MARKET TOUR: Dried Fish a.k.a. "Bulad" or "Buwad"

If you crave for something salty and appetizing, check out these dried fish all the way from Bantayan Island, Cebu.  With $20.00, the Chef was able to get a kilo each of squid and "danggit" (Cebuano's best-loved dried fish -- usually $6/kl in the market), and half a kilo each of fish tocino and "tarorot", another squid species (also at $6/kl market price) .  This is a great buy, I may say, minus the fare to get to the edge of Cebu province and hop to the island itself.

"flat" squid, tarorot, danggit, d. fish tocino

These dried fish are best when crispy-fried! So, if you happen to be sightseeing in Bantayan, make sure not to head back home without these delicacies.

MARKET TOUR: Apples, Chorizos and Feeds

First Buy: A bunch of Apples

Who says you can only find apples in cold countries?  Well, you can also get them here in tropical Philippines.  The Chef says apples are non-seasonal, since he can grab them all year round. Moreso, apples are becoming abundant at this time, because it's almost Christmas.  The apples bought by the Chef, in particular, are the cheapest ones you can find in the market and are worth  $0.23 each.  In big groceries, the price of these is already double.

Next Buy: Poultry Feeds

The Chef's chicken had eggs that hatched about two weeks ago.  Out of 8, only five of them were able to get out successfully from their shells. Now, these chicks are starting to grow.  To get enough nutrition, Chef Andrey gives them booster feeds.  A one-kilo pack of WarHawk baby stag booster from the poultry store is now at $0.81. The Chef also bought Sagupaan ready-mix maintenance feed for the rooster ($0.69) and a tie-rope ($0.34) in case the Chef wants to take out the rooster from its cage for some fresh air.

Next Buy: Chorizos

Chorizos are a home-made type of sausage made by mixing ground pork, sugar, and spices.  A red food color is often used. Although there are already the "skinless" types,  these are usually wrapped in a special casing (cleaned and dried pig intestines).  

During cooking, they give out a distinct yummy, sweet smell, and once cooked, they turned reddish brown.  Watch them while you're cooking because they easily burn over high heat.  

Chorizos are very common to Filipino breakfast tables. Filipinos abroad cannot even resist its nostalgic taste and smell that they would usually request relatives to ship dozens of them, or if they happen to be in the country, they would never miss to put them in their list of things to bring back overseas.  

Cooking Chorizos the Chef A-way!

Basic ingredients that you cannot do away with

Since the chorizos are here, the Chef decided to cook them for some taste test.  Here's how:

1. Poke with fork or knife the chorizo for several times.  The holes will help vent  out air during cooking and prevent them from bursting (and hit your eye).

Chorizo Transformation

2. In a frying pan,  place the chorizos, water and Datu Puti vinegar.  The water and vinegar combo must be just enough to dip the chorizos halfway.   Cover the pan until the liquid disappears and the oily chorizo juice would start to render.  (The vinegar will make the chorizos tastier and even out the "processed meat" scent and flavor.)

3. Once the pan has dried up, put some oil to fry the sausage until reddish brown. (The Chef would normally flatten the chorizo for even browning).

The finished product is great with chili vinegar sauce, fried rice and coffee. Bon Appetit!