Chefie’s World

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I always had two sets of parents – the real one and the fake one, hehehe. That’s not true. As a baby, my uncle and aunt made me part of their family, so as a child, I just had one more set of parents. I lived with mama and papa ( aunt and uncle ) and I would see nanay and tatay every day since mama and papa’s business was home to nanay and tatay. My nanay cooked so well, she was the best cook ever and she had the passion for it. I would remember seeing her cook using wood, slowly blowing the fire to just have the right heat for rice. Rendering pork or beef fat as a base for our vegetable dishes. She was the cook and was she good at it. This was in Navotas and we had certain dishes indigenous to our area only, Batuta, Pinatisan, Toyoba, Mechado, Bopis, some Filipino favorites but when it comes to Navotas there was a difference. Our patis was fermented longer than others and we had a different fish to use and we will still do that today. My nanay would always cook for us. Mama always had her food in our table since she would bring it home from Navotas to Makati and we savoured it.

As I grew up, we always had good food because Papa always wanted the best. I remember when we would go on our quarterly trips to Nepo Mart in Pampanga to buy steaks, Philadelphia cream cheese and other items that can only be bought there, one Hi-Ace full of food. Yes, we were lovers of good food, we always had five to six dishes of different viands every meal and Papa hated repeats. We dined in good restaurants, Chinese food in The Plaza restaurant, Mr. Ho, Sing Ya; Italian Food in Italian Village, Cucina Italiana, French food in Au Bon Vivant, Champagne Room and L’Hirondelle and the best seafoods one can get for Mama and Papa had a fishing business. Exposure to good food was there. Ate Cynthia, my sister cousin took cooking classes and this would further our experience in good food and tremendous eating.

When I was of age, I started cooking every summer, frying should I say since we didn’t have any helps and this lead me to take a few cooking courses with Sylvia Reynoso-Gala. I was getting good at it and it started my undiscovered talent in cooking, later I was the one of the cook in Ate’s catering business even baking 12 chocolate cakes in one evening and the story goes on and on, some to follow later.

I miss my nanay – her cooking which cannot be replicated by anyone – her tochong bangus simple to die for….I miss mama and papa for they really enjoyed dining in the best restaurants in Manila and elsewhere but what is a better legacy than continuing what they left, learning and educating oneself about it and sharing it with all of you.

Let me share with you, my version of my nanay’s mechado which I call Mechadong Navotas. From my home to yours……..

Mechadong Navotas

Ingredients:

1 1⁄2 kilos beef cubes, preferably from the neck where fat marbling is present
1/3 cup regular soy sauce
2 1⁄2 tsps calamansi juice

Procedure:

Marinate beef in a mixture of soy sauce and calamansi. Set aside for 20 minutes. Prepare the next ingredients.

3 tbsps corn oil
5 pcs onions, finely chopped
1 1⁄2 tbsps minced garlic
1⁄2 tbsp patis or fish sauce
1 pc laurel leaf
1⁄2 tsp freshly ground pepper

Procedure:

Saute garlic in corn oil. Add in onions and cook well until translucent.
Add patis and a pinch of ground pepper. Mix well.
Add in marinated beef cubes together with marinade.
Pour in water to cover meat, bay leaf and freshly ground pepper.
Let boil and simmer until beef is tender.
Serve with rice and banana.

Note: Braising the beef will take around 2 hours depending on the quality of beef. Add in water if the mixture is getting dry.

I love eating mechado a day or two after cooking since it taste better when aged.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 30th, 2008 at 1:42 am and is filed under personal, recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.