Lasang Pinoy 14: A LA ESPANYOLA!
Rellenong Bangus | Stuffed Milkfish
Monday, 9 October 2006 | By Mike | Category: Culture & Tradition, Filipino / Pinoy, Fish, Glorious Food, Lasang Pinoy, Pinoy Food
For the 14th Edition of Lasang Pinoy [A LA ESPANYOLA!] hosted by PurpleGirl, we hark back once again to our rich cultural past in exploring the varied influences of Pinoy [or Filipino] cuisine.
Philippine cuisine, like its home, has numerous indigenous and foreign influences. Throughout the centuries, the islands have adopted the cuisine of the early Malay settlers, Arab and Chinese traders, and Spanish and American colonizers, along with other Oriental and Occidental flavours and twangs, and incorporating them to become what we refer to as “sariling atin” [our very own]. The strongest culinary influence though is from Spain which ruled the Philippines for almost four centuries.
Filipino food historians claim that eighty percent [80%] of Philippine dishes are of Spanish origin. Because the Spaniards formed the elite, dishes adapted by upper-class Filipinos were also Spanish-inspired. Thus, many of the party and fiesta dishes and those served for special occasions bear names like caldereta, callos, embutido, estufado, morcon, paella, relleno, etc.
Even though my grandmother was of Spanish-descent, I do not remember our table laden with fare that is distinctly Castilian all the time. In one of my earlier posts [in fact my entry to Lasang Pinoy 2], I briefly mentioned that: “While nanay’s cooking would be more or less authentically Pinoy, my late lola [having had Spanish roots], was more inclined to and expert in dishes like lengua, asado, pochero, almondigas, estufado, etc. . . .”
So, what then make these dishes Filipino? For this, let me quote the late Doreen Fernandez: “The history and society that introduced and adapted them; the people who turned them to their tastes and accepted them into their homes and restaurants, and especially the harmonizing culture that combined them into contemporary Filipino fare.”
At home, Spanish-influenced dishes normally would make their appearance on the table during holidays like Christmas, New Year, and other special occasions like birthdays and anniversaries, or on days when nanay and lola would really be inspired to cook up a fiesta fare.
For this round, my entry is actually a backlog from last year – rellenong bangus [stuffed milkfish].
Milkfish [Chanos chanos], or bangus as it is locally called here in the Philippines is our national fish. Bangus is one of the many staple fish diets by Filipinos although milkfish is widespread in Southeast Asia. Countries like Indonesia and Taiwan have milkfish also in their diet. To describe this fish, the scales are bright silver and a slender body. The bangus thrive either in fresh water lakes, brackish water, mangrove swamps, estuaries and salt water.
When cooked, the flesh is white as milk - that is why it is called milkfish. Because milkfish is notorious for being much more bony compared to other food fish in the country, deboned milkfish or “boneless bangus” has become popular and common in stores and markets. Widespread throughout the islands but the more tasty ones comes from Dagupan, in the northern part of Luzon, Philippines. There are many milkfish recipes available and stuffed milkfish or rellenong bangus is one of the best.
Rellenong bangus is one of those dishes my lola loved and one that I never really attempted to cook, for one, I don’t know how buy or spot a good fish! And two, I also don’t know how [and still refuse to learn] to clean a fish – let alone debone it! So when I tried this one last year, it turned into a disaster.
This time, with the assistance of the ‘orfanage’ executive chef Rose and yaya SisterVi, I managed to come up with a decent rellenong bangus. And unlike Brunei, where I first experimented on this, fish mongers in Manila’s wet markets provide extra services like cleaning and de-boning.
After selecting the right-sized bangus, it is then scaled, gutted, and the intestines removed. A long and slender spatula is carefully inserted between the skin and meat, through the cavity opening, and slowly pushed, pulled and moved around to separate skin and meat. The spine is then snapped at the nape and near the tail. The meat is pushed until it comes out whole through the cavity opening between the head and the body.
Other fish mongers will pound and slit the bangus open with a very sharp knife, remove the backbone and scrape the meat off the skin with a spoon. This procedure though involves the extra work of sewing up after stuffing the fish. The visible strings, too, do not look attractive at all after frying.
At the ‘orfanage’ kitchen we marinated the head and skin in a mixture of calamansi [lime] juice, light soy sauce and black pepper powder. Instead of boiling [which is the usual], we steamed the meat until its colour changed. The meat is cooled, filleted, de-boned further and flaked.
For the stuffing, sauté minced garlic, chopped onions and chopped tomatoes until cooked. Add in flaked fish, finely chopped carrots and red capsicum, finely chopped ham, and raisins. Season with salt and pepper, and sauté for another minute or so. Transfer mixture into a bowl to cool. When cooled, pour in beaten eggs to the mixture, add some flour and mix well.
