Yoji and the Foodies

I’m not a big fan of minced garlic or powdered garlic in a bottle because they just don’t taste fresh. That changed when I got hold of Lee Kum Kee freshly minced garlic.

The easiest dish to cook to “break in” this minced garlic is Chicken & Pork Adobo.

Kikkoman Soy sauce + Lee Kum Kee garlic seem to be a perfect match

Minced garlic – up close

Don’t forget the peppercorn

Slow cooking

Saute & Fry

Chicken  Adobo

Pork Adobo

My adobo tastes even better with the minced garlic. I’m so thrilled!

I had expressed my disappointment with Razon’s food in my previous entry, but I raved about the exquisite taste of the halo-halo. It is the only reason we keep coming back to the place despite the ridiculously high price. For the 2nd appearance at the SM Center Las Pinas branch, the only intent was to eat halo-halo. Of course, that’s even more ridiculous than the exorbitant pricing. No one can resist the “foodie call”, not in my circle, at least.

The table was lonely with only the halo-halos acting as the centerpiece, so we decided to act according to the foodie code (imagine there’s one!) and ordered:

Pork and Chicken Asado

Tapsilog

Tocilog

Despite the shoddy presentation, the Asado was the clear winner — tender pork & chicken meat, nice texture, and generous portion (this is good for 2, if you’re not very hungry).

The Tocilog was forgettable (what Tocino?). You’re better off buying Pampanga’s Best tocino.

There was nothing spectacular with the Tapsilog. I guess if you’re into adobo-ish flavor, you might enjoy it.

Just a quick post. This porkchop was one of the bestsellers back when we had Bartsy’s (A joint venture with the Avenger and Mighty Thor).  I missed cooking it so on Valentine’s eve I cooked this pair of gorgeous porkchops for my friend as a pre-house warming gift (haha!). My friend loved it. I did too!

These porkchops will see the light of day once again as part of the Chefyoji.com menu. Yes, with buttered sweet corn on the side.

For those wondering, chefyoji.com delivers pasta and rice meals to offices in Makati and Alabang. More on this small operation on the next post

Buying 1/2 kilo of Lechon is perhaps the most impulsive thing I’ve done in a long time. I should remember never to do grocery when really really hungry.

Pork is the least favorite at home for various reasons, mostly health-related. The only time my family will eat pork is when the pork doesn’t taste like pork. For some odd reason, my dad picks up this pork taste (not in a good way) no matter how fresh the pork is.  I hate seeing food go to waste so it was imperative to make use of my culinary skills (or whatever’s left of it) to masked that porky taste of the lechon. This is next to impossible since you can’t take the pork taste off the pork.

Anyway the key ingredients are: strong vinegar, Kikkoman soy sauce, crushed pepper, and the liver sauce (Mang Tomas).

1. Heat the lechon pieces in a non-stick frying pan.

2. Add vinegar. Let it sit for 20 seconds

3. Add Kikkoman soy sauce. Mix well

4. Add liver sauce

5. Simmer for 30 seconds then mix.

6. Serve with rice

The taste: cross between humba and adobo.

Lechon is one of the most popular “fiesta” foods in the Philippines.  To the uninitiated, it is a roasted whole pig  – prepared differently depending on which part of the Island you end up partying in.  Cebu (south of the Philippines) is famous for its lechon. In fact, when  Anthony Bourdain visited the place, he only had three words to say about the lechon: “BEST PIG EVER” (watch it here, I’m not kidding!). It’s probably the cholesterol kicking in that made him fall into a gastronomic stupor, but who cares?! It’s not always you get to hear a superlative from Anthony Bourdain.

I have not eaten lechon in years (perhaps 8 years or so). The main reason is that I had to cut down on my pork intake after my bout with hypertension. My friends from Cebu promised to take me lechon-hopping  if and when we get together in Cebu. In my mind I know it will happen but not soon enough, so I went to check out the lechon hotspots in the  area where I live. I found about 5 lechon stalls a few blocks from each other. The 4 stalls only sell whole pigs. The fifth stall has a little restaurant (Lechon Ahoy!) so I ordered the lechon value meal for $4. The meal includes lechon, rice, pancit and iced tea.

As you can see, the portions are for little people. The pancit was salty and soggy so it was a big letdown. The lechon was good but it’s forgettable. Perhaps I had very high expectations given that I have not had a taste in years and the Cebu lechon has been on my mind for some time. Again, the lechon was good but it didn’t quite hit the spot.