Cooking issues that maybe there is a solution to ?

[bang4dabuck]

CELERY yeah we all know it is relatively expensive here but I can deal with that, what I can't deal with is how short a life it has. It pretty much becomes limp by the next day. I like it crunchy for tuna, chicken and potato salad as well as lo mein. Any tricks ???

CARROTS are not very sweet and neither are the PEAS even if they are from US.

BEEF is Filipino tough. I used to find tenderloin but not anymore. Guessing it's going to the elites and politicians. It was a good price too, less than 650 a kg.

CILANTRO ( Yansoy)  can find once in a while but not just anytime. Good quality and a decent price. It looks different than the US stuff and goes bad in a few days.

SWEET BASIL very good price but again not around very often. This keeps well by rinsing the leaves well, bagging TIGHTLY and freezing. When you need some just shave off from the frozen block. Far, far better than dried. You can make Pesto too with the fresh stuff but best to have a food processor or at least a blender. Oh yeah but then there is the Parmesan cheese that puts a damper on it. I have never worried about pine nuts and for sure wouldn't here. Always good to add butter to the hot pasta with the pesto sauce.

CHIPS I have found 2 US quality ones. Big Munch BLUE a regular ( not the real crunchy ) cheese puff and Jack and Jill Classic potato chips. I prefer the salted ones in a yellow bag. The only thing with the potato chips is that there is a lot of breakage LOL. Not sure if its handling or you know that they throw all the crumbs in at the factory.

TOMATOES here are not very juicy.

BELL PEPPERS local ones, the skin is like plastic but these peppers are good if you like roasted peppers. I use one of those fish baskets that you'll put fish in when grilling and grill over my gas stove top and the idea is to singe as well as soften the meat. Once done I throw in a heat resistant container and cover. This helps loosen the skins. After about an hour I peel and de-seed. Put in a jar with some fresh smashed garlic, salt and some red pepper flakes or their CHILI powder if you like some spice. It needs olive oil on top and throughout to keep and makes them taste great. Always make sure there is a good layer of oil on top or they will get moldy and go bad so top it off.

BREAD is always light and most of them a little sweet. The baguettes I get are of US supermarket quality so good enough and what I always have on hand. They last a good while in the fridge if you wrap up good with a supermarket bag. Robinsons cinammon bread is excellent and great for making French toast with. Bagels are a joke, light as a feather and with a premium price. Can't find rye bread ... BOOOO. 

 Real good eggplant, sweet. Corn, nahhhh and not a fan of the green onions here. Amazing I can't find stuff like galangal although I did find Kaffir limes at Metro, 3 for 50 but no leaves. Avocados are really cheap if you buy them on the street or market, the only thing is that they are not available from September thru most of March so almost 7 months. 

FISH I need to get more into. Crab meat is pretty cheap if you can find it. Too bad it's not lump but good enough for crab cakes if you got some Old Bay seasoning which I brought. I think you might be able to find it at S&R or Landers. I know our Landers at least sells Badia brand seafood seasoning which I will try. Shrimp are farm raised so not a big fan. There are prawns however. As I said haven't done enough with fish. I need to go to the market which I very, very rarely do. I guess it's fresher and better priced, I guess. I don't have a broiler and not a tinola fan.

COFFEE you are SOL if you want to do at home. IMO the stuff at the supermarket is old and most are full of robusta. Bo's is very good but expensive to do daily for me. If you can get green coffee beans that are arabica you can easily roast yourself and best to grind with a burr grinder. If you live in Luzon probably not too hard to find those beans. I bring and ship them from US. Roast outside on a gas stove in a popcorn maker.

I shop mostly at Robinsons but mostly because it is convenient. I really like the Metro in Ayala but that is a special trip as is Landers. I visit those places about once a month. Might rejoin S&R again. Right now I would chose S&R over Landers, maybe I have a lot more experience with S&R but that is what I feel at this time.

Longwinded but my opinion and tips for food in this place. Food is one of the main complaints I hear about the Phils from other expats. Of course they don't like cooking so they only have complaining to occupy their time LOL

Edited August 17, 2017 by bang4dabuck

[robert k]

The best meals I have had in the Philippines are home cooked. The most important thing is that whoever does the cooking needs to give a damn and many don't. I may not find the ingredients I want but I will find something that I can make that is more than just something to fill the hole. 

[AlwaysRt]

2 hours ago, bang4dabuck said:

Of course they don't like cooking so they only have complaining to occupy their time LOL

and they do their complaining while having the same meal at the same place the fourth time this week...

