Lutong Capampangan with Chef Sau
Yesterday, I attended culinary lessons at Enderun Colleges called Lutong Campampangan under renowned celebrity chef Sau del Rosario.
Though I'm a Capampangan, I was not exposed to the dishes that he taught. Our family food feasts mostly composed of tidtad (Capampagan diniguan), adobong palaka, bulanglang, aligue and burong hipon. Even my mom recalls that our elders never exposed us to sisig, a popular Capampangan dish.
Chef Sau conduced the class Top Chef-style. He first demonstrated the steps and he asked us to find a partner to do the hands-on cooking.
The first recipe that we made was sisig, which according to him was an adaptation of the famous Aling Lucing recipe.
The second recipe was Paco Salad, which I thought started in the Southern part of Luzon, such as Laguna and Quezon. Again, my lolas were not fond of paco, hence the Capampangan in me only found out that it was in fact a signature dish of my province.
According to the judges who tasted the versions of the participants, our Paco Salad was on the mild side-- not too peppery and not too spicy. My husband sometimes comment that I season too lightly. I guess he's right
The last recipe was the most complicated. We made pancit luglog. I explained to the kitchen assistant that Amber's and Pancit Malabon are popular in parties because pancit takes a lot of time to make.
But all the hard work was worth it. Even hubby, who got to try our pa-take-home, agreed that our pancil luglog was tastier.
Interestingly, my husband told me that his sisig is a lot better. So I dared him. Do that on our next Sunday Food Conversation!
As for today, we are heading to Dampa sa Libis for lunch and maybe a dinner at Eastwood.
Next week I would love to serve Paco Salad if we are lucky to find the ingredients in the market. And for the sisig, maybe on our next party at home. My guests are probably tired of my buffalo wings.
