ILLUSTRATED. I feel energized when my blog becomes one of the reasons why you are happy and smiling. 

Edgie Polistico 

espada (dried)

espadang tuyo – /es-pá-da tu-yô/ Tagalog dried sea fish /seafood; dw Span. espada [sword]) [n.] dried scabbardfish  \dried hairtail (sc.name: Trichiurus haumela).

Best cooked by frying and paired with spiced sukang Iloko as a dip on the side and lots of steaming cooked rice.   

It can also be grilled or boiled on embers if oil is not available or not desired to used in cooking.  Broiled dried fish emits an aromatic smell that can magically attract Filipino appetite and is also best paired with spiced vinegar as a dip on the side and lots of steaming cooked rice. 

However, both fried and broiled can be an offensive smell when sniffed by uninitiated foreigners. Cook dried fish with caution if you are in another country.        

Dried espada fish sold at the roadside stalls in Brgy. Damortis, Sto. Tomas, Pangasinan.

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For more about Filipino food, see  this Philippine Food, Cooking, and Dining Dictionary. It is OPEN and FREE.

Continue to follow my blogs. You can also follow and learn more by joining us in our Facebook group. Have more bits and pieces about our kind of food, ingredients, and ways of cooking, dining, and knowing food culture across the 7,641 islands of the Philippines.

Encouragement and enthusiasm are not enough. I also need moral support, prayers, and anything else that can uplift my spirit and keep my good reasons. Keep them coming. All I know is that I am happy with what I am sharing and giving away. If you are pleased and happy with what I am doing, just smile and please share the happiness. Keep sharing and include to share the PHILIPPINE FOOD ILLUSTRATED. I feel energized when my blog becomes one of the reasons why you are happy and smiling. 

Edgie Polistico 

dilis (deboned and dried)

Boneless dried dilis sold at the roadside stalls in Brgy. Damortis, Sto. Tomas, Pangasinan.

boneless dilis – /bon-les di-lis/ Tagalog dried fish) [n.] deboned anchovies.

The dilis (anchovies) are decapitated, butterflied, and deboned of their backbone, then soaked in a brine solution, drained, and sundried to become dried boneless dilis. 

Best cooked by pan frying briefly on medium heat until the fish turns lightly brown and crisp. Often eaten with a dip of spiced vinegar on the side and lots of steaming freshly cooked rice and a cup of coffee.            

The dilis (anchovies) to be deboned and dried must be freshly caught. Otherwise, when dilis is no longer fresh, it would not be of good quality as it would likely be itchy when eaten and emits a foul odor.

It must be noted that Filipinos are fond of calling deboned fish or meat as boneless. It is actually a misnomer to call this fish "boneless" because the fish here actually has bones and what they did to make it boneless was that they deboned it like what they did to this dilis (anchovy) here. 

Thus, it should aptly be called deboned dried dilis instead of boneless dried dilis. But "boneless" already got its new meaning and usage and has deeply rooted already in the Pinoy community. Boneless already became part of Philippine English to exactly mean "deboned" and we got stuck with it. Those who got confused, please bear with us. This is our language and we are equally entitled to it.

Boneless dried dilis sold at the roadside stalls in Brgy. Damortis, Sto. Tomas, Pangasinan.

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Encouragement and enthusiasm are not enough. I also need moral support, prayers, and anything else that can uplift my spirit and keep my good reasons. Keep them coming. All I know is that I am happy with what I am sharing and giving away. If you are pleased and happy with what I am doing, just smile and please share the happiness. Keep sharing and include to share the PHILIPPINE FOOD ILLUSTRATED. I feel energized when my blog becomes one of the reasons why you are happy and smiling. 

Edgie Polistico 

danggit bulad

danggit bulad – /dáng-git bu-làd/ Cebuano dried fish) [n.] dried rabbitfish \sundried butterflied rabbitfish.

To make a dried danggit, the rabbitfish is first butterflied by making a deep incision cut into the back of the head and running the cuts towards the dorsal side (upper back), and continuing to cut the flesh open towards the caudal fin (tail) and deep across towards the anal fin side, leaving the abdomen side (pelvic and pectoral) uncut and remain attached to serve as the hinged of the butterflied body of the fish. 

The process of butterflying a fish is called pakas in Cebuano, and the butterflied fish is called pinakas.   

When butterflied and split-opened, the fish is gutted and the fillet is washed clean, soaked in briny water, drained, and then sun-dried or air-dried under the heat of the sun until the fish is parched, stiff, and very dry. Drying a fish is among the ancient method of preserving a catch.    

The shelf life of dried danggit will last for several months or up to a year if the dried fish is stored and kept away from moisture.       

Dried danggit is commonly cooked by pan frying on medium heat or by grilling or broiling shortly on hot embers as it would easily get burned. It is crisp and crunchy like chicharon when cooked and best served with spiced vinegar as a dip on the side, and lots of steaming freshly cooked rice and a cup of coffee.

Dried danggit sold in the stalls along the roadside of Damortis, Pangasinan.

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Encouragement and enthusiasm are not enough. I also need moral support, prayers, and anything else that can uplift my spirit and keep my good reasons. Keep them coming. All I know is that I am happy with what I am sharing and giving away. If you are pleased and happy with what I am doing, just smile and please share the happiness. Keep sharing and include to share the PHILIPPINE FOOD ILLUSTRATED. I feel energized when my blog becomes one of the reasons why you are happy and smiling. 

Edgie Polistico 

pakwan shake

 

pakwan shake – /pak-wan sheyk/ (Tagalog,  and Cebuano cold drinks) [n.] watermelon shake.

This can be made from the fresh juicy pulp of ripe watermelon fruit or from the artificially flavored sugary powder juice formula.

 
For fresh watermelon fruit, the fruit is cut open or sliced into cuts, and the pulp is scooped out and put into the blender, added with ice, milk, and some white sugar, and then processed in the blender until the ice is finely crushed and transferred to a tall glass with a sipping straw.      

When fresh fruit is not available, powdered watermelon juice formula is used. The powder juice is also processed in the blender with some ice and crushed finely in the blender.

Fresh or powdered milk is added to give the shake its creamy taste. A moderate amount of refined white sugar is also added to give more sweetness to this cold refreshment.

Pakwan shake is ideally poured and served in a tall transparent glass tumbler and with a sipping straw, and sometimes garnished with a miniature paper umbrella, especially during summer or any hot seasons, while at the poolside or at the beach.

pakwan shake from a restaurant in Urdaneta City, Pangasinan.

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For more about Filipino food, see  this Philippine Food, Cooking, and Dining Dictionary. It is OPEN and FREE.

Continue to follow my blogs. You can also follow and learn more by joining us in our Facebook group. Have more bits and pieces about our kind of food, ingredients, and ways of cooking, dining, and knowing food culture across the 7,641 islands of the Philippines.

Encouragement and enthusiasm are not enough. I also need moral support, prayers, and anything else that can uplift my spirit and keep my good reasons. Keep them coming. All I know is that I am happy with what I am sharing and giving away. If you are pleased and happy with what I am doing, just smile and please share the happiness. Keep sharing and include to share the PHILIPPINE FOOD ILLUSTRATED. I feel energized when my blog becomes one of the reasons why you are happy and smiling. 

Edgie Polistico