Adobo is perhaps the Philippine’s national food but there are as many ways to jazz up this Filipino culinary masterpiece as there are islands in the Philippines. Thus it’s no surprise that Negros, a melting pot of culture with rich influences from the Europeans and Chinese, is also a culinary haven for various foods and of course, adobo.
For the past years, the Negros Cultural Foundation (NCF) brings together culinary experts, cooking aficionados and budding chefs every Cinco de Noviembre Celebration at the Balay Negrense. The challenge is to come up with the best adobo and muscovado recipes. This year’s 13th Adobo Festival and 5th Muscovado Cooking Contest was a resounding success, to say the least. Gracing the event were Silay City Mayor Jose “Oti” Montelibano and his First Lady Marissa and NCF President Lyn Gamboa.
It was a day of revolution… revolution against hunger as we ate all we can of panara, puto, mini piaya, fresh lumpia, and other local delicacies from the Silay manuglibod. The panara and piaya are cooked while you wait so you can eat them while they’re hot. Contrary to rumors, nobody gets hungry in a Silay party.
Not even famous restaurateur Margarita “Gaita” Araneta Fores can stay away from this gastronomic treat. She is a descendant of Juan Araneta of Bago City which also have their own Cinco de Noviembre Celebration. However, she said she technically invited herself in this year’s celebrations since she has wanted to come for the past years. She shared that our adobo is now known internationally because of our OFWs.
If you have doubts at how adobo easily assimilates into a foreign taste bud, consider this year’s winner of the adobo cooking contest, Bacolod-based British Robert Harland. His winning entry is Adobo Crevette A l’Anglaise. Come to think of it, an adobo with a French name and cooked by an Englishman, it couldn’t get more cosmopolitan than that! For us lesser mortals, it was technically a shrimp adobo in curry sauce. We didn’t have the chance to sample his recipe but he promised us NITI tour guides that he would gladly cook for us.
Gaita Fores together with Sugarland’s Chef Datu Pendatun, Joe Chan of BISCOM, Gerardo Veloso and the festival’s originator Lynell Gaston judged the 17 entries for the Adobo Cooking Contest. Leanna Marie Severino’s Adobo Pasta placed Second and Cicero Bayle’s Angus Adobo with Sweet Ham was Third.
The judges for the Muscovado Cooking Contest were Kring Locsin of Sugarland, Felicia’s Chef Vincent Macasa and Institute of Culinary Arts De La Salle’s Chef Richard Ynayan. The judges probably had their sugar levels shoot up after sampling the 13 entries. Hailed winners were the Muscovado Sampler by Jason de Oca (First Prize), Cookies by Paul Benedict Castillo (2nd Prize) and Butter Cream Silvanas by Victor Dumancas (3rd Prize). The event is a great training ground for the budding chefs and also a venue for them to interact with the culinary who’s who in Negros Occidental.
We had our fill of adobo during lunch where we sampled several adobo dishes. Aside from the usual chicken and pork, almost anything can be cooked into adobo – squid, takway, shellfish, etc. If that’s exotic for you wait till you see what Chef Datu prepared for his cooking demo. Everybody was very attentive while he prepared his Bihud (fish roe) adobo with guinamos (shrimp paste), served with steamed rice grilled on banana leaves. For salad, he tossed together lettuce with bihud adobo and salted eggs in vinegar.
My friends Bambi and Betsy managed to take aside Ms. Fores and introduced us from NITI and what we do to promote Negros. Well, she was very enthusiastic and would gladly work with us especially in promoting food tourism. If all goes well with her schedule, we might have a chance to visit the Araneta’s hacienda in Maao, Bago City.
It was such a great time to spend with friends who share the same interest in history and culture and best of all, who love to eat. That’s how Filipino food evolved, it’s not just to nourish the body but as something shared among family and friends.
See you at the next Adobo Festival!
[nggallery id=56]
Leave a Reply