Cebuano Cuisine

The love for food can bring you to a journey of endless possibilities. Delicious food is a matter of personal choice and preference. However, the adventurous kind often discovers more than the usual new tastes and flavours of food, but also learns to appreciate the new cultures and ways of life of where the food was lovingly prepared.

Travel and food go hand in hand in many ways. When you travel to new places, there is the same exploration for the locals’ delicacies and food staples. Discovering new food is indeed like finding a secret treasure you are bound to share because of its goodness. Travelling brings that wonderful excitement, as food adventures offer the same warm and exhilarating feel.

Food prepared in the islands are often embraced by many tourists especially those living in the mainland. The food preparation alone for island foods is an extraordinary treat and a unique experience. The flavourful and tingling aroma of unusual mixes of herbs and spices leave the tourist or any local wanting to devour any well-prepared dish cooked in the islands.

Cebuano Dishes are hedonistic by nature. With the abundance of livestock supply, the locals developed some cuisines to utilize every animal part and transform it into signatured palatable and exotic dishes in the region. Paklay is just among of the many.

Paklay – the ultimate pulutan.

1 small pineapple (half-pipe), slice into cubes
1 kilo tripe (goto or callos or goat skin), sliced into 2-inch strips, boiled in vinegar, salt and water stock from the boiled goto
6 pcs. starfruit (balimbing), thinly sliced
5 small tomatoes, chopped
3 onions, sliced
1 thumb-size ginger, sliced
1 head garlic, minced
bay leaves
whole peppercorns
achuete water (1/2 cup achuete mixed in 1 cup water)
1 small bamboo shoot (dabong), sliced, boiled then drained
cooking oil

1. In a pan, sauté garlic, tomatoes, onions and tripe.
   Keep stirring until the mixture dries up a little.
2. Add the bamboo shoots and pineapple. Mix thoroughly.
3. Add the stock followed by the achuete water.
4. Cover until the bamboo shoots and pineapple are cooked.
5. Add the starfruit, bay leaves and whole peppercorns.
   Allow to simmer until cooked.

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fresh oyster, in half shell
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp finely chopped garlic
2 tbsp parsley, finely chopped
3 tbsp parmesan cheese, grated
2 tbsp butter, cut into pieces
1 cup fresh bread crumbs

 Baked Oysters for family meal…..

1. Melt butter in skilled over medium heat. When foam subsides, add bread crumbs and garlic. Toss for 1-2 minutes until crisp and golden.
2. Stir in parsley and grated cheese.
3. Put oysters in a shallow pan that can hold the oysters in a single layer
4. Sprinkle bread crumbs on oysters. Do not top of each oyster with a bit of butter.
5. Bake at 450°F for 10-12 minutes or until the bread crumbs are golden brown. Serve hot.

Prepare:
1 whole pig (about 20 kilos)
Salt
Black pepper
Soy sauce

Lechon Stuffing:
5-10 bundles lemon grass (tanglad)
20pcs. Banana (saba variety), peeled then halved or
20pcs. Taro (gabi), peeled

Pigs in Zen.

1. Clean and prepare the pig by removing innards, washing and scraping the body of bristles. Rinse and allow to drain a bit before stuffing
2. Rub with salt and pepper inside and out.
3. Rub soy sauce on the skin of the pig. This will make it nicely red when roasted.
4. Stuff the belly of the lechon with lemon grass along with saba and gabi. Sew to close.
5. Skewer the pig and split roast over live charcoal or traditionally, in some parts of Cebu, under live fire. Roast until crisp.
6. Cebu lechon is not served with a sauce. But if dipping sauce is requested, vinegar with scallions and pepper may be served along with it.

Source: Great Regional Dishes of the Philippines by Noel Young