Giant bringhé, glorious tapas & nitro tomato at Madrid Fusion Manila 2016
If Halloween has its fair share of tricks and treats, only a fool would miss that the first of April has lately found a new meaning in this part of the world. April 1 ushered in the “treatiest” month of the year — a flurry of gastronomic treats, that is — and will last for the rest of the month.
Today will be the start of the three-day Madrid Fusión Manila (MFM) 2016 to take place at the SMX Convention Center in the SM Mall of Asia Complex. It will feature an International Gastronomy Congress focusing on the theme “The Manila Galleon: East Meets West,” and a trade expo highlighting interesting local ingredients, gourmet products, creative tableware, culinary equipment, regional culinary treats from the Philippines, Spain, other countries around Asia, and the new worlds in the Americas.
Side by side with MFM 2016 is a month-long “Flavors of the Philippines” festival that features food-related activities, from food tours, gourmet markets, food fairs, and agri bazaars to special dinners with celebrity chefs, food trips, hotel food festivals, fiestas, food exhibits, and food trucks. It is truly a celebration of food all over the country, placing the Philippines on the world gastronomical map.
A Sticky Situation: Bring Me The Largest Bringhe
Closer to home, on April 1 I was tasked by the DOT Region 3 and SM City Pampanga to cook a humongous, 12-foot pan of our special-occasion rice dish, bringhé. It was held at Sky Ranch in SM City Pampanga.
To the uninitiated, bringhé is made of glutinous rice cooked with chicken and its broth, red hotdog, coconut milk, seasoned with patis (fish sauce) and turmeric, and then topped with hardboiled egg, pimientos and raisins. Of all the countless varieties of rice cakes or kakanin (from the word kanin, or rice, which are mostly sweet) popular in our country, bringhé perhaps qualifies as the only savory rice cake there is. In fact, the native Aetas of Pampanga and Zambales call it kalame manuk, or chicken rice cake.
This sticky, glutinous rice dish conjures up family and community togetherness (dikit-dikit na kanin or rice sticking together), just as the bayanihan or community spirit comes to the fore in realizing the giant bringhé.
Banding together were DOT Region 3; SM City Pampanga; the Pampanga Provincial Tourism Office; Pampanga schools Angeles University Foundation, Saint Nicolas College and University of the Assumption, which sent eight culinary students each to assist in the cooking; and the generous sponsorship of San Miguel Corporation, which donated 100 packs of Magnolia Smart Pack chicken breast fillets, 100 cans of Purefoods Chorizo Bilbao Style, and a dozen liters of Magnolia’s Nutri-Oil palm vegetable oil. The superior quality of these San Miguel products, and the passionate and tireless help of the culinary students, made all the difference in coming out with a successful giant bringhé. Just as the Pampanga community made this festival possible, some 1,200 portions of bringhé were shared with the community.
Glorious Tapas
Speaking of another closely knit community, the Economic and Commercial Office of the Embassy of Spain in Manila pulled out all the stops to come up with Tapas Night last Saturday, April 2, at the Green Sun Hotel in Makati City. Eight Spanish chefs residing and practicing their craft in Manila prepared some 30 mouthwatering, bite-size tapas. In addition there was an assortment of cheeses and cured meats, including the crown jewel of Spanish gastronomy, jamon Iberico (from black-hoof Iberian pigs fed solely with bellota, or acorns.)
The free-flowing Spanish beers, wines and brandies were provided by AWC Philippines/Cordorniu, Barcino, Bestworld Beverages Brands, Emperador, Estrella Damm, Golden Wines, Premier Wines and Spirits, Terry Selection and Wine Depot.
The night’s thematic tapas represented the different regions of Spain: Center and South by chefs Carlos Garcia (Black Pig), Juan Carlos de Terry (Terry’s Selection), and Justo Rodrigo (Txanton); North by chefs Amado Fernandez (Pablo Bistro), Chele Gonzalez (Vask Tapas Room), and Pablo Iglesias (Donosti); East by chefs Francisco Peña (Rambla y Las Flores), Iván Saiz (Arrozeria), and Nicolás Diaz (Barcino).
