Durian candy from the Philippines

Durian. Ever have it? Heard that it’s an acquired taste. It scares me. I’ve seen it at the Asian grocery stores, and I’ve only seen it being eaten on Food Network. While durian might be a great fruit, the unfortunate part might be its smell, which then I would think affects its taste. Let’s say it smells like feet… at the end of the day… after wearing socks made from synthetic material that doesn’t let your skin breathe. Yeah, right? What would possess someone to try this fruit? But, there are people who eat it. If you can get past the interesting aroma, you are rewarded with a smooth and creamy fruit – I wonder if it’s like avocado in that sense? In Asian cuisine, it’s used in milkshakes, ice cream, cakes and candy. So… hiding the fruit in food masks the smell? Maybe.

I’m not opposed to trying things once, so when my husband’s parents came home with some durian CANDY, I thought, okay, it’s been sugared up and I’m not eating it straight off the tree. It’s a little less scary. Great. I took a small bite out of the already small bite-size piece and let the flavor melt in my mouth a little. Disappointment. Sweetened condensed milk and sugar with durian could not convince me. I could still taste feet-iness. I wanted to like it, really. I even wanted to fake liking it so my husband would try it. Could you imagine, “Hey, honey, this is sooooo delicious. Try it!”

Found some takers for our two bags – My mom, dad and aunt were happy to have a taste of home.

Filipino Food websites

It’s interesting, of all cuisines in Asia, I think the cuisine of my peeps, Filipino, might be one of the more unknown. It’s definitely not publicized much. I mean, you don’t see many Filipino chefs with cookbooks in the United States, do you? Maybe not so much in Chicago. (Yet another possibility to go public with my family cookbook idea. But that’s for another time.) There aren’t Filipino dishes featured on Food Network. No Iron Chef Filipino.

Some people immerse themselves in their heritage by studying artwork, architecture (which I love), cultural history. I’m enamored with this idea of researching the history of Filipino FOOD. I only know that there is a lot of Chinese and Spanish influence in the dishes. I’m curious, too, being a foodie, why are the dishes cooked the way that they are (more technique of cooking like braising when I might roast), use of spices (or lack of), but that’s going pretty deep into food theory, I think. I’m not sure I could name five quintessential Filipino dishes. There are so many islands, local flavors… but then, I wonder, why it isn’t as defined as oh, the Chinese? There’s Szechuan, Hunan, Fujian, Cantonese, Mandarin… they are very defined. So what is Filipino cuisine? I’m on an adventure to find out…

Here are some websites I’ve found in the last few days. I’ll be reading more I’m sure. When? In between diaper changes and preparing meals.

http://www.filipino-food-lovers.com

http://www.filipinofoodrecipes.net

http://overseaspinoycooking.blogspot.com

http://www.pinoylifestyles.com

Update: pics of my chicken afritada… the kids ate it up.

Chicken AfritadaPlated Chicken Afritada

Related Posts with Thumbnails