Noche Buena is never complete without the traditional chinese Ham. I always choose Majestic Ham because it isn’t too salty for me. The secret to their moist, mouthwatering ham products is in their curing process. Their hams are cured in oak barrels, aged for full flavor, and seasoned with select spices before being cooked to perfection. It’s my preference, of course especially since they are so established with 70 years of curing and cooking ham to perfection under their belt.

The common glaze used is pineapple but this time, I used Apple-cinnamon glaze.

Here’s the recipe for Chinese Ham with Apple Cinnamon Glaze:

Ingredients
1 2 to 3 kilos Chinese Cooked Ham
2 cups Apple Juice
1/4 cup cherry brandy
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 medium apple , chopped
2 pieces bay leaf
1 tsp cinnamon powder
slices of green and red cherries
toasted cashew nuts
celery leaves

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Posted: December 30th, 2008 under Filipino Food, Noche Buena.
Comments: 2

New Year’s Eve noche buena must have a fruit salad on the dinner table. The most popular fruit salad is the Buko salad. The popularity of fruits during New Year’s Eve celebration is part of the tradition to bring in good luck, fortune and prosperity. Today, I will hie off to the grocery to buy ingredients for my fruit salad. Here is my recipe.

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Posted: December 28th, 2008 under Christmas, Filipino Food, Noche Buena, Recipes, desserts.
Comments: 4

To all the 1600 plus readers and subscribers of Pinoy Food Blog, I am grateful for your visit. I hope you have somehow gotten a few tips from my family’s Food Blog. I am amazed at the growth of this blog and at first I wasn’t that diligent in updating this blog. However, when I saw the growth of subscribers, I paid more attention. It is a good feeling to share old fashion tradition, treasured recipes and tips from me to you.

My family and I would like to wish you all the best of the season whether you celebrate Christmas or not. From our home to your home, I want to spread some cheer through our Noche Buena.
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Posted: December 25th, 2008 under Noche Buena.
Comments: none

Our Noche Buena is never complete without the hot tsokolate made from the native Tablea (cacao chocolate). I often visited my great grandmother in Cebu and her past time involved making tablea. The fragrant aroma is something that can never replace all those Starbucks frapucciono or chocolate drinks from fancy coffee shops. However, tablea is best prepared using a batirol and a tsokolatera so the consistency is smooth. A batirol is a wooden whisk used to mix tablea (a block of pure cocoa) and water into a thick, grainy, hot chocolate drink. The tablea and water are mixed in a cast-iron pitcher called a tsokolatera. Like a kawali or wok, a tsokolatera (Chocolatera or Chocolate Pot) performs better as it ages.

I made a cup of hot chocolate drink the other day with my trusty helper, Diding. Here is the proportion.
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Posted: December 24th, 2008 under Noche Buena.
Comments: 1

by Lauren

I hosted the Man Blog Christmas party at our house this year and I decided to prepare fiesta ham so it would really feel like a Christmas dinner. I didn’t want to use the pre-packaged sauce that came with the ham so I looked around the Internet for a simple ham sauce recipe I can make on my own. Eventually, I came across a recipe for a beer sauce that I modified a little bit. The beer sauce turned out to be a huge hit among my friends. By the time the party was wrapping up, the ham was completely gone – pineapple garnish, sauce and all!

I still need to make a couple of adjustments to the recipe; I think it needs more sugar and more beer. But this is the beer sauce recipe I used for the Christmas party.

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Posted: December 22nd, 2008 under Noche Buena.
Comments: 2

I associate Chocolate Crinkles with Christmas gift giving. These cookies have an attractive light and dark contrast perfect for an interesting addition to a cookie tray or for serving by themselves, any time of year! This year, I decided to bake Chocolate Crinkles with our native tsokalate , the tablea (Chocolate Tablets). Growing up in Cebu, the tsokalate drink is the standard drink on our noche buena. You can just imagine the tsokolate aroma as you bite each cookie.

The original recipe used for Chocolate Crinkles is based on Betty Crocker, mom’s favorite recipe book. I replaced the oil with lard as it is much easier to manipulate. Hope you enjoy baking this easy recipe.
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Posted: December 21st, 2008 under Baking Recipes, Chocolate.
Comments: 6

I normally cook Creamy Carbonara but here is a recipe for those that can’t stand creamy pasta sauce. Here is the traditional Spaghetti Carbonara recipe which tastes just as heavenly as creamy carbonara.

