Filipino cuisine is distinguished by its bold combination of sweet, sour, salty and spicy flavors, though most dishes are not typically highly spiced. While other Asian cuisines (e.g. Cantonese) may be known for a more subtle delivery and presentation, Filipino palates prefer a sudden influx of flavor. Filipino cuisine is often delivered in a single presentation, giving the participant a simultaneous visual feast, an aromatic bouquet, and a gustatory delight.
Snacking is normal, a Filipino may eat five 'meals' in a day. Dinner, while still the main meal, is smaller than other countries. Usually, either breakfast or lunch is the largest meal.
Main dishes include sinigang (pork, fish, or shrimp in tamarind soup and vegetables), bulalo (beef soup – commonly with marrow still in the beef bone – with vegetables), kare-kare (oxtail and vegetables cooked in peanut sauce), crispy pata (deep fried hog hoofs with hock sometimes included), mechado (pork cooked in tomato sauce), pochero (beef or pork cooked in tomato sauce with bananas and vegetables), kaldereta (beef or goat cooked in tomato sauce), fried or grilled chicken/porkchops/fish/squid/cuttlefish. Dinner may be accompanied by stir-fried vegetables, atchara (shredded and pickled papaya), bagoong or alamang. Desserts are usually made only for special occasions. The most popular desserts include leche flan, buko pandan (slivers of young coconut with cream and pandan flavor) or gulaman (jello).
Some dishes rely on vinegar for flavoring. Adobo is popular not solely for its splendid flavor, but also for its ability to remain fresh for days, and even improves its flavor with a day or two of storage. Tinapa is a smoke-cured fish while tuyo, daing, and dangit are corned sun-dried fishes popular for its ability not to spoil for weeks even without refrigeration.
Due to western influence, food is often eaten using utensil, e.g., forks, knives, spoons. Filipinos use their spoons to cut through meat instead of knives used in other western cultures. The traditional way of eating is with the hands, especially dry dishes such as inihaw or prito. The diner will take a bite of the main dish, then eat rice pressed into a ball with his fingers. This practice, known as kamayan, is rarely seen in urbanized areas. However, Filipinos tend to feel the spirit of kamayan when eating amidst nature during out of town trips, beach vacations, and town fiestas.
A traditional Filipino breakfast might include pan de sal (bread), kesong puti (white cheese), champorado (chocolate rice porridge), sinangag (fried garlic rice), meat, such astapa, longganisa, tocino, karne norte, or fish such as daing na bangus meaning salted and dried milkfish; or eggs of itlog na pula (salted duck eggs). Coffee is also commonly drunk, particularly kapeng barako, a variety of coffee produced in the mountains of Batangas noted for having a strong flavor.
Combinations dishes may include kankamtuy, a combination of kamatis (tomatoes), kanin (rice) and tuyo (dried fish), or silogs --meat most often served with sinangág (fried rice) and itlog (egg) to be consumed. The three most commonly seen silogs are tapsilog (having tapa as the meat portion), tocilog (having tocino as the meat portion), and longsilog (having longganisa as a meat portion). Other silogs exist including hotsilog (with a hot dog), bangsilog (with bangus/milkfish), dangsilog (with danggit/rabbitfish), spamsilog (with spam), adosilog (with adobo), chosilog (with chorizo), chiksilog (with chicken), cornsilog (with canned corned beef), litsilog (with lechon/litson), pakaplog (with pan de sal and kape).
Merienda is an afternoon snack, similar to the concept of afternoon tea. If the meal is taken close to dinner, it is called merienda cena, and may serve instead of dinner.
Filipinos have a number of options to take with their traditional kape (coffee): breads (pan de sal, ensaymada, (buttery sweet rolls with cheese), and empanada (savory pastries stuffed with meat)), rice cakes (kakanin) like kutsinta, sapin-sapin, palitaw, biko, suman, bibingka, and pitsi-pitsi are served or sweets such as hopia (pastries similar to mooncakes filled with sweet bean paste) and bibingka (rich rice cakes desserts). Savory dishes might include pancit canton (stir-fried noodles), palabok (rice noodles with a shrimp-based sauce), tokwa't baboy (fried tofu with boiled pork ears in a garlic-flavored soy sauce and vinegar sauce), puto (steamed rice flour cakes), and dinuguan (a spicy stew made with pork blood).
Also, dim sum and dumplings brought over by the Fujianese people have been given a Filipino touch are often eaten for merienda. Also famous are the different street foods sold mostly skewered on bamboo sticks: squid balls, fish balls and others.
Pulutan is a term roughly analogous to the English term "finger food". It originally was a snack accompanied with liquor or beer but has found its way into Philippine cuisine as appetizers or, in some cases, main dishes, as in the case of sisig.
Deep fried dishes include chicharon that are pork rinds that have been salted, dried, then fried; chicharong bituka or chibab pig intestines that have been deep fried to a crisp; chicharong bulaklak or chilak similar to chicharong bituka has a bulaklak or flower appearance of the dish made from mesenteries of pig intestines; chicken skin or chink that has been deep fried until crispy.
Some grilled foods include Barbecue Isaw, chicken or pig intestines marinated and skewered; barbecue tenga pig ears are marinated and skewered; pork barbecue which is a satay marinated in a special blend; Betamax that is salted solidified pork blood which is skewered; Adidas which is grilled or sautéed chicken feet. And there is Sisig a popular pulutan made from the pork's cheek skin, ears and liver that is initially boiled, then grilled over charcoal, then minced and cooked with chopped onions, chillies, and spices.
Smaller snacks such as mani (or peanuts) often sold in the Philippines by street vendors boiled in the shell available salted or spiced or flavored with garlic. Another snack is Kropeck which is just fish crackers.
