I was fooling around with fried rice recipes, trying to come up with new dishes for the restaurant. The first experiment of sorts (I have cooked a similar dish before) was an aligue (crab fat/corral/roe) and crab meat fried rice that was sumptuous to say the least. A colleague had just returned from Bantayan island in northern Cebu, the place that Philipps Crab House of Maryland actually has a processing plant for blue crab meat, with a kilo of crab meat. So I heated up a wok, added a couple of tablespoons of lard, added some garlic and several tablespoons of pure bottled aligue or crab fat, about 300 grams of cleaned and flaked crab meat, and sauteed for a minute or so. Added in 3-4 cups of rice and mixed this all up until the rice had taken on the bright yellow orange color of the aligue. Season with a bit of salt, add some chopped green onions and some fried garlic. YUM. But really good. The next time, I will just mix in 200 grams of the crab meat and leave the other 100 grams to top the dish. The photo above doesn’t look like it has much crab meat, but trust me, it was there. Delicious. But pricey as both crab meat and aligue are premium priced ingredients. Later the same day, I prepared the dish for some restaurant guests, to get some feedback, and they gave it two thumbs up… Now to find a steady supplier of both aligue and crab meat. :)
The second experiment was a lechon sisig rice, practiced in preparation for a special sisig rice offering at the opening of the second Zubuchon outlet. Lechon sisig, lard, lechon drippings, a touch of soy, pepper, and topped with a fried egg. Also delicious. I think both of these dishes will eventually be joining the menu at the restaurants. :)
32 Responses
at 10am, i already want my hands on that plate of lechon sisig rice! i love aligue but i get really dizzy after having a small serving of it. I usually eat aligue rice with a bit of lemon/calamansi juice.
kim, yes, the aligue rice was good with some kalamansi juice, it cut the richness a bit.
yum!
sunod nya e lechon siopao na!!!! (wishful thinking)
I cant wait for next week. Zubuchon will be the first place I will go to when I get to Cebu.
jade, we have tried numerous versions of lechon or lechon sisig siopao and they are good, but not differentiated enough… so we continue to work on those… :)
MM, I can’t wait for them to appear in the resto’s menu…..I must go back to CEBU!!!!
I am watching my cholesterol levels MM…now with this post, I think I need to satiate my aligue-rice craving tonight!!! :) and I also like to squeeze some calamansi juice. I just buy Navarro’s bottled premium crab fat.
i love lumpia…(sariwa, fried,veggie, shanghai, ubod, toge…) would you have anything “lumpia” on your menu that’s uniquely zubuchon?
funny i’m joining this when i live in quezon city–only hoping that my brother (who lives in Cebu!!) would wander into any of your 2 restos and remember to bring home a bag of anything zubuchon for me. been regularly pitching your place to him :)
all the best sir.
julie, we do offer a lumpiang ubod sauteed in lard, with lechon meat and shrimp. It’s pretty good when fresh, but isn’t always available (depends on supply of good ubod).
Wow, more reasons to indulge when I fly to Cebu on my birthday! Yey!
MM, i always get my “pure taba ng talangka” at the main store of Pampanga’s Best in San Fernando, Pampanga…I’ve been buying at their store for years now and I say that they have the “purest” crab fat in the country. With oil oozing out at the sides of the bottle…yummy!
Compare them with other bottled crab fat available in Manila supermarkets, man! you can really see the difference. Masyadong maraming “harina” or flour ang mga nabibili sa supermarkets here in Manila. And the best part, they’ll scoop up your crab fat fresh from the pan and into the “peanut butter” bottle and will ask you if they will seal it or just put the lid.
Check if my link in my photobucket is right.
https://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu318/audiobahn_0604/New%20pics/Picture232.jpg
https://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu318/audiobahn_0604/New%20pics/z1c-2.jpg
We also bought the canned “taba ng talangka” for comparison purposes.
https://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu318/audiobahn_0604/New%20pics/Picture230.jpg
Perfect with steamed rice and fried galunggong with a little touch of calamansi. YUMMY!
P.S.
Sorry for the broom on the background.
I knew that the famous blue crabs in Maryland don’t necessarily come from Chesapeake Bay anymore but I never thought that some of those came from the Philippines. My relatives brought us to a crab shack in Maryland once and I’ve never seen crabs of those size here in the Philippines.
One of my favorite crab rice is the one that Max’s has, although a bit oily though.
Jeff, thanks for the input! I was about to ask where I can buy authentic pure crab fat. I heard Milky Way aligue is the best in the Metro but it’s hard to come by.
