Food - Local or Western

Hmm, i agree with you on the food here, Bland and I also struggle. But My wife has learned to make my favorite dishes like Tacos, BLT, French toast, chili rellenos, Gnocchi soup, even pumpkin pie etc...and without the Sugar, lol...So glad we have Landers and S&R, even Shopee/Lazada for hard to find items.

Anyway i was surprised on my recent trip to Thailand how good the food is there, i was ecpecting the same as here, but i was pleasantly surprised...Still I wish the phils could be a little more developed like her surrounding neighbors, but due to many factors its sadly not the case...

You right, i m french chef pastry and use to cook in french restaurant.if i choose to open here it s because the food is not very good(i respect anyway) you speak about thailland, you have to know thailand has very good quality food .actually .france , spain ,thailland, japan are very high quality of cook..here the culture is little bite american and american food culture is very bad and lot of industrial.jollibee for sample is very bad quality,all vegetables not full quality..always small .tomatoes...it s funny because with all volcano you can have very good products on earth.funny because mangoes are the best in world.but i think it s because they don t have some good cooker and only familly food. And the price must be very low because lot of poor people.if you take vietname,in saigon you eat very well because cosmopolite population.south corean, japanese.etc...but here not problem of obesity because natural . But i think with the time you will eat very good here.

I had great potato salad today.

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Why?

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In Pioneer Center on Wednesday I found two large bottles of Kraft Miracle Whip.

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We have two menus in our household. Mine (USA) and Family (Filipino) so I go crazy at S&R/Landers and my wife goes crazy at the small markets/wet markets.

@Enzyte Bob

Seems I need to get out more often Bob, sounds delicious. We get the Japanese mayo as well as the Kraft products. I don't mind the local food if we cook at home as we back off big time on the salt, Soya, Oyster sauce, no shrimp paste and throw in the chillis etc. I find many establishments here overkill especially at the salt level and even eating in Bens family home at times I have to force myself to eat or simply say thanks but I'm still full from breakfast,,,,, don't eat breaky but a good excuse.

I'm perhaps lucky as Ben who lived in Oz for 6 years got used to local cooking and never looked back. I tried to pound into he and his families head to back off on the salt and soy, like a triple dose for strokes no different I suppose for me smoking but interestingly since I stopped working my BP has gone back to normal while Bens father has had 3 strokes in 5/6 years and he is only 3 years older than me, many of Bens Uncles and Aunts have had strokes and heart attacks when they hit their late 50's early 60's. Generally a healthy diet aside from killing it with salt products.

We eat both eastern and western food here and happy.

Cheers, Steve.

bigpearl said. . . .We get the Japanese mayo as well as the Kraft products.

I don't mind the local food if we cook at home as we back off big time on the salt, Soya, Oyster sauce, no shrimp paste and throw in the chillis etc.

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We eat both eastern and western food here and happy.
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My wife loves the Japanese Mayo, she use to buy it even when we lived in Las Vegas.

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Vegas had several big Filipino grocery stores. The aisles with the sauces amazed me, dozens of sauces I didn't know existed. I often would buy Sarsi Cola (from the Philippines) but cannot find it in the Philippines. Another favorite of mine was Royal Orange.

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As per shrimp past/fry. . . shrimp fry stinked up the whole house. (Hey spell checker stinked is a word).

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My wife will not cook with salt, even our Spam has to be 50% less salt. After years I'm finally getting use to salt less meals, even fried rice.
   

Bob adding salt etc. means the dish is boring. Laugh, I cook at times with Cayanne pepper and I know the strength, Ben a few days ago was cooking seafood Marinara and he said can you taste this for me please Steve? Sure, a teaspoon or less of the sauce made me choke, wash my mouth out and a glass of milk.

