[ A Kapampangan Culinary Tour ] Part 1: Breakfast

I first learned about this project from The Pilgrim months ago before it even started. I got an invite for the first run and missed it including the second. So when I read about a third run, I did not waste any time. I emailed Karlo, the Sleepy Traveler, and started harassing Tracey Santiago of Alquimista, Inc., a cultural tourism specialist responsible for organizing this tour.

At 5:45am last Saturday, 9th June 2007, I was at the appointed pick-up point at Greenbelt 1 in Makati, with an empty tummy! Tracey was there to meet three participants – Ernest (UL), Roel Vargas (a chef instructor at CCA), and myself. After two more stops to pick-up the rest of the participants and a former roommate and friend architect Nonoy Ozaeta (also a resource speaker for this run) whom I haven’t seen for ages (!), we drove off to Pampanga.

I am not much of a morning person so I dozed off along the way and woke up just as we were passing through the San Fernando exit of NLEX en route to Mexico, Pampanga for the first stop. It’s as if my tummy sensed food in close proximity!

CUCINA NG ATCHING LILLIAN BORROMEO

We arrived on schedule at the Borromeo residence in Parian, Mexico, one of the oldest and most historical areas of Pampanga for breakfast. We were met by our host Mrs. Lillian Borromeo, and Mr. Willie Carpio, a director of the famous cultural group Arti Sta. Rita. Both are resource speakers for the tour.

Mrs. Lillian Mercado Lising-Borromeo is a Culinary Consultant and Historian, and host of a local cable TV show called “Kusinang Kapampangan nang Atching Lillian.” My source tells me that she is the grand daughter of Don Monico Mercado, Jose Rizal’s cousin. Don Monico is a noted Kapampangan figure, a government official and translated Rizal’s “Mi Ultimo Adios” to the Kapampangan dialect. It is said that the Kapampangan translation was out on the day and immediately after Rizal’s 1896 execution by firing squad.

Now, on with the food . . . Breakfast at Atching Lillian’s was served al fresco at the backyard of her home and next to her private culinary museum. The delectable Kapampangan spread was presented on a buffet table designed and constructed to evoke the look of the traditional “banggerahan” found in the old homes of Pampanga.

Banggerahan is a local term for a rack in the kitchen used to wash and air-dry dinnerware and cutlery, enclosed in vertical bamboo slats and usually protruding outside of the window. In Kapampangan homes however, there are two sets of banggerahan: one for the china and the other one found usually in the dining room and used to keep food before being served.

The spread on Atching Lillian’s “banggerahan” (above, from left to right) included putong puti and kutsinta, the tidtad (dinuguan), kilayin, picadillo, and embutido.

The Kapampangan version of dinuguan (pork stewed in its own blood) is called “tidtad” which literally means ‘chopped.’ The blood isn’t mashed but sliced into tiny pieces. I am quite adventurous when it comes to food but since I stopped eating this dish more than two decades ago, I did not try this one.

What I fell in love with is the kilayin. Kilayin is basic stew of pig offal (like liver and lung), and pork cooked in vinegar, garlic, pepper, and chili. It is like adobo, but not quite. It reminds me of a favorite Ilocano dish, the “igado,” whose dominant tastes are that of the liver and vinegar. Kilayin also tastes better when it is older and has cured.

Before breakfast, Atching Lillian introduced us to a couple of familiar tastes – that of the duhat (Lomboy in Ilokano and Bisaya) and sariwang gatas ng kalabaw (fresh carabao’s milk), consumed NOT SEPARATELY but TOGETHER! I didn’t quite get the explanation as to why they do that as I was busy taking photos but I tried and it was really yummy! First, you place some duhat in a bowl and pour warm carabao’s milk into it, spoon a piece of duhat into your mouth with some milk, bite into the duhat and carefully remove the seed with your teeth.

The duhat’s sometimes unpalatable, sub-acidic flavor and astringency (which normally improves by soaking them in salt water) is a contrast to the carabao milk’s sweetish flavor.

I knew that there was still more food ahead of us that day so I paced my intake by limiting myself to just a single helping. I finished it off with a cup of rich chocolate drink made of freshly ground cocoa and peanuts.

After breakfast, we toured Atching Lillian’s culinary museum called Kapampangan Culinary Heritage which showcases old cooking implements – from wooden bowls, baskets, jars, ladles, to clay stoves, and were given a live demonstration on how “sanikulas” cookies are made.

Clockwise from above left: Atching Lillian Borromeo discussing wooden moulds used in the making of sanikulas; CCA chef instructor Roel Vargas and tour participant MR showing off their baking talents; Willie “Kongwi” Carpio of Arti Sta. Rita; and inquisitive foodies listening to Atching Lillian.

Atching Lillian in action as tour participants watch; ingredients, wooden moulds and a finished, baked “sanikulas.”

The “sanikulas” is a native biscuit made of uraro (arrowroot) flour and coconut milk. It was originally given away by a priest to everyone attending the mass during the feast of San Nicolas Tolentino on September 10. The biscuit is thought to be miraculous and can cure any ailment. To date, the biscuits are simply savored for their distinct flavor with all the religious overtones gone.

Read PART TWO here . . .

Related Posts:

1. VIAJENG CUSINANG MATUA
2. VIAJENG CUSINANG MATUA
3. VIAJENG CUSINANG MATUA
4. FOURTH ANNUAL DUMAN FESTIVAL