What to find at Dried Seafood section of the Iloilo Central Market

My recent tour had me back at the dried seafood section of the Iloilo Central Market for my groups pasalubong fix. Yes, it is not only biscocho, butterscotch and barquillos that make up the ultimate Iloilo pasalubong list but also dried lukos, fish tocino and guinamos.

So what's there to find and buy at the dried seafood market? Plenty! More than enough salt and saltiness to drive our blood pressure off the charts!

But enough of this gory-ness and just live with these words from our former Miss Universe "Everything is good but in moderation..."

Let's start with balingon or dilis, and there's a lot to choose from! From the kind of "anchovy" to the size, color and the level of saltiness, it's overwhelming.

There are the regular or he more familiar ones which often is a breakfast staple - whether fried or sinanlag - pan fried without oil, or how ever you define it.

It is also best for this recipe.

There's the smaller ones which is best as Pinoy salad toppings or just making them salad themselves with fresh tomatoes and onions ala hinanggop.

An addition to the balingon list is the "boneless" dilis.

It's actually the bigger ones that have been pakas - or halved lengthwise/butterfly cut. It's thinner and crunchier when fried, almost like chips!

And speaking of boneless, here are fish tocino and fish tapa - the former being my top favorite.

The white ones are the tapa and the red ones (due to the fish being used) are the fish tocino.

It is a great combination of flavours - sweet then salty, that makes extra rice almost a must-have. Just make sure to set the fire the lowest level when frying since the sugary coating tends to burn/blacken fast.

So where do all the bones go for the boneless above? They're not thrown away but made into a "delicacy" on their own. These bones still have some fish meat and with some marination and tapa/tocino like coating - they become the "fishbones". Just fry them on low heat too.

But if you want more fish meat, go for the dried/salted lison or labahita. These are the biggest dried fishes you'd see - the above almost as wide as a newspaper! It has more meat, sold in chunks and can be used as sahog in vegetables dishes like laswa and monggo. No need for salt in these dishes!

But if you prefer the regular size ones, there's always the salted and dried pinakas or daing. While these terms refers to how the fishes are cut (butterflying), it has also become synonymous as the salted dried fish. Guma-a or the short mackerel is the most popular pinakas.

Care for some kalkag? It's dried alamang or baby shirmps that can be cooked in so many ways, the simpest of which is just making kalkag fried rice or maybe toppings in laswa dishes. You can also make torta or make it part of your palabok.

Now this is the saltiest of the salted fishes and you can actually see it's saltiness! It's binodo or binuro which is fish or anything preserved in salt plus there's also soy sauce in it - notice the brown color? Removing the excess salt, you fry the fish, then remove a large portion of the oil then you saute in garlic and onions then simmer in vinegar. You can add some chillies for some extra kick. EXTRA RICE PLEASE!!!

The ultimate pulutan - dried squid! It comesin different sizes from small to large depending on what you like and your budget too. While it's usually (deep) fried, cooking it above charcoal or even open fire gives its a smoky burnt taste. Prepare you sinamak!

Another item of curisotiy among tourists are these brown mounds locally known as guinamos. This what actually what is known by most as bago-ong alamang, but unlike it's more famous counterpart this one's much drier, finer and compact. Some playfully refer to it as the "local corned beef" - the Brazilian style aka Libby's.

It comes in different hues which is determine by the baby shrimps used. Most if not all guinamos supply comes from the town of Banate. Meanwhile the town of Estancia supplies most of the seafood produce in the market.

So, what's your favorite dried seafood? A trip to this section of the Iloilo Central Market not only open our appetites but our other senses to the daily lives of the people and happenings at the wet market.

Fried danggit, fish tocino and fish flakes - goes well with SINAMAK - the Ilonggo spiced vinegar.

Just don't wear your favorite or new clothes when you visit - the smell tends to go home with you.

It's not the pasalubong you want to bring home, is it?

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