[JJReyes]

Many Filipinos stew their vegetables, boil or pan fry. The reason is possible high bacterial content from raw animal feces since the fields are often unprotected by fencing.

For celery, try a lemon water solution, pat dry before placing them in the refrigerator. It keeps the celery crispy.

Carrots and peas go into soup so they don't need to be sweet.

Meat? Enjoy it with soup or stewed as in adobo. Filipinos make excellent sinigang soup using meat, chicken and fish (bangus).

You can't duplicate your home base diet unless you are willing to spent a lot of money. Try the local cuisine. Find out which dishes you like or don't like. 

 

[bang4dabuck]

Yeah

6 hours ago, AlwaysRt said:

and they do their complaining while having the same meal at the same place the fourth time this week...

That be Leylam Shwarma which is not even close to a real Shwarma 

[bang4dabuck]

2 hours ago, JJReyes said:

Many Filipinos stew their vegetables, boil or pan fry. The reason is possible high bacterial content from raw animal feces since the fields are often unprotected by fencing.

For celery, try a lemon water solution, pat dry before placing them in the refrigerator. It keeps the celery crispy.

Carrots and peas go into soup so they don't need to be sweet.

Meat? Enjoy it with soup or stewed as in adobo. Filipinos make excellent sinigang soup using meat, chicken and fish (bangus).

You can't duplicate your home base diet unless you are willing to spent a lot of money. Try the local cuisine. Find out which dishes you like or don't like. 

 

Yeah I tried making Bulalo with beef shank but very tough. I will try it one more time but cook it a while in a pressure cooker to see if it will breakdown. Pork pata is great and cheaper anyways. And I got a thing for pork sinigang these days, most excellent, again pata and I use Knorrs. Yeah they don't like salad much here LOL. They do like raw broccoli and cauliflower W with ranch dressing dip however. Home base diet, I'm Italian so olive oil and cheese can get you but I always balikbayan a few liters of olive oil and lug 5lbs of grated Parmesan from annual trip back home. You have decent pasta at US prices IDEAL ia good brand and good canned tomatoes from Italia at US prices. Add tThe good pork and excellent eggplant, the sweet basil, I'm almost home. Even make Italian stuff with ginamos, use in place of anchovies. My gf loves our traditional Xmas dinner pasta which is basically lots of garlic, olive oil, ginamos with hot red pepper flakes sautéed  and then  on linguini.

[bang4dabuck]

8 hours ago, robert k said:

The best meals I have had in the Philippines are home cooked. The most important thing is that whoever does the cooking needs to give a damn and many don't. I may not find the ingredients I want but I will find something that I can make that is more than just something to fill the hole. 

True dat, I'm bad that I don't really make many Filipino dishes besides the Bulalo and sinigang. I just figure I've been here for 3 yrs and tried some stuff and that's what I liked. Kinilaw is good but I can make sushi or poki with tuna. They don't care too much for cheese so that's good for me LOL

[virginprune]

6 hours ago, bang4dabuck said:

Yeah I tried making Bulalo with beef shank but very tough. I will try it one more time but cook it a while in a pressure cooker to see if it will breakdown. 

I use beef shank often in stews and bulalo, sometimes for a curry. The best way to cook it is seal it first then remove from the pan. Add in the other ingredients like onion, celery, carrot etc then add stock, when at the boil return the meat to the pan then simmer on a low heat. After about an hour and a half it will come away from the bone, I then remove the bone cut the meat into chunks and return to the pan for another hour, it will melt in the mouth then. If you are using tomato paste to thicken and enrich add about 15 mins before end of cooking time. If you bring meat to the boil from cold water it will have a tendency to toughen, thickening agent too early can also lead to chewiness. This method also works well for mutten as the goats here can be very hardy. I shy away from pressure cookers as they take flavour out of the meat, slow and gentle is the way to go.

[sonjack2847]

4 hours ago, virginprune said:

I use beef shank often in stews and bulalo, sometimes for a curry. The best way to cook it is seal it first then remove from the pan. Add in the other ingredients like onion, celery, carrot etc then add stock, when at the boil return the meat to the pan then simmer on a low heat. After about an hour and a half it will come away from the bone, I then remove the bone cut the meat into chunks and return to the pan for another hour, it will melt in the mouth then. If you are using tomato paste to thicken and enrich add about 15 mins before end of cooking time. If you bring meat to the boil from cold water it will have a tendency to toughen, thickening agent too early can also lead to chewiness. This method also works well for mutten as the goats here can be very hardy. I shy away from pressure cookers as they take flavour out of the meat, slow and gentle is the way to go.

