MANILA, Philippines — Knickerboxer Glory, a layered ice cream sundae popular in his native Great Britain and Ireland, is among the most favorite comfort food and signature dishes of British superstar chef Gordon Ramsay.
Since Ramsay was in the Philippines for the first time, at his fan meet in Pasay City yesterday, celebrity chefs had a cook-off featuring Halo-Halo, the Filipino equivalent of Knickerboxer Glory but with candied fruits, ice and milk instead of ice cream as ingredients.
Related Stories
During the fan meet, in true "MasterChef" style, actress and celebrity chef Judy Ann Santos and food influencer Ninong Ry went head-to-head with culinary student Danica Lucero and Gordon Ramsay Bar & Grill Philippines Head Chef Bea Therese Qua in coming up with their own twists on the Halo-Halo in 10 minutes.
“Congratulations on ‘MasterChef’,” Ramsay told Judy Ann, who hosted the Filipino editions of Ramsay’s “MasterChef” and “Junior MasterChef” American series.
According to Ramsay, he and his family watched Judy Ann and the Filipino editions.
For the cook-off, Judy Ann used Black Sesame Polvoron as key ingredient.
Ninong Ry, on the other hand, was jokingly reminded by Gordon to tie his long hair before proceeding to create a “fruitless” Halo-Halo that he later asked Ramsay to taste using a straw.
“Just one request - that hair out, of course,” Ramsay told Ninong Ry.
“I can feel it blocking my arteries!” Ramsay later quipped as he tried Ninong Ry’s “very sweet” Halo-Halo.
To his Manila restaurant’s head chef, he jokingly whispered: “Hello, you girl, you cannot lose this. If we lose this, we're screwed. You and I have a job.”
Chef Qua used Bohol’s Asin Tibuok as key ingredient to balance the Halo-Halo’s sweetness, and she even educated Ramsay about the salt’s history and heritage.
“This is one of the rare salt in the Philippines and the flavor is like pretty smooth,” she said.
Dating back to pre-Hispanic times, Asin Tibook, Asin Tibuok or “Dinosaur Egg” because of its look, is the unique Bohol art of preserving salt in pots. The salt pots are made by salt makers using a very labor-intensive method traditionally coinciding the rice harvest. Coconut husks are soaked for three months in saltwater pools near mangroves. The husks are then burnt in controlled temperatures. Ashes are then put into large filters, then more seawater is poured into the ashes until the salt rock forms, then many more meticulous processes follow before the salt pot can be used to be cracked and grated for use. It has been highly prized in Bohol for its slightly sweet and smoky taste.
During the cook-off, the winner of the prize at stake, Ramsay’s signed shirt, is Lucero, who wowed the culinary legend with the “perfect balance” in her Halo-Halo featuring the sweet and sour caramelized kamias (bilimbi), which is traditionally used by Filipinos in Sinigang.
“It's crunchy, it's juicy and it's sour, so it gives that nice balance to the (those) I have here,” she said of her choice of kamias as weapon of choice. “I think it goes very well with all the other amazing ingredients.”
Ramsay agreed with Lucero, saying that her Halo-Halo had “the edge that separated just in terms of the contrast of the balance.”
“That's an extraordinary 10 minutes,” Ramsay said of the challenge. “There's no lows, it's all highs, let me tell you, and I'm high in the carbohydrates now and all that sugar. Oh my goodness me!”
RELATED: Gordon Ramsay hails Sisig by Filipino chef as ‘best dish’ he’s tasted in recent years