Since I started my cooking shows in the late ’80s, there has been a constant search for recipe ideas. Any restaurant I ate at, I would pick up ideas from dishes and I would incorporate some of these ideas into my recipes for the show. My mom’s cookbook was another source of ideas. That book of hers inspired me to create simple and doable dishes. I was always at bookstores searching for cookbooks in search of dishes I could pick ideas from. I must say, many of the cookbooks have recipes that don’t work. There were books that claim to have secret recipes of dishes from popular restaurants. Many I tried and 100 percent of the time, the dish was a disaster. I learned to examine recipes from cookbooks and determine if the recipes would work or not. A long time ago, before the internet, I remember finding a cookbook with 1,000 recipes. It was like finding gold. I had an endless source of recipe ideas.
Claude Tayag’s 'The Ultimate Filipino Adobo' and Tibong Jardeleza’s 'Flavors of Iloilo'
Today, with the introduction of Mr. Google and Youtube, I have a bottomless well of ideas. I simply love it. There are also many cookbooks that have come out. Many have interesting recipes while others are too complicated to follow.
Chef Claude Tayag just came out with his cookbook The Ultimate Filipino Adobo. It’s a beautifully made book with a lot of very appetizing photos and recipes of adobo of various kinds. It is not only educational, the recipes upon examination are doable, a rich source of many adobo recipe ideas. Beautiful book.
Another cookbook I was very impressed with is done by a good friend from Iloilo, Chef Tibong Jardeleza. Tibong is an advocate of Iloilo cuisine. Ever since we met almost a decade ago, all he’s done is promote the cuisine of his province. Some chefs and I have been invited to Iloilo many times to judge culinary competitions. No matter how busy I am, I will find time to go for Iloilo is a never-ending food trip and the judging/work becomes secondary. Chef Tibong just came out with the cookbook Flavors of Iloilo. It’s a beautiful cookbook with colorful and appetizing photos but more than anything, it’s the recipes. Each of the many recipes from kitchens private and public, particularly the heirloom recipes from Iloilo’s most traditional families, can be easily done and duplicated at home. When I first opened the book, I couldn’t put it down. My immediate thought was I have to tell my readers about this book. Browsing through the recipes, I kept on telling myself I can do this. Ingredients are easy to find and I’m sure the tastes are easily adaptable to all us Filipinos. One recipe, which I recently tried, is a dish called KBL—Kadios, Baboy, and Langka. Everyone who ate it loved it. The recipe is in the book and it looks like any home cook can make this.
I’ve always said this about Tibong and how he promotes the cuisine of his province— “Every province should have a Chef Tibong.” That’s the only way we can promote Philippine cuisine.
One of the recipe contributors in Flavors of Iloilo is Maridel Uygongko. She has also become a friend. She bakes the best cakes in Iloilo. She will give many of the bakers of Manila a good run for their money.
My source of inspirations and recipes has widened immensely, thanks to these two chefs. To Claude and Tibong, congratulations and more power!
Check out Claude Tayag’s The Ultimate Filipino Adoboand Tibong Jardeleza’s Flavors of Iloilo.