Sabor Bisaya Culinary Competition 2011: It's not just "piece of cake"

Come Friday and Saturday, all culinary roads lead to Bacolod City for the “SABOR BISAYA - A Culinary Competition and Food Expo”. Organized by Gruppo Uma Food Corporation, in cooperation with “The National Food Showdown” by TV Food Chefs Inc. of ABS–CBN Corporation chaired by Chef Myrna Segismundo, the showdown takes place on July 15-16, 2011, from 9am to 6pm, at the Convention Hall of the Bacolod Pavilion Hotel. This event is dedicated to upgrade the level of standards of the Food Service Industry Professionals and Students in the Visayas Region.

Among the highlights is a Culinary Competition open to students and professionals in the following categories:

Visayas Eliminations of Chef Wars “Modern Western” – Professional Division
Visayas Eliminations of Chef Wars “Modern Filipino Kulinarya” – Student Division
Modern Visayan Cuisine Challenge
Modern Asia Seafood Challenge
Organic Cuisine Challenge
Creative Fried Rice Challenge
On-the-Spot Cake Decorating Challenge
Bartending Challenge
Barista Challenge
On-the-Spot Table Setting Challenge

And yesterday, I had sort of a preview of the line of concocted by one of the participating chefs and culinary school here in Iloilo. For this blogpost, I'll concentrate on their design for the Wedding Cake category.

It may look plain and simple at first glance but upon closer look, the artistry and difficulty of design comes to view. The roses may get your attention at first but the trimmings upon closer look proves to be just a simple design but full of intricate details.

Just look how each line is painstakingly made by hand, with almost uniform distances and thickness. Just looking at one wave proves to be some hard work indeed even for the professionally trained ones who made this one in two days.

Accented by a bouquet roses in every tier, this fondant wedding cake exhibits intricacy in simplicity. Every trimming is edible - but would you eat it if it means "destroying" this beautiful creation? Aside from the skills and talent involved in making this cake, it also needs an ample environment since higher temperature tends to soften the trimmings thus ruining the design.

It's a delicate piece of work magnified even more as the whole cake is filled with these trimmings. So delicate indeed that the flash from my camera caused this damage which I quickly hid from the chef - lol. Just kidding ofcourse.

By the weekend, the results will be in and wishing this piece of cake will be among the 2011 SABOR BISAYA - A Culinary Competition and Food Expo winners.

Information lifted from Sabor Bisaya on Facebook

Ultimate Ilonggo Favorite: KBL Kadyos, Baboy, Langka

K.B.L. or Kadyos, Baboy, Langka is the ultimate favorite dish of most Ilonggos. It is also one of the most missed native dishes as kadyos and the souring ingredient, batwan , are hard to find when outside of the Ilonggo region. Basically, it is boiled/stewed pork dish owing its "deliciousness" to the combination of the soft and tender pork, the tamed sourness of batwan and the malinamnam na sabaw . One of the "secrets" of the malinamnamn na sabaw , is the fact that the pork, whether just the plain meat or pata (hocks) are first grilled or broiled. This gives the broth a rather smoky taste that makes it more appetizing.. Learn how to make the Ilonggo dish KBL (Kadyos, Baboy, at Langka) with the recipe below. Ingredients 1 kilo Pata (pork hocks) or pork cubes, GRILLED and sliced into bite size pieces 1 unripe Jack fruit, cubed 2 cups pigeon pea (kadyos) 6-8 pieces batwan fruit (or tamarind powder) 1 piece pork broth cube (

An Ilonggo favorite - Valenciana

Found in almost all occasions like fiesta, birthdays, reunions and others, Ilonggos really love valenciana because most if not all have grown accustomed of having it in special gatherings at home. A complete " go, grow and glow " dish because it has the carbohydrates, protein and vitamins and minerals in just one spoonful, Valenciana is really an " occasional dish ". Here's the recipe for Valenciana

Takway

The gabi (taro) is just one of those plants which is edible from "roots to tops". The most popular of which is the tuber part which is used in a variety of dishes and mostly in combination with coconut milk. Its leaves, of course, is the main ingredient of a Bicol specialty, laing . It is dried then chopped and sauteed with other ingredients including, again, coconut milk. Then there is takway . The local term for its tendrils/runner, that part which is torn between being a stem or a root for it neither grows upwards nor downwards - it grows sideways . Scraped off of its outer skin, takway is often a key ingredient in vegetable dishes like laswa and the gabi tuber with coconut milk and local snails know as bago-ngon . It is also popular when cooked adobo style with guinamos , the local bago-ong . It is very popular in the region that even big supermarkets sell takway in style - cleaned and plastic wrapped in styro with some additions to make it easier to prepare.

Batwan

Ilonggos know batwan or batuan by heart as the fruit is almost endemic to the Western Visayas. Its scientific name is Garcinia binucao, derived from the Tagalog name for the fruit, binukaw. It is a large green fruit with large seeds and its a favorite souring ingredient in most Ilonggo dishes especially KBL or kadyos, baboy, langka and the Ilonggo-style paksiw known as "pinamalhan". It is characterized by a tamed sourness compared to tamarind and kamias . The fruit is sold by pieces or kilo in wet markets and even big grocery stores. Batwan is the preferred souring ingredients for the Ilonggo favorite- KBL. The photo shows boiled batwan with skin and without skin (right) A favorite riddle when we were young - "Among the many fruits in the forest, but one (batuan) is the best. What is it?"

A native (foods) welcome in Guimaras

Even after having breakfast less than an hour that time, we couldn't say no to this lot of native delciacies that welcomed us in Guimaras. First and foremost, Guimaras best known produce is their sweet mango famous almost worldwide. And it comes with it's best partner, ibos. This brown baye-baye variety is made from toasted rice thus giving it a more disctinct flavour compared to it's more "caucasian" cousin. I like the one wrapped in banana leaves compared with the one in plastic for it gives it a more native feel. So when you're in Guimaras, be sure to check out the markets for these native delicacies that can make your trip more gastronomically satisfying.

FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

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