What happened? What did you do? Response I chucked this in (Cayenne pepper), Why I asked as it's Marinara, you see me cook that all the time and never that ingredient, How much did you put in Ben and why? The red wine gives the flavour, you know that,,,, even white wine,,,,,,, How much Ben?????????? 2 desert spoons Steve, sorry I have never used it but thought I'd try..... prawns, fish, mussels, clams, squid got thrown out, inedible and he now sees the power of Cayenne pepper, too much and like throwing in a Scorpion chilli or 2 in the mix. He learnt and we went out and had street food, thrilling.

Trap for young players.

Cheers, Steve.

@Bob

Kewpie mayo, the best.

Cheers, Steve.

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As per shrimp past/fry. . . shrimp fry stinked up the whole house. (Hey spell checker stinked is a word). 
   
    -@Enzyte

I checkef online and cannot find "stinked" as a verb. I think stunk or stank would be appropriate 😅

stink

1 of 2

verb

ˈstiŋk

stank ˈstaŋk  or stunk ˈstəŋk  ; stunk; stinking

Golly danfinn, pedantic or a sh1t stirrer?

Smelly, stunk, it,stinked , 3rd person plural etc. We all got Bob's drift so why correct? I will say this to all here that my English and grammar is not perfect but worked for the last 64 years while watching my apprentices spelling Phonetically, the spelling was there and not in the queens language but still very legible but different, It can be different to other members (remember members) whose English is not perfect and the msg is conveyed but many chose to pick on misspelling and not the msg opinion offered.

You all know who I'm talking about as they do also and an open forum for leaning and sharing is not for critics but sharing, life is too short.

Beautiful day here, no surf only a perfect blue ocean and 9Kw of power going into the system, fully charged and wasting power, perhaps little different.

Cheers, Steve.

    Golly danfinn, pedantic or a sh1t stirrer? Smelly, stunk, it,stinked , 3rd person plural etc. We all got Bob's drift so why correct? I will say this to all here that my English and grammar is not perfect but worked for the last 64 years while watching my apprentices spelling Phonetically, the spelling was there and not in the queens language but still very legible but different, It can be different to other members (remember members) whose English is not perfect and the msg is conveyed but many chose to pick on misspelling and not the msg opinion offered.You all know who I'm talking about as they do also and an open forum for leaning and sharing is not for critics but sharing, life is too short. Beautiful day here, no surf only a perfect blue ocean and 9Kw of power going into the system, fully charged and wasting power, perhaps little different.Cheers, Steve.   

Yeah, I guess one problem in communicating via forum is the difficulty in expressing humor, certainly an age old problem that should go away as people become familiar with each other and realize that the OP's intent was to be lighthearted (thus the smiley). What made me investigate was his correction to the spell checker which we Al know obviously cannot make spelling errors (take it easy Steve...joke). I do agree that life is too short, especially being 10 years your senior and that is why we should be chill and not assume that what we write has pedantic intent or stirring negative shit. Enjoy your day and you might try taking yourself and others less seriously to enjoy it even more.

@danfinn

I, like you react to the post/s and at times rightly so. Spelling errors or dictation can mostly/always be overlooked by a thinking person, we all get it wrong by protocol at times but no need to pick.

Perhaps we all need to be more receptive/gentle to our input here? All here are not stupid and pulling a member up for spelling or diction? Smile all you like but the damage is done not only to me I'm sure the previous poster that you hung sh1t on,,,,, we all saw.

Humour doesn't come into it, plenty of dry sites around, enjoy and love the forum.

Agree it's very easy to pick like a nose but remember always that most are here for sharing and caring, the weeds are removed, the waste of space ones at least, just takes time.

Cheers, Steve.

Wow.

My bad guys, talk about off topic, happens. The Enchiladas are looking good but not copious amounts of Cayenne pepper.

cheers, Steve.

Good comments on the grammar Steve i think we all make mistakes and as mentioned before English is not my first language.

My wife once in a blue moon would fry the small dried fish that also stink a lot, at least she got a little butane stove and she will fry it outside before bringing it inside.

Just on the noodles which do you prefer egg or rice?