You’re welcome Peach!
For me, the best in the metro would be Claude 9 Taba ng Talangka by Claude Tayag.
Jeff, I’ve tried that as well but it has been sauteed in garlic already :-/ Yummy to eat it on its own but sometimes, I’d rather buy just plain pure crab fat. Pampanga’s Best sounds like a good option though that will require an out-of-town trip. My mom’s kapampangan and she says the talangkas are sourced from Candaba swamp. Dunno how true but it’s an interesting story :)
Jeff, Claude’s Taba ang Talangka is a family favorite and if unavailable (they’re not widely distributed, I reckon), we settle for Razon’s.
MM, would you consider Claude as your aligue supplier? Wouldn’t that be a great ‘partnership’ of sorts? I bet TPB will have a ball (another one, that is)!
I don’t care what my husband and doctor say but I will live in Zubuchon and gorge myself crazy when I am in Cebu soon! AA Fried rice + Zubuchon + squid sisig + iba shake = best meal ever, full stop! Woohoo the Friday ladies will be green with envy…
We have actually hosted Claude for a private tete-a-tete with a lechon… :) Jeff, thanks for those links… and suggestions. There are a couple possible sources now, just have to finalize which one and get supply lines set…
We do have lots of blue crabs here in Houston especially when they are in season. And when I served them to my daughters, ayos na yung kanila na ang meat, sa akin yung shells with roe. Sawsaw sa calamansi and kikkoman.
In my annual trip to Pinas, I usually have a whole lechon as part of my staff’s meal celebration. With your posts, I have gathered ideas what to do with those tira, hindi na lang palagi na lechon paksiw. Thanks ha. Yung mga taba-taba under the skin, that is what I re-fry, and once crunchy, I make fried rice.
Hello, MM! ;) I am a native of Pampanga and I have been an avid reader of MM for almost two years now. :) I just wanted to recommend Navarro’s Taba ng Talangka from Pampanga. :) I am a native of the province and just could not help raving about how delicious Navarro’s products are. :) Although there are some places in Pampanga that offer ‘purong taba ng talangka,’ the prices can really be high. Navarro’s products are on the economical side, but are definitely delicious and yum! ;) Thank you!
I love aligue and really enjoy mixing it with my rice and pasta! I’m sure this is another winner MM and I cant wait to get my hands on it.I’ll surely enjoy it with kalamansi too and some more salt!
wow!! another winner!! here, i’m contented with the crab-paste that comes from China–ok na rin..
what next—lechon empanada?? sisig empanada?? lechon bollito (sandwiches a la Florence’s Nerbone)
reading this post made me hungry now (12:05am Manila time)… if i’d be given a chance to go to Cebu, Zubuchon restaurant would be on top of my list :) now crossing my fingers for the work assignment in Dumaguete then I’ll do a side trip to Cebu if that’s possible…
Everything I love in one plate. I have to try this! :D
MM, how about crab meat/crab fat rice paella style? (if you havent tried it or have it already) or in risotto?
How about lechon Cuapao…add some peanut powder and cilantro with kamias shake a perfect afternoon merienda yumyum………
Oh wow, fried rice is one of my favourite things. What about a simple crab fried rice (without the aligue)? Got used to a Thai version (which uses lard btw) growing up.
Or what about a sisig cuapao? Imagine biting into a steamed bun with crispy bitsof sisig. Yum :)
Come from Pampanga (on my mom’s side) like Camae, and Navarro’s is our family’s go-to brand for reliable taba ng talangka too.
that looked so good!!! what about fried rice with dried scallops, there’s a small restaurant in Vancouver,(by Main St., Close to King Edward, called Mui(?) Garden) they serve that there.
I want to make the talangka rice..but does anyone know where I can buy Claude 9’s taba ng talangka here in the metro??? Please help me..thanks you :)
Ian, they sell Claude’s at Cash & Carry Grocery last time I saw it… Maybe also at Metro Grocery at Market!Market! moodyaugust, that sounds good, I presume the scallops were re-hydrated first… have to try that sometime soon… Irene, we have offered sisig cuapao’s in the past, might re-introduce it… I have actually featured navarro’s before, after a trade fair, I think…
That lechon sisig rice makes want to head on over to Cebu right away! :)
one can also buy good taba ng aligue in Tita’s also in Pampanga also near some Pampanga’s Best store yum yum. you can cook it with plenty of garlic in slow fire then put the aligue and 2 kalamansi. hope you’d like this too!!