About CHOP

The Culinary Historians of the Philippines (CHOP) is a non-profit sister organization of the Culinary Historians of Washington, D.C. (CHoWDC). We are not historians in the academic or scholarly sense; we are students of culinary history who want to give back to society through culinary-based programs. Our mission: To study, promote, and help preserve the history and heritage of Philippine cuisine and culinary customs/traditions; to implement advocacy programs; and to study the cuisines of other countries. [Your comments on our posts are most welcome.]

Monday, March 23, 2015

Food Tour, San Pablo, Laguna, January 24, 2015

San Pablo, Laguna Food Tour
January 24, 2014


TASTING OUR WAY THROUGH SAN PABLO CITY
   January 24, 2014
by An Mercado-Alcantara

The majestic mountains of Mount Banahaw, Mount Cristobal, and the Sierra Madre Mountain range embrace the city of San Pablo. Within this embrace are the prized jewels of San Pablo’s seven crater lakes, as well as huge tracks of coconut lands, which in the early 1900s was the biggest source of coco products in the world. These three geographic features—our mountains, our lakes, and our coconut plantations—have influenced the culinary traditions of San Pablo. Experience our city from the point of view of a local foodie, CHOP member An Mercado-Alcantara, writer, clay artisan, and innkeeper. We will explore our folk cuisine, the culture, and the charming people that make San Pablo such a memorable off-the-beaten path destination.

Program

§  8:30 am – Meet up at Casa San Pablo, a bed and breakfast within a family compound at the heart of San Pablo City (www.casasapablo.com). Allot travel time of two hours from the Magallanes entry of the South Luzon Expressway.

§  9:00 am – Breakfast and lecture by An Mercado-Alcantara on San Pablo food influences. Our breakfast menu will include dishes from our lakes, as well as other San Pablo favorites:
o   Pinaete (lake shrimp paste in coconut cream) from Palakpakin lake
o   Paksiw na ayungin from Pandin lake
o   Dried biya from Laguna
o   Longanisang San Pablo
o   Coco jam
o   Itlog na maalat
o   Laguna white cheese
o   Tsokolate at pinipig
o   Plus, tasting portions of edible stages of the coconut with the lecture

§  10:00 am – Leave for Forest Wood Garden (facebook.com/pages/Forest-Wood-Garden) a coconut plantation with ornamental plants, at the foot of Mount Banahaw. Organic farmer Joel Frago and his wife, Myrna Frago, a landscape artist, will welcome us. Here, we will have a taste of two dishes from ingredients used by our ancestors, foraged and hunted from the thick forests of Mount Banahaw.
o   Pancit kalabuko – Before we were influenced by the Chinese, our ancestors made noodles from kalabasa and topped it with vegetables and crops gathered in the forest and slices of roasted wild boar
o   Plantsado – A merienda dish from endemic root crops found in the forest, mashed like nilupak, mixed with buco, then flattened using a traditional charcoal flat iron. We will have a chance to iron our own plantsado.

§  12:00 pmLeave for Sulyap Gallery Café, where we will be served traditional coconut and lake dishes for lunch. Here, we will have a demo of the San Pablo classic dish of kulawong puso ng saging at talong, a salad with smoked coconut vinaigrette. Lunch Menu:
o   Kulawong puso ng saging at talong
o   Crispy tilapia from the fish pens in our lakes
o   Native chicken tinola
o   Igado (adobo sa kamatis)

§  2:00 pmLeave for Kusina de Sabang, a lakeside eatery which will give us a view of Bunot Lake, the smallest of our seven lakes. Here, we will have a taste of new ways our traditional desserts are being prepared by young people of San Pablo.
o   Home-made buko tart (an alternative to the highly commercialized buko pie)
o   Home-made palitaw with a coating of macapuno
o   Candied macapuno

§  3:00 pmLeave for Café Lago, a lakeside café which will give us a view of Sampaloc Lake, the biggest of our seven lakes. Here, we will have flavored lambanog (coconut wine) and bignay wine tasting. Bignay is harvested and distilled at the Atisan hills of San Pablo.

§  4:00 pmLeave for Casa San Pablo. Here, we will set up a pasalubong counter which will include some of the dishes we tasted:
o   Pinaete
o   Dried biya
o   Macapuno
o   Ube halaya
o   Buko tarts
o   Etc.

Drive back to Manila immediately after.


OPTION for Shrimping at Lake Pandin: Those who would like to experience fishing and shrimping from bamboo rafts on Lake Pandin can stay overnight at Casa San Pablo. A shrimping expedition will leave at 5:30 AM the following morning. We will take a 20-minute hike to the lake as the sun rises. We will ride bamboo rafts through the dawn lake waters and then help the local folk pull out shrimp traps around the lake. We will be able to catch shrimps, ayungin, biya, and bakuli. Then we will have simple breakfast on the rafts and enjoy the spectacular view. For those who will stay overnight at Casa San Pablo, the rate is P1,700 per head inclusive of dinner and breakfast. Trip to Pandin Lake is P500. [Note: This option was cancelled at the last minute because the water in the lakes was too cold.]


Photo Gallery


People & Views


















































































Food & Drinks

Garlic Fried Rice
Salted Egg Salad
Pinaete:  pounded shrimp cooked in coconut milk.
Longganisang San Pablo
Sinigang na Ayungin (fish from Pandin Lake)
Crispy Fried Bakuli (fish from Palakpakin Lake)
Crispy Dried Biya (fish from the lakes)
Hot Chocolate
Hot Chocolate with Toasted Pinipig (crispy rice)




Macaroons
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Buko (Young Coconut) Pie


Coconut Macaroons
Coconut Sugar and Coconut Syrup served with Sweet Sticky Rice Cakes
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Shrimp Crackers served with Coconut Vinegar
Alangan -- "in-between" (a mature coconut and a baby coconut)
Niyog - mature coconut
Coconut seedling

Mala-Uhog (baby coconut)
Turmeric Tea




Purple Yam
Plantsado ("ironed")

Plantsado – A merienda dish from endemic root crops found in the forest and flattened using a traditional charcoal iron.   






Plantsado ready for eating

Cooking the Pancit Kalabuko (Squash and Coconut Noodles)

Squash shells after scraping
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Roasted then peeled eggplant

Scorching the grated coconut with live coals
Smokey coconut milk squeezed from the burnt grated coconut
Kulawong Talong - cooking the roasted eggplant in the burnt coconut milk



Finished Kulawong Talong garnished with Lechon Kawali







Palitaw (Sticky Rice) Balls Stuffed with Macapuno
Maja Blanca with Corn

Sinukmani (Biko) - another variety of sweet sticky rice cake

Turon na Saging (Fried Banana Rolls)
Ube Halaya - purple yam cooked in coconut milk


An's Presentation re San Pablo











2 comments:

  1. Wow, Regee. Your photos are so complete. Didn't realize that you were clicking away during the full tour. Everything was covered. Thank you.

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    Replies
    1. It helped that both Ian and I had cameras -- it took a lot of time winnowing them. The photo collection includes some from your and Ige's postings on FB, that's why it looks so complete.

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