Senator Imee Marcos releases PinakBEST, a book on Ilocano cooking, with touches of politics, the Filipino diaspora, life in Malacañang, the Marcos exile years, and more
WALA LANG
The transformation of greens, moos, meees, and oinks to the pleasures of taste and wonders of sight is the subject of this masterpiece that touches upon Ilocano cooking and, along the way, on politics, the Filipino diaspora, life in Malacañang, the Marcos exile years, Filipino resiliency and creativity.
Senator Imee Marcos is remarkable. She recalls being a naughty child disciplined by being dispatched to the kitchen to chop, mince, stir, and do whatever else was done in a place busy rushing food for an unending stream of possibly hungry constituents, political leaders, favor-seekers, friends, and foes.
She went on to be a youthful leader (remember Kabataang Barangay), producer of pioneering films that manangs wanted banned, innovative culture leader, entrepreneur, politician, and now, legislator. Her previously unrecognized skills as a cook and writer shine in the informative and entertaining Pinakbest, published with notes from chef Reggie Aspiras.
Sen. Imee Marcos (Manila Bulletin file photo)
Imee Marcos writes, “…I cook as my mother’s daughter, so be warned that my basic portion is for 50+ pax, the portioning for a small barangay. Neither am I a trained chef, hence careful measurement is not my strong suit. I have been told that I give rather imprecise orders—‘when the onions have a nice color,’ ‘if the garlic smells good,’ ‘when the sauce thickens’—all perfectly clear instructions to me since I heard them throughout my childhood in our frenzied kitchen,”
The recipes begin with “classic Ilox” dishes: daily fare, including the exotic caliente from cow skin, salads of ampalaya and labanos, sinanglaw from beef innards, dinakdakan from sundry pig parts, and dinardaraan that is close to the Tagalog dinuguan. The Ilocano entry to the lechon wars (Cebu the defending champion) is a pig roasted not with tanglad or pandan leaves but with karimbuaya, known as soro soro to Tagalogs, that gives the lechon a salty-tangy flavor.
President Marcos Sr.’s favorites started with dinengdeng, the main ingredients of which were fish, fish bagoong, and veggies, and continued with pinakbet that had pork belly and bagnet instead of fish. Bagnet incidentally is my super unhealthy comfort favorite. It’s twice-fried fatty pork.
Bisayang Tisay is how Imee calls the Imeldific whose table was “always a feast—abundant, generous, and always accompanied by lots of music and laughter.” Her guests enjoyed gourmet upgrades of balut, tinola, bam-i, humba, relleno, and pochero, as well as fabada with a Pinoy twist.
The Middle East, Europe, and Singapore have contributed to the Marcos kitchen.
The Middle Eastern input arrived post-EDSA when King Hassan II extended a helping hand. Hummus, baba ganoush, and tabbouleh appear on the buffet menu, made among other things with chickpeas (a.k.a. garbanzos) and something called tahini that is concocted from sesame seeds (that’s linga I think). Sayang, there’s nothing about baklava and other sweets.
From Europe are quiche lorraine, various pastas, salpicado, fish and chips, oysters mignonette, etc. that are pure European, though with calamansi juice and rice vinegar here and there. Singapore contributed fish, crab, and chicken recipes different from ours with ingredients like Indian spices, shrimp paste, laksa leaf, and sampaloc paste.
“IMEEbonuspa” climaxes the book, Imee’s must-try variations of the cold soups gazpacho and salmorejo, salads with the healthy rice-like quinoa and with beets, oysters with Japanese rice wine, with ripe mango, and broiled in papaya shells, and durian halo-halo.
President BBM makes an appearance with his shrimp and sausage gumbo, originating from the American Cajun South. It has Cajun seasoning (better Google that), tabasco, and Andouille sausage that Imee queries in a footnote as maybe like aged Ilocano longganisa.
At the book launch held the other week at Wilson Lee Flores’ 83-year-old Kamuning Bakery, Sen. Imee Marcos observed that OFWs longing for Pinoy food cooked foreign food with Pinoy variations and ingredients and when back home, served their loved ones with homecooked Pinoy food with foreign variations and ingredients and presumably with tales of adventures in faraway lands.
Can Pinakbest volume two be coming soon, Hambursarap?
Note: Imee R. Marcos, PinakBEST: Recipes from the Marcos Kitchen and More (San Juan City: IPROD Inc., 2022).