FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

Now you ask, what is pantat ? It's is catfish, and is popularly cooked as inasal  (barbecue grilled) and adobado (adobo style with coconut milk). I am not really a pantat -eater and can't remember the last time I enjoyed having one (apologies to pantat -natics out there). But my recent trip to Roxas City changed all that and if asked when was the last time I had a good pantat experience, I surely have a ready answer. I attended the CAPIZtahan 2013 festivities as one of judges in the Seafood Cooking Competition . We were hosted by Ma'am Sonie who gave us a very satisfying 3 day-2 night gastronomic experience in Roxas City. Everything was fresh, home-made and just within reach. One of the discoveries I had there was a pantat cooked unlike the ones I am familiar with. It was Maam Sonie's son, GB, who introduced this on our table when he requested pantat to be cooked the way they liked at home. It turned out to be a fillet of pantat  marinated in kaffir lime then ...

The most common method pantat (catfish) is cooked is inasa l (barbecued on stick) and though I don't eat (yup there are food items I blog about that I don't like) catfish, the inasal smelled very nice that if I had my eyes closed and not knowing what it was, I'd definitely devour it. Now comes the one with sauce, adobado nga pantat. This one's cooked almost like adobo (only with coconut milk) which is uncommon for seafood. I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves since you know my relationship with pantat.

When I found pantat (hito or catfish)on the dinner table today, I got excited, immediately grab my camera and did my thing. It's not common when we have two pantat dishes served during a meal. It only means one thing, we have a balikbayan at home - lol. The most common way pantat is served is inasa l (barbecued on stick) and though I don't eat (yup there are food items I blog about that I don't like) catfish, the inasal smelled very nice that if I had my eyes closed and not knwoing what it was, I'd definitely devour it. Now comes the one with sauce, adobado nga pantat. This one's cooked almost like adobo which is uncommon for seafood. I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves since you know my relationship with pantat.