You can get meat tenderiser in a packet for 16 peso it also seems to flavour the meat but just don`t use too much.

[sonjack2847]

19 hours ago, bang4dabuck said:

CELERY yeah we all know it is relatively expensive here but I can deal with that, what I can't deal with is how short a life it has. It pretty much becomes limp by the next day. I like it crunchy for tuna, chicken and potato salad as well as lo mein. Any tricks ???

CARROTS are not very sweet and neither are the PEAS even if they are from US.

BEEF is Filipino tough. I used to find tenderloin but not anymore. Guessing it's going to the elites and politicians. It was a good price too, less than 650 a kg.

CILANTRO ( Yansoy)  can find once in a while but not just anytime. Good quality and a decent price. It looks different than the US stuff and goes bad in a few days.

SWEET BASIL very good price but again not around very often. This keeps well by rinsing the leaves well, bagging TIGHTLY and freezing. When you need some just shave off from the frozen block. Far, far better than dried. You can make Pesto too with the fresh stuff but best to have a food processor or at least a blender. Oh yeah but then there is the Parmesan cheese that puts a damper on it. I have never worried about pine nuts and for sure wouldn't here. Always good to add butter to the hot pasta with the pesto sauce.

CHIPS I have found 2 US quality ones. Big Munch BLUE a regular ( not the real crunchy ) cheese puff and Jack and Jill Classic potato chips. I prefer the salted ones in a yellow bag. The only thing with the potato chips is that there is a lot of breakage LOL. Not sure if its handling or you know that they throw all the crumbs in at the factory.

TOMATOES here are not very juicy.

BELL PEPPERS local ones, the skin is like plastic but these peppers are good if you like roasted peppers. I use one of those fish baskets that you'll put fish in when grilling and grill over my gas stove top and the idea is to singe as well as soften the meat. Once done I throw in a heat resistant container and cover. This helps loosen the skins. After about an hour I peel and de-seed. Put in a jar with some fresh smashed garlic, salt and some red pepper flakes or their CHILI powder if you like some spice. It needs olive oil on top and throughout to keep and makes them taste great. Always make sure there is a good layer of oil on top or they will get moldy and go bad so top it off.

BREAD is always light and most of them a little sweet. The baguettes I get are of US supermarket quality so good enough and what I always have on hand. They last a good while in the fridge if you wrap up good with a supermarket bag. Robinsons cinammon bread is excellent and great for making French toast with. Bagels are a joke, light as a feather and with a premium price. Can't find rye bread ... BOOOO. 

 Real good eggplant, sweet. Corn, nahhhh and not a fan of the green onions here. Amazing I can't find stuff like galangal although I did find Kaffir limes at Metro, 3 for 50 but no leaves. Avocados are really cheap if you buy them on the street or market, the only thing is that they are not available from September thru most of March so almost 7 months. 

FISH I need to get more into. Crab meat is pretty cheap if you can find it. Too bad it's not lump but good enough for crab cakes if you got some Old Bay seasoning which I brought. I think you might be able to find it at S&R or Landers. I know our Landers at least sells Badia brand seafood seasoning which I will try. Shrimp are farm raised so not a big fan. There are prawns however. As I said haven't done enough with fish. I need to go to the market which I very, very rarely do. I guess it's fresher and better priced, I guess. I don't have a broiler and not a tinola fan.

COFFEE you are SOL if you want to do at home. IMO the stuff at the supermarket is old and most are full of robusta. Bo's is very good but expensive to do daily for me. If you can get green coffee beans that are arabica you can easily roast yourself and best to grind with a burr grinder. If you live in Luzon probably not too hard to find those beans. I bring and ship them from US. Roast outside on a gas stove in a popcorn maker.

I shop mostly at Robinsons but mostly because it is convenient. I really like the Metro in Ayala but that is a special trip as is Landers. I visit those places about once a month. Might rejoin S&R again. Right now I would chose S&R over Landers, maybe I have a lot more experience with S&R but that is what I feel at this time.

Longwinded but my opinion and tips for food in this place. Food is one of the main complaints I hear about the Phils from other expats. Of course they don't like cooking so they only have complaining to occupy their time LOL

The last time I went to J center mall they had baby carrots in tins and they were really nice. The peas I use are Moulinera in a tin and they are very good  I did one time buy some frozen sweet peas in SM Hypermart by SR and they were the nearest I have had here to garden peas nice and tender and very tasty.