The fried Tokwa't Baboy is tofu fried with boiled pork then dipped in a garlic-flavored soy sauce or vinegar dip that is also served as a side dish to pancit luglog or pancit palabok.
Snacking is normal, a Filipino may eat five 'meals' in a day. Dinner, while still the main meal, is smaller than other countries. Usually, either breakfast or lunch is the largest meal.
Main dishes include sinigang (pork, fish, or shrimp in tamarind soup and vegetables), bulalo (beef soup – commonly with marrow still in the beef bone – with vegetables), kare-kare (oxtail and vegetables cooked in peanut sauce), crispy pata (deep fried hog hoofs with hock sometimes included), mechado (pork cooked in tomato sauce), pochero (beef or pork cooked in tomato sauce with bananas and vegetables), kaldereta (beef or goat cooked in tomato sauce), fried or grilled chicken/porkchops/fish/squid/cuttlefish. Dinner may be accompanied by stir-fried vegetables, atchara (shredded and pickled papaya), bagoong or alamang. Desserts are usually made only for special occasions. The most popular desserts include leche flan, buko pandan (slivers of young coconut with cream and pandan flavor) or gulaman (jello).
Some dishes rely on vinegar for flavoring. Adobo is popular not solely for its splendid flavor, but also for its ability to remain fresh for days, and even improves its flavor with a day or two of storage. Tinapa is a smoke-cured fish while tuyo, daing, and dangit are corned sun-dried fishes popular for its ability not to spoil for weeks even without refrigeration.
Due to western influence, food is often eaten using utensil, e.g., forks, knives, spoons. Filipinos use their spoons to cut through meat instead of knives used in other western cultures. The traditional way of eating is with the hands, especially dry dishes such as inihaw or prito. The diner will take a bite of the main dish, then eat rice pressed into a ball with his fingers. This practice, known as kamayan, is rarely seen in urbanized areas. However, Filipinos tend to feel the spirit of kamayan when eating amidst nature during out of town trips, beach vacations, and town fiestas.
Breakfast
A traditional Filipino breakfast might include pan de sal (bread), kesong puti (white cheese), champorado (chocolate rice porridge), sinangag (fried garlic rice), meat, such astapa, longganisa, tocino, karne norte, or fish such as daing na bangus meaning salted and dried milkfish; or eggs of itlog na pula (salted duck eggs). Coffee is also commonly drunk, particularly kapeng barako, a variety of coffee produced in the mountains of Batangas noted for having a strong flavor.
Combinations dishes may include kankamtuy, a combination of kamatis (tomatoes), kanin (rice) and tuyo (dried fish), or silogs --meat most often served with sinangág (fried rice) and itlog (egg) to be consumed. The three most commonly seen silogs are tapsilog (having tapa as the meat portion), tocilog (having tocino as the meat portion), and longsilog (having longganisa as a meat portion). Other silogs exist including hotsilog (with a hot dog), bangsilog (with bangus/milkfish), dangsilog (with danggit/rabbitfish), spamsilog (with spam), adosilog (with adobo), chosilog (with chorizo), chiksilog (with chicken), cornsilog (with canned corned beef), litsilog (with lechon/litson), pakaplog (with pan de sal and kape).
Merienda
Merienda is an afternoon snack, similar to the concept of afternoon tea. If the meal is taken close to dinner, it is called merienda cena, and may serve instead of dinner.
Filipinos have a number of options to take with their traditional kape (coffee): breads (pan de sal, ensaymada, (buttery sweet rolls with cheese), and empanada (savory pastries stuffed with meat)), rice cakes (kakanin) like kutsinta, sapin-sapin, palitaw, biko, suman, bibingka, and pitsi-pitsi are served or sweets such as hopia (pastries similar to mooncakes filled with sweet bean paste) and bibingka (rich rice cakes desserts). Savory dishes might include pancit canton (stir-fried noodles), palabok (rice noodles with a shrimp-based sauce), tokwa't baboy (fried tofu with boiled pork ears in a garlic-flavored soy sauce and vinegar sauce), puto (steamed rice flour cakes), and dinuguan (a spicy stew made with pork blood).
Also, dim sum and dumplings brought over by the Fujianese people have been given a Filipino touch are often eaten for merienda. Also famous are the different street foods sold mostly skewered on bamboo sticks: squid balls, fish balls and others.
Pulutan
Pulutan is a term roughly analogous to the English term "finger food". It originally was a snack accompanied with liquor or beer but has found its way into Philippine cuisine as appetizers or, in some cases, main dishes, as in the case of sisig.
Deep fried dishes include chicharon that are pork rinds that have been salted, dried, then fried; chicharong bituka or chibab pig intestines that have been deep fried to a crisp; chicharong bulaklak or chilak similar to chicharong bituka has a bulaklak or flower appearance of the dish made from mesenteries of pig intestines; chicken skin or chink that has been deep fried until crispy.
Some grilled foods include Barbecue Isaw, chicken or pig intestines marinated and skewered; barbecue tenga pig ears are marinated and skewered; pork barbecue which is a satay marinated in a special blend; Betamax that is salted solidified pork blood which is skewered; Adidas which is grilled or sautéed chicken feet. And there is Sisig a popular pulutan made from the pork's cheek skin, ears and liver that is initially boiled, then grilled over charcoal, then minced and cooked with chopped onions, chillies, and spices.
Smaller snacks such as mani (or peanuts) often sold in the Philippines by street vendors boiled in the shell available salted or spiced or flavored with garlic. Another snack is Kropeck which is just fish crackers.
The fried Tokwa't Baboy is tofu fried with boiled pork then dipped in a garlic-flavored soy sauce or vinegar dip that is also served as a side dish to pancit luglog or pancit palabok.