Gaga over chef Gaggan

In town last week for a three-day whirlwind culinary visit was chef Gaggan Anand of Gaggan Bangkok, recently named the No. 1 restaurant in Asia’s 50 Best 2015, and No. 10 in the World’s 50 Best for 2015.

Chef Gaggan and his team were flown in by Cross Cultures, a newly formed events group founded by food writer/star columnist Cheryl Tiu, in partnership with Living Innovations Corp. by Ferdie Ong.

Cheryl Tiu’s belief in promoting the exchange of culture through food brought about chef Gaggan’s first-time visit to our country to share his philosophies and cuisine, featuring his signature and experimental dishes.

Cheryl said at the media event introducing the El Bulli-trained Indian chef: “It’s admirable how Gaggan is shining the light on his native Indian cuisine — more specifically the street food of his hometown Kolkata — and that it can be had not just as comfort food, but also as fine food.”

Attending this event at the Gaggenau showroom along posh McKinley Road, Makati City, I witnessed chef Gaggan demonstrate three of his award-winning recipes, not to mention disarming us with his self-deprecating humor. He used Gaggenau’s professional-grade domestic appliances with so much ease and familiarity, being the chef-partner/endorser of Gaggenau Thailand. He announced he would be using this same state-of-the-art kitchen equipment for his new curry restaurant to be opened in Bangkok next year.

Gaggan opened his Bangkok restaurant just five years ago, after his internship with Ferran Adria at El Bulli in Spain. His aim was to reinvigorate traditional cuisine by adding a molecular twist and using contemporary techniques. Though he said he’s no scientist, that his roots are in the food culture of India, his brand of cuisine is both modern and experimental — a balanced twist between tradition and innovation.

The first of two pop-up events was a full-course dinner held on Oct. 6 at Gallery Vask in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. The limited-seating 12-course dinner was a sellout days before chef Gaggan arrived. The following morning, Gaggan collaborated with Vask’s chef Chele Gonzalez, doing a jam session of sorts, preparing four dishes each using all local ingredients for a casual degustation brunch buffet. It was a culinary event that took Manila foodies by storm.

Which came first, the pork or the egg? 

The Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines, Inc. (ProPork) and the Philippine Association of Breeder Layers, Inc. (PABLI) banded together to showcase the pork and egg industries with a series of activities to further develop and promote their respective sectors.

The joint event, aptly called the National Pork & Egg Festival, was held from Oct. 13-14 at the Mega Trade Hall 1, SM Megamall, Mandaluyong City.

It featured various activities (including my favorite lechon-roasting competition, where I was asked to judge) and exhibits aimed at creating better awareness about pork and egg produce among Filipino consumers.

Showcased were not only the various pork and egg products and their benefits, but also the different facets of pig raising and egg production and the business opportunities available to entrepreneurs.

On hand were exhibitors from veterinary firms for the public to get information on how to start their own backyard hog-raising or egg-production business.

ProPork is a national organization of 42 commercial and backyard swine raisers actively promoting the safety and affordability of local pork, as it continues supporting the government’s food security program, while PABLI is a group of parent stock-layer importers who provide chicks to local egg farmers. It joins the world egg industry’s commitment to making sure that people throughout the world have access to a sustainable and good-quality food supply.

The event was open to the public, free of charge. At the ribbon-cutting ceremony were Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala, Senator Cynthia Villar and Secretary Francis Pangilinan. The overall event chair was Edwin Chen, with ProPork chair Eliseo Yu and PABLI president Leopoldo Mendoza. 

Waging the chef wars 

This year’s “Chef Wars” final was held at the Maya Kitchen, Makati City, last Oct. 2. It was different from the previous years’ competitions in that it was pared down to combined student and professional divisions competing with each other, and secondly, it highlighted all-local ingredients in a freestyle-cooking category not limited to Pinoy cuisine.

As organizer chef Myrna Segismundo said during her briefing with the four competing teams chosen from four regions, this year’s competition was all about the Pinoy chef cooking, not necessarily cooking Filipino cuisine. The main ingredient to be used in the three dishes each team was to prepare in one hour’s time was calamansi. 

The Overall Winner was Crowne Plaza Manila Galleria - NCR/Calabarzon Region, composed of Manuel Abogado, Jude Enierga and Christopher John Sanchez; First Runner-Up was St. Therese-Mtc Colleges (La Fiesta Site) - Visayas Region: Kier Steven Klietz, Menard Tandug and Gilbert Pido; Second Runner-Up – University Of Baguio - Luzon Region: Alvin Patrick Sabado, Christian Jules Abenoja and Arielle Aquino; and Third Runner-Up – Mindanao University Of Science And Technology - Mindanao Region:

Kevin Faith Cabactulan, Raah Pitogo and Manilyn Rayon.

The competition’s main thrust is now focused on the judges’ role involving intensive debriefing/educating of participants to discuss their entries in detail: what they did right, mistakes and how to avoid them, and what the judges would do if they were to compete, too. This took place post-final judging in a three-day immersion program at Enderun Colleges to analyze and deconstruct all the finalists’ entries. 

Chef See Cheong Yan, the culinary director of Enderun, discussed the basics with the four teams, and what he would have done himself given the same parameters. He showed them how to use the calamansi without the bitterness of its rind and pulp, giving basic lessons on hygiene and knife skills, and finally, how to plate the dishes for a “wow” presentation.

This year’s Chef Wars Regional Finals was supported by Maya Culinary Kitchen, Enderun Colleges and Makati Diamond Residences. Regional finals were conducted respectively by the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Baguio (HRAB), Hotel and Restaurant Association of Negros Occidental (HRANO) and the Cagayan de Oro Hotels, Resorts and Restaurants Association (COHARA).