Beautiful day here, no surf only a perfect blue ocean and 9Kw of power going into the system, fully charged and wasting power, perhaps little different.

Wow Steve you lucky to jave that harvest from the sun here we struggle as it is rainy season and evryday we have rain with little sunshine so on average we harvest about 10 kw but we use 10 to 25 kw per day so last month, thiz month and December will be bad for us on solar.

Yeah, great comments on the grammar Steve. Let us not only purposely misunderstand his post but let's pile on and stick it to him good.👍 The fact that English is not your first language...I am trying to figure out how that relates to anything. If you have another language you wish to use because you are not confident in your ESL, check out the group rules and you will see that this forum comes in other languages as well (but most people like the English one because it is likely the most interesting). Steve knows English as a first language and I assume he has a sense of humor as would most ESL speakers. I guess it must be that time of the month 😂

    @danfinnI, like you react to the post/s and at times rightly so. Spelling errors or dictation can mostly/always be overlooked by a thinking person, we all get it wrong by protocol at times but no need to pick.Perhaps we all need to be more receptive/gentle to our input here? All here are not stupid and pulling a member up for spelling or diction? Smile all you like but the damage is done not only to me I'm sure the previous poster that you hung sh1t on,,,,, we all saw.Humour doesn't come into it, plenty of dry sites around, enjoy and love the forum.Agree it's very easy to pick like a nose but remember always that most are here for sharing and caring, the weeds are removed, the waste of space ones at least, just takes time.Cheers, Steve.        -@bigpearl

Sure, whatever Steve. Make false accusations all you want, I simply do not believe you have any standing in that area so I make every effort to ignore your efforts to modify the behavior of others in the group through your 'leafership', something owned only by moderators. I agree that you will always find insecure individuals who will suck up to you...but too bad you cannot recognize a joke when you see it.

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Not sure egg noodles, perhaps we call different here and Australia but rice noodles/soba/Pastas etc. are common here in our diet, like basmati or jasmine rice, not the local rices, we pay a lot more but our choice, 3/4 times the price but not glug.

We have a dirty Kitchen under the verandah by the ocean with a Wok and hotplate BBQ as well as a 3 burner cooker, double bowl sink,,,,, not used to date,,,, like why did we install that?

I don't eat the local fish, petrified of the bones, clean fillets for me and Ben cooks the Salmon as they would in a Michelin restaurant, to die for, the same as his prawns, most cooking aside from the Cayenne pepper the other day is perfect. Bonus is he enjoys my cooking also. Things he has never seen nor heard of. lol as long as there's rice.

I make a dish here from time to time with pasta, ripe avocados, Lots of bacon, onions/garlic, fresh cream, parmesan cheese and parsley, we love it. He has cooked it for his family a couple of times and guess what they do? chuck in the rice with the pasta dish.

Cheers, Steve. 

Been in the Phils for nearly 20 years & my observation is that the rice is the meal and the sisig,  menudo,  etc. is to complement the rice!

As a side note & more on topic, my Filipina wife has attended culinary schools and makes killer fish sisig and chicken sisig. Much healthier with less or no fat.

She uses minimal oil when preparing dishes. She is from Bicol, so our food has a lot of onions and chilis.

i agree with those who feel Filipino food can be bland. But its probably been passed down that way for years. More chefs & cooks should seek out ways to make local dishes pop, but if their customers prefer the bland, then doing so may affect their revenue.

We have a small corner eatery here in Pasig that serves cafeteria style. We also have a very successful ”catering” side (we only deliver, no serving…). After opening, many customers remarked how flavorful the food is. So, clearly there are people that would like more savory dishes.

