Comments on: Polvorones a la Marketman

By: khrishyne

khrishyne — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 02:14:45 +0000

lami kaayo labi na kung init pa..

By: Kasseopeia

Kasseopeia — Sat, 05 May 2012 17:52:53 +0000

Thanks for the blast fromt the past MM.

Back when my mom still loved being in the kitchen, she and I made polvoron. It was flour, sugar, butter, and pinipig. I loved molding them – packing them down with the back of a spoon and adding a flower design made of pinipig before turning them out. When we ran out of cellophane, we left the rest in the bowl and ate with a spoon =)

I will try it with nuts next time – maybe walnuts or almonds – with my whole family.

By: Marketman

Marketman — Fri, 04 May 2012 23:55:45 +0000

Hi John, how nice to know that there was once a version of the cookies that approximated the Spanish original. I have access to good lard from empilya, so I may try making them one day. However, I am finding that for many baked goods, my palate is now quite biased to butter as the fat, rather than lard, it simply has a more appealing flavor. However, I have made pie crusts with half lard, half butter and they are superb. I am presuming the herb you refer to as pasyotes is actually epazote, I have written about it before, and it is popular in some Ilocano dishes like pipian. The epazote was brought from Mexico on the early galleons plying the transpacific route… it has a strong distinctive flavor. For me these days, it isn’t so much about the stuffing that goes into the lechons, it is the amount of MSG. Of several lechoneros we invited to make lechons for us several years ago, the AVERAGE amount of msg that was mixed into the salt that was placed in the stomach of the pigs was from 1/2 cup to 1 cup of MSG. That’s just amazing. Some folks don’t mind the MSG, I don’t use it since there are so many other sources of flavor…

By: John

John — Fri, 04 May 2012 03:41:08 +0000

Hi marketman,
My family in Carcar, for generations now, make polvoron with lard from impilya of the pig, anise, sugar; and we bake them. They do come out as cookies. Just like torta, the polvoron cookie is meant to be eaten with sikwate or coffee hence the heaviness. I was the one who made a comment in a previous post on torta, that torta without lard, lina, and native eggs is not torta anymore but a variation of a cake.
I encouraged my classmates to revive the pastries that we took for granted would always ve around: the otap with yemas filling, otap with sesame seeds, ba-o ba-o, azucareta, bisocho de cana, etc. I hope someday you can taste them and be converted, hahahah.
I went several times to your Zubochon outlet in Cebu when I was home. I still am getting used to the taste of rosemary and bellpeppers in inasal! In Carcar, pasyotes herb is used for roasted meats, that is why there is a distinct flavor of the inasal from our town compared to other towns in Cebu.

By: Carmela

Carmela — Thu, 03 May 2012 14:44:32 +0000

Mmmmm polvoron. My favorite were the ones from Jo-nis in Santa Clara,Manila from years ago.

By: gerry

gerry — Wed, 02 May 2012 18:20:30 +0000

MM,
Mostly old polvoron gadgets were assembled using solder with lead on some occasions pure lead. They can be assembled now with tin based solders. Better still if they use silver.

By: Eileen C

Eileen C — Wed, 02 May 2012 00:29:29 +0000

“toast the shifted flour”….MM, did you mean the ‘sifted’ flour?
Chocolate coated polvorons are also nice- the chocolate adds a nice crunchy texture when bit, then smoothens when it melts in the mouth, and mixes with the crumbly polovoron… Yum! ….adds calories, too!

By: alilay

alilay — Tue, 01 May 2012 18:44:24 +0000

last christmas i made polvoron as gifts for the tenants in the apt. one of them asked if i am selling them and that started my sideline . agree with the flimsy molders i asked my sister to mail me some new ones and the first one broke already just testing on the spring good thing i still have the ones i carried with me when i came here in the us 10 yrs. ago, i bought them at SM and the molder is brass and so far it has earned me $150 already i use Nido fortified and butter which i only buy when on sale and stock up . the packaging is what is costing me $15 plus shipping for the food grade pre cut cellophane.

By: Shasha

Shasha — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 20:11:06 +0000

I love polvoron.. Especially pinipig:)

By: Katrina

Katrina — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 18:55:03 +0000

My family’s very favorite polvoron is from the Daez house in Urdaneta. My mom even gives packs away as gifts to balikbayans, etc. It uses far more butter than usual, so it holds its shape when you bite into it, and even leaves a film of butter on the wrapper and your fingers. It also has pinipig, for a bit of crunch and flavor. It’s a more indulgent version of the traditional crumbly polvoron, and we LOVE it! I could eat half a pack if I didn’t stop myself.