Comments on: Instant Flavor Packet…

By: Mrs. Kolca

Mrs. Kolca — Thu, 17 Apr 2014 13:31:24 +0000

I cooked sinigang sa miso just the other day and my visiting aunt from the province was surprised to know I was using sampaloc, siling haba at kamatis for the broth. I stopped using Knorr sinigang lately. Narealize ko kasi na iba pa din ang natural na pampalasa! :)

By: Cris J.

Cris J. — Thu, 17 Apr 2014 00:51:41 +0000

Before the convenience of the sabaw ng sinigang packets, we cook our sinigang using kalamansi. Sinigang na baboy, sinigang na bangus, anything sinigang we used kalamansi. Ang sarap. :)

By: kristin

kristin — Tue, 15 Apr 2014 00:15:23 +0000

iba,santol,sampaloc…..the souring agents of much remembered soups of my childhood where the scent of the soup would waft through the kitchen and tempt our senses…

By: Meg

Meg — Mon, 14 Apr 2014 16:31:11 +0000

I stock unripe sampaloc in my freezer. There’s this big fear when one day i will run out of the real thing, and resort to using the MSG packets. One big gift i got from my dad is how to cook sinigang using all natural souring agents like talbos ng sampaloc, green mangoes, kamias and santol. I treasure those memories when we would even devour those soft sour fruits floating in our sinigangs.

By: misao

misao — Mon, 14 Apr 2014 13:50:08 +0000

I was about 10 or 11 when I cooked my first sinigang, with my dad teaching me how. He asked me to scrub the tamarind thoroughly under running water and place the bunch in the pot with the pork, onions and tomatoes. Once it’s soft, he told me to fish them out, put in a strainer and mash them right in there, using the broth as steeping/extracting liquid. That’s how I’ve been doing my sinigang (sa sampalok) for about 15 years.

Then I moved to a place where I don’t have a predictable access to real tamarind so I had to depend on a mix. It’s just not the same… It’s all artificial-tasting acid without the fruity goodness of the real thing! So I rarely cook sinigang now. Just whenever I chance upon some tamarind at the Asian stores.

By: Marketman

Marketman — Mon, 14 Apr 2014 07:25:09 +0000

Natie, OMG, OMG, I would be so grateful for a copy of that wonderful sounding thesis. I have compiled perhaps just 15 different souring agents for sinigang and other local soups and would love to see what else can be used. Gosh, that would be a real treat to read… salamat.

shiko-chan, if I may suggest. This is what we do at home, and at our restaurants. Every once in a while, we buy unripe sampaloc in bulk, from markets, and if pressed even at large groceries in the city. Then you simply boil the tamarind in a pot of water (say 2-3 times the volume of water as the tamarind (skins and all)) until it is quite soft, say 20-30 minutes. Use a large spoon or potato masher to smash and smush it all and strain through a fine mesh strainer. Portion into approximately one soup pot worth of souring agent, then freeze in portions. Sometimes I make 10-15 portions for the house, and I always have natural tamarind pulp for soups. The work is only a one off thing, and you have 10-20 pots of soup flavoring without all the chemicals and MSG.

By: shiko-chan

shiko-chan — Sun, 13 Apr 2014 14:40:23 +0000

sadly, i’d have to be one of those young ‘uns who’ve never made sinigang from scratch. much as i would dearly love to–and i never use MSG in making anything else–i haven’t the resources to go to market regularly (the nearest public market is about 20min away by PUJ) and supermarkets just don’t have those “flavor packets”…yet. it comes down to a sad “MSG foil pack vs. kilos of stuff that will just rot in the ref” choice. (also, i live on my own, so large-scale sinigang production is out of the question.)

i sorely miss the sinigang we’d have at home where we had an overachieving kamias tree and that’s what we always used to make sinigang. i have yet to see kamias even in a wet market here in (non-FTI, non-cubao) metro manila.

By: Ron

Ron — Sun, 13 Apr 2014 14:06:51 +0000

My father’s recipe for Sinigang na Baboy: Manggang Hilaw, Kamatis, Sibuyas na Mura, Saging Saba (hilaw), Banana Blossom, String Beans at Gabi. Walang MSG at walang instant pampa-asim. All natural ingredients lang with Fish Sauce (patis) ang panimpla nya.

By: Eva Mondragon

Eva Mondragon — Sun, 13 Apr 2014 09:34:22 +0000

MM – That is, indeed, appalling. It is unbelievable. You would think that these future chefs have scoured all the wet markets or even fruit or vegetable farms to learn all about basic ingredients and how they are used in cooking.

Footloose – That Mac and Cheese in the box is probably one of the worst food – if you can call it that – to ever come out of a package. It’s a disgrace that millions of children eat this regularly.

By: Natie

Natie — Sun, 13 Apr 2014 08:28:52 +0000

MM, I still owe you Nanay’s Thesis on “Paaslums”.. I finally had it recopied and rebound, during my visit.. 26 Paaslums from Western Visayand and Cebu, with black and white pictures , acidity percentage! among other lab analysis.. And very simple recipes with the souring agents…It included the usual, and Roselle, Alumpilan, Libas, green bignay, , the little green tomatillos, even begonia.. I’ll ask my sister to send you a copy, a humble addition to your massive collection. I brought back 4 copies for brother, who is a great fisherman and chef. And for my daughters to inspire them to “pass it on”.. She defended her thesis in 1968..