Filipino chefs Tatung Sarthou and Gino Gonzalez share their culinary tips


Passionate foodies, take note!

Let’s admit it, cooking is a daunting task. From properly preparing ingredients and working with kitchen tools down to making beautiful plating, these elements can make any home cook throw the apron and just consume a meal from a can. But during the pandemic, many Filipino home cooks jump into the challenge and got busy with their kitchen projects. This allowed them to have a fair share of culinary fails and wins, but, ultimately, it helped them deepen their relationship with food and the art of cooking. 

If you are among many who are passionate about culinary or still daring to make wonders in the kitchen, noted Filipino chefs Tatung Sarthou and Gino Gonzalez have some pieces of advice for you. During “Nom Universe: The Nom Gastronomical Food Fair,” the launching event of the Nom app held last Feb. 11 at the Central Park of Greenfield District in Mandaluyong City, the two culinary masters went on a friendly cooking smackdown and gave helpful pointers for humble home cooks. 

Filipino chefs Tatung Sarthou and Gino Gonzalez

According to Chef Tatung, for people to be able to hone their kitchen skills, they must first muster the courage to cook and make it a habit. The famed chef and cookbook author also noted that cooking is a form of survival skill, especially during the height of the pandemic. In order to be a good cook, people must simplify their process and focus on what is important. 

“Sometimes, we tend to overcomplicate what we want to do and forget to just focus on the fundamentals of cooking,” Chef Tatung said. “Ang dami nating nilalagay (We put so many things), but what we need to do is to just focus on the flavor.”

It’s all about timing for Chef Gino. Budding home cooks should take things one step at a time. As he says, “Cooking is putting the right ingredient at the right time.” He also highlighted that cooking must be a process you’re enjoying and not just something to finish or to be done. 

“Always put a ton of love when cooking. Namalasahan mo ‘yun (You can taste it),” Chef Gino said. “If you put TLC into your food, like dahan-dahan niluto at maganda ‘yung flavors (if it is cooked carefully and the flowers are good), you really see a lot of care and love that are put into the dish.”

Another thing that can help you to become a kitchen master is to surround yourself with like-minded people that share your passion for food. While you cannot invite everyone into your kitchen, you can do that virtually with the Nom app. Think of it as your dependable food buddy. Its mission can be summarized into five words—cook, discover, shop, connect, and reward. 

Unlike other digital spaces for foodies, Nom offers curated recipes crafted by its partners and chefs. It allows foodies to discover what's new in the food scene through reviews, articles, forums, and other types of content shared and created by its partners and users. It is also a mecca for everything you need in your kitchen and connects you to other foodies. Plus, it gives you rewards that you can use on the app. 

“Having a food community is nothing new. You can go to social media and e-commerce platforms and find one,” Christian Domingo, D2C Business and Information Development manager, told Manila Bulletin Lifestyle. “One of the things we try to bring here is that it is very targeted toward the foodie audience. We want to bring together not just the community but also the smaller independent, brands, and content creators who are contributing to the community. We want to give them all the power to share.”

To know more about Nom by visiting @nom.com.ph on Facebook and Instagram and @nom_ph on Tiktok.


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