        @danfinnI, like you react to the post/s and at times rightly so. Spelling errors or dictation can mostly/always be overlooked by a thinking person, we all get it wrong by protocol at times but no need to pick.Perhaps we all need to be more receptive/gentle to our input here? All here are not stupid and pulling a member up for spelling or diction? Smile all you like but the damage is done not only to me I'm sure the previous poster that you hung sh1t on,,,,, we all saw.Humour doesn't come into it, plenty of dry sites around, enjoy and love the forum.Agree it's very easy to pick like a nose but remember always that most are here for sharing and caring, the weeds are removed, the waste of space ones at least, just takes time.Cheers, Steve.        -@bigpearl
Sure, whatever Steve. Make false accusations all you want, I simply do not believe you have any standing in that area so I make every effort to ignore your efforts to modify the behavior of others in the group through your 'leafership', something owned only by moderators. I agree that you will always find insecure individuals who will suck up to you...but too bad you cannot recognize a joke when you see it.
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    -@danfinn

OMG. Apparently that's what they all sprout these days dan but can I ask where that sprout came from as well as your thinking? Humour aside (yours)  and I have not seen any from you yet and seems you feel threatened by my honest and succinct contributions, perhaps because you disagree or doesn't align? No need to say accusations nor my standing or lack of nouse here, told you it is an open forum and attacks on other members? Spelling or personal opinions? Modify others beliefs? Suck up to me? Not sure your planet but this chat has nothing to do with the OP and my apologies members for taking for taking the milkers bait.

Cheers, Steve.

@aklokow

I'm moving our/your conversation over to the solar thread.

cheers, Steve.

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@aklokow, my bad I can't find the thread. send you a PM.

Cheers, Steve.

            @danfinnI, like you react to the post/s and at times rightly so. Spelling errors or dictation can mostly/always be overlooked by a thinking person, we all get it wrong by protocol at times but no need to pick.Perhaps we all need to be more receptive/gentle to our input here? All here are not stupid and pulling a member up for spelling or diction? Smile all you like but the damage is done not only to me I'm sure the previous poster that you hung sh1t on,,,,, we all saw.Humour doesn't come into it, plenty of dry sites around, enjoy and love the forum.Agree it's very easy to pick like a nose but remember always that most are here for sharing and caring, the weeds are removed, the waste of space ones at least, just takes time.Cheers, Steve.        -@bigpearlSure, whatever Steve. Make false accusations all you want, I simply do not believe you have any standing in that area so I make every effort to ignore your efforts to modify the behavior of others in the group through your 'leafership', something owned only by moderators. I agree that you will always find insecure individuals who will suck up to you...but too bad you cannot recognize a joke when you see it. .        -@danfinn

OMG. Apparently that's what they all sprout these days dan but can I ask where that sprout came from as well as your thinking? Humour aside (yours)  and I have not seen any from you yet and seems you feel threatened by my honest and succinct contributions, perhaps because you disagree or doesn't align? No need to say accusations nor my standing or lack of nouse here, told you it is an open forum and attacks on other members? Spelling or personal opinions? Modify others beliefs? Suck up to me? Not sure your planet but this chat has nothing to do with the OP and my apologies members for taking for taking the milkers bait.

Cheers, Steve.

I have said all that I mean to say. I do think a little inward reflection on your part on some of your recent postings, which might include a dose of humility, may be of value to you.

Hi Skip Scott, very interesting, if i may ask what types of food do you serve and types for delivery. Not to pry but we were thinking of opening a small restaurant which will serve not philippino food bit rather internatiobal style but not gourmet style, more like burgers, fries etc

