Notes about Recipes in this book

• Kare kare

  • cheezacooks on February 08, 2022

    This is a fancy kare kare, made with the wine and thyme--two ingredients I'm not used to seeing in this recipe. Created a nice, more complex flavor, sort of like a French/Spanish stew. To the Filipinos/Filipinx-Americans out there, this isn't your mama's kare kare.

• Spiced vinegar (Pinakurat)

  • cheezacooks on February 08, 2022

    I don't make it exactly like this, but I basically do the same thing at home.

• Classic adobo (Adobong manok at baboy)

  • Frenchfoodie on July 22, 2019

    Yum. Made this with just chicken and it was delicious, really nice complexity of flavour. The reduced ‘sauce’ was mainly chicken fat (we reduced some separate cooking liquid for a sauce). I think I’d sear and drain off some fat before continuing.

• Red adobo with lamb shanks and annatto (Adobong pula achuete)

  • cheezacooks on February 08, 2022

    Made with lamb loin chops and not shanks, so I only braised them for about an hour (instead of the 2.5 hours for shank). Delicious and would make again--though, it would probably taste better with shank as recommended.

• Achuete oil

  • cheezacooks on February 08, 2022

    Pretty and delicious

• Cured shrimp (Kinilaw na hipon)

  • cheezacooks on April 26, 2023

    Pretty good, enjoyed the flavor. Didn’t mind the salted egg even though I normally don’t care for it.

• Pickled beef with chiles (Kilawen na baka)

  • cheezacooks on May 23, 2023

    Memorable and good--definitely a sweet spot with the pickling so be sure to not go over. Felt very refreshing for a beef dish

• Stewed fish and vegetables (Paksiw na isda)

  • cheezacooks on May 23, 2023

    Mostly okay, used salmon and yellow squash instead of mackerel/eel and bitter melon, respectively.

• Blood stew (Dinuguan)

  • cheezacooks on May 23, 2023

    Better than expected, very iron-y and mostly just tasted like a nice stew

• Sour soup with fish heads (Sinigang na isda)

  • cheezacooks on October 03, 2022

    Could not find bilimbi but used bilimbi sinigang powder. Pretty good--would maybe prefer it with salmon belly.

• Grilled fish soup (Linagpang na isda)

  • cheezacooks on May 23, 2023

    I wasn’t crazy about this. Mostly tasted like bagoong soup. But I had to cook my fish on a cast iron pan and not a grill, so maybe that’s on me and the dish is missing the smokey flavor to combat the bagoong

• Tamarind chicken stew (Sinampalukang manok)

  • clcorbi on January 21, 2022

    So delicious. I substituted canned tomatoes, omitted the chiles, and used a premade tamarind liquor rather than making my own. Super deep sour/savory flavor that I loved with white rice. Will definitely be repeating this.

  • mamacrumbcake on August 12, 2025

    Very homey and delicious and really easy to make—short ingredient list and simple preparation. This tasted just like I remember it from the Philippines! I omitted the lemongrass and chiles because my mom never cooked with those ingredients.

• Tamarind liquor

  • cheezacooks on June 12, 2022

    I like that this gives you different amounts for different tamarind typs (paste vs pods etc.)

  • mamacrumbcake on August 12, 2025

    I used dried tamarind pods for this recipe, not realizing the shells should be removed before boiling. It still turned out fine, though it was more work to remove the shells after steeping. The recipe calls for 2 cups of water, but the amount really depends on the form of tamarind you’re using—my pods required 7 cups just to cover them.

• Stewed mung beans (Monggo suigsado)

  • cheezacooks on May 23, 2023

    Good and made better with the bagoong cauda sauce!

• Banana heart salad

  • cheezacooks on October 03, 2022

    Okay/good but banana blossom is a pain in the ass to clean and takes forever.

• Green mango salad (Ensalada mangga)

  • cheezacooks on April 30, 2023

    Pretty good--sour and salty, which was nice. Makes a lot of dressing, for the amount of salad ingredients I would probably only make half the dressing so I do not have any leftover.

• Pork cooked three ways, with chile, egg, and onion (Sizzling sisig)

  • Keighleyjm on February 07, 2019

    Very good version of Sisig, cooking from scratch rather than a packet made for a much deeper more complex flavour. Used pig but in place of belly to be less fatty. Pre-boiled the meat for 3 hrs it was very soft, might try a little less next time. Will definitely make again! Served it with white rice, fish sauce and extra calamansi.

• Banana ketchup ribs

  • jessica_iia7a3 on May 14, 2026

    Ran out of banana ketchup so substituted tomato ketchup. Keep well wrapped in foil to keep this low mess. Served with rice and some lumpia.

• Food52

  There are ingredients in this book that...might be tricky to locate in a smaller community. That said, the book is also very helpful with substitutions...

  Full review