Finally, using a spoon, carefully stuff the marinated fish head and skin - through the neck, with the fish, vegetable and ham mixture. Fry the stuffed bangus until golden brown.
Now, frying the stuffed fish can sometimes be tricky especially when you have quite a big fish. Tendency is for the fish to break while turning it over – which is exactly what happened the last time I did it. Before frying, it would help if a piece or two of bamboo skewers are inserted through the mouth and the tail end of the fish to serve as temporary spine. Be sure to remove the skewers before slicing to serve!
Lasang Pinoy, which could mean ‘tastes of something Filipino’ or short for ‘the Filipino taste’ is a monthly food blogging event to promote Filipino food. It is a product of e-mail brainstorming sessions of several Filipino food bloggers who thought it was time for a Filipino event in the tradition of Is My Blog Burning. The blogger organisers of Lasang Pinoy and participants strive to make the events reflective of Filipino culture.
Technorati Tags: pinoy, food, lasang, pinoy, lasangpinoy14, filipino, cuisine, bangus, milkfish, stuffed, milkfish, rellenong, bangus, culture, tradition
yay you! congrats on this bravo attempt with bangus! not in my league yet though…ngayon pah! lol! e posting on a weekly basis nga, i can’t seem to afford…:) penge nalang!
ahhh, relleno. one of my comfort foods while growing up. oddly enough, I didn’t partake of this delicious dish from my own home. my aunt had a wonderful recipe for this and a reliable househelp who was very patient with deboning, filling and sewing the the bangus.
now i’m hungry and i just had a snack!
remember romy our friend? he was willing to giv me a demo on how to debone a milkfish but unfortunately bangus isnt easy to find here. at mestisuhin pa ang available :D gone is my chance so maybe this recipe of yours wud help on my next attempt.
mis ko ito ah!
You know what, Mang Mike once pa lang ako nagluto nito. Masarap talaga kaya lang masyadong matrabaho. Pero nainspire ako ng entry mo, itry ko ulit magluto.
great entry mike, i also cook but haven’t tried this one myself. relyenong bangus is one of my mom’s favorite dishes (she cooks it at least 2x a month?!), so when we have it on the table we try not to eat fast and just enjoy it - we know how much labor of love went into it.
ces, thanks! ayaw ko na ulit gawin - matrabaho eh! lol!
genie, i guess one really needs all the help in preparing this. the household staff here had a ball from buying the fish in the market, to the preparation and cooking, to the final shoot!
iska, good luck sa gagawin mong attempt to cook this one. :-)
lani, thanks! glad to hear that this one inspired you . . .
paul, thanks! this reminds me of my lola during my college days when she would cook crab cakes . . . can you imagine how tedious it is to pick the crab meat, prepare the mixture, mold the patties, then fry them? only to be devoured in seconds! hehehe
Mike! Ako rin na-inspire mag-relleno. I recently found my lola’s wooden (bamboo ata) spatulas for the relleno. However, I also remember our helper would pound and twist - more like wring - the bangus then effortlessly take out the flesh from the cavity. Nakupo, mag-comparative methods kaya? Huhuhu!
Just had lunch, am hungry again after reading this post. To think I’m just coming back!
Mike, that bangus looks sooo good! miss ko na to…pero ang trabaho so I haven’t attempted it. On second thought, dyan na lang if the fish vendors will do the deboning for me!
Mike, ako rin, I have tried it once, at matrabaho nga if no one else can clean and debone the fish! But I loved it! Although I dread making one again, your post have created that craving once more. Maybe I will make it again for this Christmas.
what a feat! I remember my uncle even used tweezers to pull out the bones whenever he made this. It really is labor intensive….way beyond my patience :) I’m resigned to just eating other people’s efforts and keeping a sharp eye on the buffet table ;)
Great entry, Mike. Very informative and mouthwatering.
Cabalen Karen, The fish monger’s spatula looked like an old bamboo thingy. And indeed, I think my late lola also would do the same method you mentioned when deboning bangus.
Mita, Thanks! I don’t think I’d ever do this again. LOL! Well, not in the near future . . .
Manang, Yes, it’s a great ‘handa’ for Christmas!
JMom, Thank you! Yes, those indispensable tweezers! LOL!
Congrats…… i really love filipine dishes…… Hope you will have recipes on mudfish.
Godbless and more power!
Congrats…… hope you will have recipes on mudfish!!!!
More power!!!
hi! seems easy by the way you explained it, detailed. I’ll give it a try for our noche buena, my kids are delighted to have rellenong bangus on the table, and the next time we’ll have it, cooked by their mom! Gee, im excited to buy now and have the vendor do the removing of the meat, im glad we can have that added service in the market with no extra cost! thanks a lot!