Spaghetti

500 grams spaghetti
6 quarts salted boiling water
1 tablespoons vegetable oil

1. Add spaghetti noodles to salted boiling water, bring water back to a boil.
2. Cook spaghetti until Al Dent (barely tender) about 6-8 minutes (Tasting is the only way to test doneness. Never overcook pasta)
3. Add oil during the last 2 minutes. To keep spaghetti from sticking together wen it is drained.
4. Drain but leave hot, ready to use.

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Posted: December 19th, 2008 under Pasta, Recipes.
Comments: 10

The perfect chocolate cake has just the right amount of that chocolate-ness and fudge icing. I often bake this cake during birthday celebrations. Sometimes my relatives order this cake but I avoid baking for profit. I bake out of love.

Here I will share the cake recipe and the fudge icing.

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Posted: December 15th, 2008 under Baking Recipes, Cakes, Pastries & Desserts.
Comments: 47

*Wendy Gaynor’s ‘Perfect’ Chocolate Chunk Cookies

8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 cups semisweet chunks (preferably imported).

1. Place the butter in a large bowl and cream at high speed until fluffy. Add the sugars and beat until light and fluffy, about 4
minutes, scraping down sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until completely mixed.

2. In a separate bowl, mix flour, salt and baking soda. Add to the butter mixture at low speed until just combined and add vanilla extract. Beat on medium speed, scraping bowl down, until blended. Do not overmix.

3. Add chocolate chunks and mix till thoroughly combined. Refrigerate batter until cold, preferably overnight.

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Posted: December 11th, 2008 under Baking Recipes, Chocolates & Candies.
Comments: 8

I already wrote before on the history of Bibingka in my mom’s bake shop. Mom, my sister and I often helped with the experiments to come out with the best bibingka recipe. Here is Bibingka Especial, one of these Bibingka variations which originally came from “Recipes of the Philippines” by Enriqueta David-Perez, 1973 printed edition:

Ingredients

1 cup thick galapong (see procedure on “How to Make Galapong” below)
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tsps. baking powder
2 tbsps. melted butter (My mom used regular hydrogenated margarine, out of a tub)
4 tbsps. sugar for topping
3 eggs, well-beaten
1 cup coconut milk
3 tbsps. grated cheese (Mom used Magnolia or Kraft processed yellow cheese; I’m more partial to using goat cheese and salted duck’s eggs)

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Posted: December 7th, 2008 under Baking Recipes, Bibingka.
Comments: 13

One of the dishes I prepared for our last Christmas day lunch in our old home in Makati in the year 2005 was Chicken Cannelloni. The young ones particularly raved the rich creamy Chicken Cannelloni. The recipe came from my sister, Lorna who modified it many times. I forgot to take a close-up photo of the Cannelloni dish but it’s the rectangular pyrex on the table. The great thing about Cannelloni is that I can prepare it a day before , freeze it and heat it on Christmas Day itself. It takes the stress away from cooking so many dishes in one day.

Cannelloni usually refers to rectangular pasta sheets that are rolled with a filling. However, sometimes the pasta dough is replaced with a cooked crepe, generally 3 to 4 inches in length and once rolled, one inch in diameter. After cooking the crepe (or boiling the pasta), it is typically filled with a savory stuffing which may include ricotta cheese, spinach, and various meats. It is then covered with a sauce, typically classic tomato or bechamel sauce, although many variations exist.

(wikipedia)

My Cannelloni version uses Bechamel sauce, chicken and ready made pasta as shown below:

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Posted: December 6th, 2008 under Noche Buena, Pasta, Recipes, chicken.
Comments: 8

Kutsinta will forever have special place in my heart. It was the first product that inspired my mom’s Sally’s Bake Shop in 1966. She had seen mothers buying kutsinta after a movie. An idea soon hit her. Why not make my own kutsinta? Here is a kutsinta recipe similar to mom’s.

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups rice flour (substitute with all-purpose flour)

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

2 cups water

1 teaspoon white lihia or lye (or potassium carbonate solution)

1/4 teaspoon yellow coloring

2 tablespoons white sugar

Topping: freshly grated coconut or cheese

Directions

1. Caramelize the white sugar with one cup water in a saucepan. Cool.

2. Once the mixture in number 1 is cooled, add the rest of the ingredients except toppings. Mix well and strain the ingredients using a strainer.

3. Prepare muffin pans by brushing with butter.

4. Steam for 20 to 30 minutes or or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

5. Add more water to the steamer if needed.

6. Just before the kutsinta is cooked, add grated cheese on the top (optional)

7. Remove from the muffin pans and serve with freshly grated coconut.

Posted: December 2nd, 2008 under Recipes, kakanin, kakanin, suman, native rice cakes.
Comments: 1