I feel bothered that I have a blog called Pinay Foodie and haven’t featured any Filipino restaurants yet. So for this month, I’ll be featuring restaurants that offer some of my favorite Filipino snacks or meals for. First up is a local dish I wished Anthony Bourdain and Bobby Chinn would have sampled on their visit here and this is our own dinuguan (pig’s blood stew).
Growing up, dinuguan has been featured consistently in my Lola Nena’s spread in Batangas. I love it with rice and especially with puto (rice cake). Like most Filipinos I eat dinuguan and puto with my hands. I usually start by tearing off a piece of the light-colored puto and gently soaking it in my bowl of warm, dark stew. And after soaking it in the dark liquid, I gently slip it into my mouth and let my palate enjoy the delightful mix of flavors. The funny thing is whenever I find myself ending the meal mopping the dark stew’s last drop with my last piece of puto I often wonder if my Lola would give me more.
Nowadays, I hardly eat dinuguan when I’m in Manila because I love my Lola’s version and I’m not sure if I can come close to replicating it. Because first, where would I source fresh pig’s blood since I hardly go the wet market and second I also don’t know if I can look or even carry a small bag of bright red swine’s blood.Maybe the Cullen family would gladly do it but just thinking about having it accidentally splashed in the car sends me screaming in my mind.
Fortunately, I don’t have to cook my own dinuguan because if I really want taste it, I would often go to one place, Goldilocks Bakeshop/Foodshop. Their dinuguan is the closest thing to my Lola’s. And whenever I taste it, I am transported to summer vacations inside my Lola’s kitchen. Like her version, it is cooked very well. The sourness that cuts through the stew’s flavor is just right and the combination of ingredients are blended nicely. The meat is also tender and has some small cubes of fat for more texture.
If you want a filling meal, try dinuguan with rice but if you really want to bring out its distinct flavor it is best to pair it with puto. The contrast of their flavors, the sourness of the dinuguan and the sweetness of the puto makes it a very tasty combination. And since puto cannot readily be bought in supermarkets, I’m glad Goldilocks offers packets of these as well.
But aside from Goldilocks, I also like Red Ribbon Bakeshop’s version of dinuguan. It almost tastes the same but the latter’s version is a little subdued. I don’t go there as much because I like Goldilock’s fast food speed in bringing out orders better. But if I have the time, I also troop to one of Red Ribbon’s outlets, get my fill of their dunuguan and end my meal with one their delectable cakes like dulce de leche, a creamy and caramel-like slice of moist cake.
Overall, not all Filipinos may like or eat dinuguan but I believe that like balut, sinigang and adobo, dinuguan is also something uniquely Filipino. It may sound weird for some but it is part of our Filipino culture and maybe part of our culinary heritage as well.