                @danfinnI, like you react to the post/s and at times rightly so. Spelling errors or dictation can mostly/always be overlooked by a thinking person, we all get it wrong by protocol at times but no need to pick.Perhaps we all need to be more receptive/gentle to our input here? All here are not stupid and pulling a member up for spelling or diction? Smile all you like but the damage is done not only to me I'm sure the previous poster that you hung sh1t on,,,,, we all saw.Humour doesn't come into it, plenty of dry sites around, enjoy and love the forum.Agree it's very easy to pick like a nose but remember always that most are here for sharing and caring, the weeds are removed, the waste of space ones at least, just takes time.Cheers, Steve.        -@bigpearlSure, whatever Steve. Make false accusations all you want, I simply do not believe you have any standing in that area so I make every effort to ignore your efforts to modify the behavior of others in the group through your 'leafership', something owned only by moderators. I agree that you will always find insecure individuals who will suck up to you...but too bad you cannot recognize a joke when you see it. .        -@danfinnOMG. Apparently that's what they all sprout these days dan but can I ask where that sprout came from as well as your thinking? Humour aside (yours)  and I have not seen any from you yet and seems you feel threatened by my honest and succinct contributions, perhaps because you disagree or doesn't align? No need to say accusations nor my standing or lack of nouse here, told you it is an open forum and attacks on other members? Spelling or personal opinions? Modify others beliefs? Suck up to me? Not sure your planet but this chat has nothing to do with the OP and my apologies members for taking for taking the milkers bait.Cheers, Steve.

I have said all that I mean to say. I do think a little inward reflection on your part on some of your recent postings, which might include a dose of humility, may be of value to you.
   

    -@danfinn

@dan look in the mirror, works both ways, we all give our thoughts and opinions,,,,,, an open forum could be of value to all if the rules are followed and simply try to help others but and but there are scammers etc.

Don't pick on me, go fight the fools, put it to bed.

Cheers, Steve.

@bigpearl

Hi Steve i replied to your PM thanks

I'm eating home made chicken curry for lunch. My honey looked it up online. Very nice job!

For dinner tonight I'm having BBQ Bourbon Burnt ends from Black Smokhouse in Cebu. Bought frozen sealed in bag, drop into boiling water to reheat in bag (sealed). perfection.

Last night I had smoked USDA Choice brisket. I smoked a whole brisket last week. What we didn't eat, I sliced and bagged and froze in individual sizing.

Two nights ago, med rare ribeye

I rarely buy meat at Landers anymore

I found a source for:

USDA Choice and Prime beef, Aussie Lamb, Japanese Wagyu and at reasonable prices. NOT CHEAP, but reasonable. Example: 13.7 lb whole choice beef brisket. After I trimmed for smoking, cooking weight about 11.5 lb Cost: 5185p Servings: 20-25?

Gawd this chicken curry is good!

Edited because something happened with the post

@Larry Fisher Livng in Cebu provides many more options for beef than where I live, Dumaguete. We do have a Robinson's supermarket that has a small meat section dedicated to Australian beef and I did buy a top sirloin roast. I was looking forward to a great meal but the meat turned out to be as tough and chewy as Filipino beef. It's OK, it is possible to cook Filipino beef in a pressure cooker for example as a soup, where the beef is cut into 1 inch cubes. 40 minutes total cooking time in a pressure cooker tenderizes it so it is edible and tasty, actually, and we do this a lot with cheaper Filipino beef. But now knowing that Australian beef is exactly the same texture as Filipino beef, I refuse to spend more money on it just because it is now mported. Robinson's also has frozen hamburger patties from Ireland which are quite edible with a B- for taste. In the USA we have beef grades such as USDA prime, USDA choice, U.S. Select, U.S. Standard and U.S. Commercial Utility, Cutter, and Canner Grades. Since it takes a pressure to make Australian beef edible, I believe this would be a UDSA Canner grade, same as most Filipino beef. So I was dissappointed to find that one should not expect US or Japan quality when buying Australian beef here, it will be Filipino quality and should be priced accordingly.

It's a 3 hr drive one way for my beef runs to the city. I know beef grading in US. I used to purchase wholesale, quality beef. I know it's a bit of a trip, but if you want quality US beef there's a importer near Panglow on Bohol or whatever it's called. They ain't cheap.  But they do have quality.  It might be steaksph or something like that? I could look if you want. We brought some back on ice in to Cebu when we went there in May.

@danfinn

Very difficult to buy any good beef here, gave up years ago. I would also wonder something labeled Australian or American beef? Very cheap to print labels then charge twice the price, sad, as a rule Aussie and US beef is some of the best in the world. The only beef we buy is minced for meat sauce/burgers or neck/shank for Bulalo. Try buying sausage mince.