Each respective restaurant will have on their menu special tapas offerings during the whole month of April.
Dinner With The Stars
One of the MFM 2016 speakers is two-Michelin-star Spanish chef Dani García. He did a two-night popup dinner at New World Manila Bay Hotel (formerly Hyatt Hotel Casino on Pedro Gil Street, Manila) last April 4 and 5, mesmerizing local diners, including this writer, with an avant-garde menu inspired by Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s The Little Prince.
The chef from Marbella, Spain, is one of the youngest proponents of modern Spanish gastronomy, and ranks among greats like Ferran Adrià, Juan Mari Arzak and Joan Roca. Chef García calls his cooking “Cocina Contradicion” — modern cuisine created with experimental and innovative techniques yet highlighting the essence of flavors and the use of the freshest ingredients. He lets diners indulge in the contrast of flavors, temperature and textures.
I first met this maverick chef during Madrid Fusión 2013 in Madrid, where I tried some of the Andalusian (southern Spain) dishes he prepared during lunch. Meeting him once again on the second night of his popup dinners brought back memories of those bite-size tapas he prepared back in Madrid.
At the New World dinner, he combined his innovative techniques (i.e. his signature nitrogen tomato) with theatrical flair and fun, immersing us diners in an audio-visual room for a multi-sensory, unforgettable gastronomic experience. A room was specially designed and created to evoke chef Garcia’s place of origin — a modern interpretation of the mountains, ocean and nature of his seacoast hometown. Artist Impy Pilapil’s sculptural work adorned the room, which includes brass tendrils accentuated with “fruits” of jamon serrano. It was a truly unique and unforgettable 10-course dinner experience, paired with wines from Philippine Wine Merchants.
Panlasa, Almusal And Street Food
The resounding success of last year’s Madrid Fusión Manila delivered the message loud and clear that the Philippines is set to be the new gastronomic center in Asia and that Filipino cuisine has finally arrived on the international scene. This week’s MFM 2016, the second of five installments, will surely and firmly establish this position.
Last year’s three-day lunch offering for the delegates was a collective effort by the culinary community (again, the bayanihan spirit came to the fore) that highlighted the best of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. It wowed the palates of the 1,400 foreign and Filipino delegates.
This time around, a thematic menu will be presented with a single Luz-Vi-Minda buffet executed by Glenda Barretto of Via Mare, whose recipes were made by select chefs using the best of local produce. The indefatigable Usec. Berna Romulo-Puyat of the Department of Agriculture will host, and Nina Daza-Puyat, JJ Yulo, Alicia Sy and Angelo Comsti will curate.
The first day of the delegates’ lunch is about “Panlasa” or “taste,” highlighting the five Pinoy flavors, namely maalat (salty, grilled pork jowls with shrimp bagoong), matamis (sweet, bruléed carabao’s milk-soaked honey cake), maasim (sour, kalamunding/ kalamansi-marinated asadung matua/old-style Pampango stew roulade), mapait (bitter, pinakbet and sarsiadong kambing/goat) and malinamnam (yummy, bringhe balls with crab fat, oyster kinilaw).
The second day’s theme is “Almusal,” which will give a twist to popular Pinoy breakfast favorites like beef tapa, dinaing na paksiw na tuna belly, morcon baboy damo (wild boar meat roll), champorrado, and Pampanga’s Chona Ayson’s different takes on ensaimada.
On the final day of the regional lunches, the handpicked chefs will prepare street food-inspired dishes like lugaw (rice porridge), balut (duck egg embryo), empanada, banana turon, assorted kakanin (rice cakes) and dirty ice cream (so-called “dirty” because back in the day, our parents believed the ice cream peddled on the streets was made in unsanitary conditions) served in pandesal (speaking of ice cream sandwich).
Chef Margarita Forés will also have her own booth during the three days. This will allow the guests to sample the offerings of the recently proclaimed Asia’s Best Female Chef.
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For more information on MFM 2016, visit madridfusionmanila.com.
