Market Manila

I searched through nearly 20 different Filipino cookbooks (many of them still on the shelves at the bookstores) and did not find a single recipe or “how to instructions” for cooking a lechon. Doesn’t that seem odd? Well, not really, I suppose, because how many people are really going to attempt to make lechon at home? It still seems somewhat bizarre, considering that so many folks love lechon, how few of us must know how to cook it at all. Do we just assume we will order this dish at restaurants or specialist purveyors? That we shall rely on hired lechoneros to come for the day to roast a whole pig? Hmmm… So a few weeks ago, I decided that LECHON was going to be my food obsession for the next 6 months or so. Not only was I going to figure out how they slaughtered the young pigs, I wanted to build my own experimental lechonan or place to cook the lechon, and try out several different recipes for lechon until I found the ultimate “Marketman Lechon.” So strap on your cholesterol counters, this is the first chapter in Marketman’s “Lechon Chronicles.”

Read more…

My post a few weeks ago on Lukot or Sea Hare Secretions got a lot of reaction, the most obvious of which was “what does it taste like?” At the time, I had photos and some basic market information, but I didn’t get to taste the unusual ingredient. After some research and the unusual source of the ingredient, I was curious what it tated like as well. Well, earlier today, I got to taste some kinilaw na isda with “fresh” lukot and I must say, it was quite delicious! It was a bit overwhelmed by the vinegar, but I think this is one of those things that is texture driven, in the same manner that say jellyfish or fish lips are more about texture than flavor. The lukot had a smooth noodle like texture, and if I had been blindfolded, I would have guessed they were some sort of wheat or rice noodle. I can see why they would be sought after and used in kinilaw or tinowa (a soup of fish and vegetables). It’s been a very busy few days at work in Cebu, so posts are slower than usual. But stay tuned for the next few posts on Marketman’s new lechonan and the “fat run” we conducted in it for our lunch today… :)

Read more…

This was an amazing dish in so many ways… But before you read any further, if you have cholesterol levels exceeding 150, are hypertensive, have a fatty liver, or are prone to gout or bangugut, DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER. STOP NOW! You have been duly warned. I was at the grocery (S&R, can you tell I spend a mint there?) yesterday morning and saw a whole lechon being chopped up, but the head had been set aside. Out of curiousity, I asked how much they were going to ask for it and at PHP350 or so, it seemed like a bargain. I didn’t really know what to do with it, but an earlier comment from BettyQ about buying lechon parts before she made sisig and the recent poll on Pinoy favorite foods had me re-thinking sisig. I made a more typical recipe of sisig in a much earlier post; here, but frankly, I wasn’t too keen on it. And I don’t order sisig at restaurants as it is bound to conjure up unpleasant visuals such as earwax if the place isn’t meticuous about how they prepare the dish. But I thought I would attempt a sisig made out of a whole cooked lechon head so I wouldn’t have to do the boiling, grilling and frying version. Well, let me tell you, this was a STUNNING example of the dish. BUT SUPERB…

Read more…

The last time I asked this question was late in 2005, when this blog was just about to turn 1 year old, and when the readership was probably 1/10th of what it is today. In the first year of the blog, it received roughly 2,000 comments, many from readers who still seem to be around today! But Marketmanila.com has grown and today the blog gets some 2,000 comments a MONTH, instead of a year. I went back and eyeballed the folks who responded to this question the last time, and roughly 30-40% of them still comment on the blog today… talk about loyalists! :) At any rate, whenever I get a comment, I am always a bit curious where the reader is logging in from. And I am sure other commenters are thinking the same thing. And because there are so many commenters these days, I sometimes lose track of their locations even if they have mentioned it to me once or twice before. So I thought it might be nice to as the “Where Are You??” question again, so everyone has a chance to “locate” themselves for the benefit of other readers…

Read more…

Finding really good, vine ripened, sweet tomatoes with a lower acidity level in the Philippines is not a easy task. Growing them in your own vegetable plant from seeds, particularly those purchased abroad, is even more of a challenge, it seems. Finding plum or roma tomatoes instead of round ones is even rarer, though I did find them at Fresh Fields on a couple of occasions. Why good tomatoes of the sort great with pasta sauces are so difficult in our tropical weather would seem inexplicable. Maybe it’s the soil, or the humidity, the bugs, or the lack of cool nights followed by wickedly warm and dry periods for the fruit to ripen. At any rate, I tend to use a lot of canned Italian tomatoes for pasta sauces and stews as they are economical, consistent and flavorful…

Read more…

I know, I know. Most of you probably think that I confine my television viewing to the Food Network (Lifestyle Channel in Manila), or to the new Asian Food Channel (Chef in Black is my latest favorite), or that I stick to programs like CSI (couch crime solving) or Numbers (more analytics) or House (my ornery side). Maybe some of you think I am purely a National Geographic Channel (I love it) kind of guy, or CNN (on the road) or BBC (I am enamored with good English accents). Actually, I do watch a lot of Bloomberg (yes, the running ticker tape) as well. But I probably don’t watch more than an hour of television a day, on average. And there are two other programs that we watch quite regularly in the MM home, The Amazing Race (from the U.S. and its Asian version) and with the Kid, we NEVER, NEVER EVER miss American Idol. Why such a show would keep me glued to the television is totally beyond me. I can’t and don’t ever want to sing out loud…

Read more…

Another interesting find besides the bone china at the Legazpi Sunday Market was some bottled pure cane juice. There used to be a vendor at either the Legazpi or Salcedo markets that would make freshly squeezed sugar cane juice and it was superb. This freshly squeezed, but then frozen version is a reasonable alternative. Surprisingly, sugar cane juice is not AS sweet as you might expect it to be, given the sweetness and concentration of it in granulated sugar, for example. I needed some items for a Sunday brunch and I thought serving cane juice would be a slightly unusual twist to the more typical bottled or even freshly squeezed juices…

Read more…

What incredible finds on an overcast, sleepy, muggy Sunday morning in Makati… “Always have extra money tucked away in your wallet,” is my personal battlecry! Don’t even think of pickpocketing Mrs. MM, she subscribes to the “PHP50 rule.” As long as she has PHP50 in her wallet, that will suffice. It has gotten her into all sorts of pickles, and it drives me nuts; but to each their own. There were periods in my life where I had very little money, and I think because of that, I personally feel more secure when I have at least $50 or its equivalent in my wallet. And I don’t buy the “ATM is near” argument, or relying on plastic, for that matter. But there is a practical reason to this phobia and resulting well-stocked wallet, it means I can immediately purchase chance finds and unexpected doodads. And this was the case at the Legaspi Sunday Market this morning. I have visited this market twice in the past month, wanting to do a feature on the market. But it is still struggling to get critical mass, and like the Salcedo market, is really more geared at pre-cooked food than produce and fresh vegetables. There is a decent selection of organic or supposedly organic veggies (they look too good to me), but other than that, the market is a bit anemic in its offerings. The last time I was there I ended up buying one-clawed crabs, and nothing else. But today I needed to get some stuff for a brunch, and I had no other choice but to head to the Legaspi market. Geez, am I glad I did…

Read more…