Best Posts in Thread: Food Here

Mostly I sit with Germans at the Red Table, they are a good bunch of guys and quick to buy a round for the table, however they are a serious lot and never seem to laugh all that much? Here in UK we would enjoy a TV comedy, one of which would be Dick Emery he would dress up as an old lady and slip on a Banana skin onto his backside showing his bloomers, now this would not be funny to a German unless it was a real old Lady?

One time when sitting there with them and another man come in our company who was a stranger to me, after a time he turned to me and said why do you not sit over there with the US guys that are speaking English, to which I replied these Motherfeckers just talk a load of Sh!t, Ya Ya the Germans said you are correctly Motherfeckers just full of Sh!t, I then said; I think you Germans are also full of Sh!t but as I don't understand a word you say that is OK for me, this stranger did not take too kindly to this, however when he noticed the others laughing at this he did see the funny side eventually.

 

I can't answer cause I am really not familar with prices in the UK.

All I can say is that I left Germany in July 2023 and my weekly shopping for groceries was more or less the same amount what I am paying now here in the Philippines.
That was different a few years ago.

Meanwhile costs of living are pretty much the same. What you can save on restaurants and bars you spend for milk, butter, cheese and hygienic stuff.
What you can save on rent you soend for medical insurance. Not to mention the monthly costs for your visa.

I am not complaining. I am just not one of the guys that believe life is cheaper here than in Europe. Life is great here. But not cheap(er).

 

Well, different people have different tastes. From my point of view there is nothing wrong with pork belly.

We cook it low and slow on a bed of potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, bell pepper, onions and, if available, leek. Give it some time, the fat of the belly will melt and creates a wonderful sauce. Shortly before serving you add some tomato paste and if you like some red wine.

I love it.
I'll have it with a dark beer, cerveza negra from San Miguel, or a good glass of red wine.

Life is great !!!

 

Belly pork......had an evening meal at a friends house Tuesday night.
The meat was tender and when I asked what part of the pig to my surprise he said Belly pork!
My past experienes with belly pork is mixed, sometimes as tough as leather or totally cremated or unchewable.
Apparently the method used was to gently simmer in water before being placed in the oven to crisp up the crackling
with no noticeable fat on the slim pieces of meat it melted in the mouth.
Will try to achieve the same results next time, I usually never buy belly pork, because its just as expensive as lean pork chops..

 

A few things can be done with this, with a Pork Chop this can be tenderised using a meat hammer, or they can be braised for a long time, (cooked in a small mount of water over a long period) or they can be marinated in pineapple juice this must be done with care and for no longer than 30mins or they start to go mushy.

I'm guessing meat there does not get Hung for any reasonable time often killed and grilled the same day, also it is likely fresh meat there has been stored at room temp for far too long and has to be used ASAP after being bought?

 

I'm also not a fan of many Filipino dishes, Sinigang, my wife's fried chicken and chicken halang, halang being favorites. Grilled pork chops and I'll go with tomatoes, onion and okra in some foil is my standard.

Shawn

 

Unfortunately I had similar experiences indeed and don't know what to do about it.

Bought pork and it was delicious. Bought it again a few days later from the same vendor and it was crap. That was about to happen several times.

I don't have any solution. It's just buying, cooking, praying.

 

Is Chop Suey Filipino? I understood it to be American Chinese. So I think we cannot quote a non-Filipino food as a good Filipino food. However, I do like Chop Suey (but it's not Filipino!).

I dislike Sinigang - not into sour things (except my own tongue at times) - and some Taiwanese guests here recently disliked it too. The only Filipino food they did dislike - not sure they tried balut!

Pancit is okay.

But it seems to me that quoting fruit and home cooked veg and/or fish as good Filipino food surprises me, when they can be cooked in any country. So if I left this country, what would I miss? That is, what would I not be able to replicate elsewhere to an equal standard? The answer is nothing.

BUT, leave the UK and you won't replicate good fish and chips here or Cornish Pasties! Maybe not even a haggis.

 

Growing Vegetables can be done easily there everything grows so fast including the weeds, however there are ways around this.

Using a form of a polytunnel covered in shade netting on the south side of it (most plants DO NOT like direct sunlight) an ordinary garden net to the rest, will keep many of the pests at bay, using raised beds built in CHB's which are about the only thing they are good for anyway, takes away the back breaking work of weeding, especially if they are filled with a good loose growing medium with some added course sand, growing plants with this method allows for less spacing between them.

This does require some initial financial investment to have this constructed, but the prices there in PH for Vegetables is verging on criminal, working smart with this and getting more than one crop a year there in PH it would not take all that long to pay for itself.

Keeping a few Rabbits could go hand in glove with the above method using their droppings for fertilizer, they can be fed quite cheaply there using Napier grass, Banana leaves and the excess green tops from root vegetables produced in the Tunnel, providing the beds are above 2ft high a couple of Rabbits could live inside the tunnel.

This is so easy not requiring a lot of work and so rewarding to do, going 100% organic is easily possible with this method if that is your thing?

You would have to be AYFH not to appreciate this as a very good method and worth having a go with?

 

I cannot confirm Filipino food is bad in general.
It all depends how and by whom it has been prepared.

From my point of view there is nothing wrong with Sinigang, Pancit, Chop Suey. Just to name a few.

If you buy fresh and quality ingredients and take some passion to prepare the meal it can be delicious.

The Philippines are blessed with fresh vegetables and fish. Fruits as well. If you want you can prepare really nice meals.

Hence I wouldn't come to the conclusion that Filipino cuisine is bad as a given fact.

Of course, if you don't want to shop and cook by yourself and instead you are preferring to spend 85 Peso at an eatery or maybe 320 Peso at an so called restaurant you will receive greasy and cold rubbish. You get what you pay for.

Take some time, spend some money, put some effort. Life can be great.