Like fresh milk or cottage cheese. We make do and can't make strawberry jam out of pig sh1t.

Meanwhile the available seafood is great and inexpensive.

Cheers, Steve.

yea, Landers US beef mostly sucks. It's labeled USA or US Black Angus. It might even be labeled USDA (rarely). But it doesn't give a RATING. USDA Choice or Prime are the only ones I would buy. USDA Select and Good are trash. Select is trash walmart at best. Though Walmart on occasion does have good choice or a low prime. I am very picky when buying meat from Landers or S&R. Last time there I found one half decent steak out of the whole freezer. Mostly I buy ground beef, bacon, pork, chicken there. I like getting a dozen thighs for adobo or like today, curry.

Ohhh, I bought a barrel type offset smoker grill combo. This is a winner! We don't have a oven, so it opens many doors for us. My first cook in it, I made Caribbean jerk chicken and it came out great. Then I bought a pork shoulder from the wet market and smoked it for pulled pork, Memphis style! This lasted numerous days. And the aforementioned smoked brisket. Wasn't my best cooking effort. But learned a few things. I'll get another USDA Choice brisket soon.

Larry Fisher said. . . . Mostly I buy ground beef, bacon, pork, chicken there. (Landers/S&R)
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Same for me, lately at Landers the ground beef is not labeled for the percentage of fat. I don't buy steaks at S&R or Landers. The only exception is thin sliced beef for Philly Cheese Steaks and it's hit or miss for tenderness.

Back in the states at Smiths (Kroger) had ground Buffalo and I love Buffalo Burgers.

    Larry Fisher said. . . . Mostly I buy ground beef, bacon, pork, chicken there. (Landers/S&R)*******************************
Same for me, lately at Landers the ground beef is not labeled for the percentage of fat. I don't buy steaks at S&R or Landers. The only exception is thin sliced beef for Philly Cheese Steaks and it's hit or miss for tenderness.
Back in the states at Smiths (Kroger) had ground Buffalo and I love Buffalo Burgers.
   

    -@Enzyte Bob

Try reindeer burgers, had one on a Finnair flight from Manchester to Helsinki, lovely.

    Just another open discussion on food, whether you all have adapted to local Philippine cuisine or not.

    -@aklokow

You dont need to adapt if cook yourself   

Blend or not depend of spices and cooking method. 

Most Filipinos use far to much oil when "cook". A Swedish friend, who is chef, tried to make Filipinos eat more healthy, but he gave up  But Filipinos are good at copying when they want to, more and more have copied him exersise run around a small lake

There  can be problem to find some ingridiences as e g suiting diary products, but much can be done with whats available as e g lentils and vegs. (The low fat dried milk DONT function when I tried to a dish. Tasted eatable, but became soggy and looked bad.)

A creative Filipino dish is Conggee. Its basicly rice porrage (as Swedish "Christmas porrage) and then put in "anything" you want.

A Filipino had plan to introduce conggee food places in USA. Dont know if he tried.

@bigpearl

I may steal Ben if you keep bragging, I need a great cook once I settle in.

You are right about a good balance of both of your cooking... learn from one another.  I do love the chicken and fish here but the Philippines is not going to win any culinary awards outside of the amazing bakery's.  Thai food is the best and I have found some great resteraunts  in the Phills that do a great job with Thai dishes.

Anyone found a good location for Bahn mi in the Philippines?

Donald

@Larry Fisher

OK I brought you some supplies from Canada but I am not picking up beef for you in Panglao, lol.

I come from ranching country with amazing beef so while I am in the Phills I enjoy fish and chicken.... beef is for when I visit home.

Donald

@Larry Fisher

Looking forward to that Brisket invite, haha... I will be near your for most of December, hint hint. 

You have time to improve the recipie and smoker experience.

Cheers,

Donald