World Class Chefs
-
Ramilo (Ram) Villaluna
Ram is a budding chef from Iloilo City (Molo). He gained his training in Culinary Arts at the Center for Asian Culinary Studies under food guru Gene Gonzalez, Institute of Culinary Education (formerly Peter Kumpps) in New York. He took up bread making, and he studied food styling under Delores Custer of the Culinary Institute of America. It all started in Antique where his father owned a restaurant many Antiquenos learned to love. He continued the culinary legacy of his father and now, Ram owns a catering business, Cindy\'s Catering. Food is Ram\'s life, seriously speaking. I am short in saying that he is married to the food industry that, he spends most of his time teaching and mentoring at the Department of Culinary Arts at the University of San Agustin in Iloilo. If one cannot find him in the classroom, Ram will be on the road crisscrossing Iloilo and Antique having first hand in the management of his thriving businesses from both provinces. He also has a once-a-week TV show in GMA 7 \"Food Trip\". I met with Ram once before and he exudes perfectionism, the character that will beam him up to the limelight of culinary arts. At present time, Ram is extremely busy in Manila. I believe he is one of the finalists in The National Food Showdown 2010 sponsored by ABS-CBN. We wish you all the luck, Ram! Maybe, after this showdown, Ram will have the opportunity share favorite recipe here at ILONGGO LIVING.
SUBSCRIBE TO MY BLOG
Seed Newsvine
Posts Tagged ‘buko pie’
Nang Palang’s Revisited
February 28, 2010
Since I got hooked up with buko pie of Nang Palang’s (thanks to Jorp of Flavours of Iloilo), it has been my personal quest finding the closest one that would match the gold standard I have set. There’s got to be one around and it’s just a matter of finding it. El Ideal of Bacolod came very close during my recent vacation to the Philippines but, not quite exactly what I have been looking for (flavor & texture). A lot of my avid readers suggested buko pie from Laguna whom twice failed me (Orient Bakeshop and the latest one, Lety’s buko pie). Just recently, u8mypinkcookies of Manila suggested Tagaytay’s buko pie (Amira’s or Rowena’s). Well, that has to be reckoned with in my next trip to the Philippines. So, the quest continues. As I have mentioned just recently in one of my posts, Nang Palang’s made some changes in their packaging of their buko pie. And I praise them for doing such a marketing move to make their buko pie more competitive. Next move, would be to export their buko pie as what other competitors does.
Old packaging of Nang Palang's, a memory of the past, a humble beginning.
The "new look" of Nang Palang's! More vibrant and competitive.
A very positive leap by the owner making their products more attractive. On your left is their regular buko pie and, on your right, is their buko-pineapple pie. I just love their combination pies.
The same quality of pies they make, just a change in packaging. Their trade secret is, more of the buko strips rather than cornstarch filling. So, one notices Nang Palang's buko pies ARE NOT thick or overfilled with fillers. Just plain buko and other combi ingredients, making it creamy and flavorful. Should I say yummy?
Selections are varied ranging from regular plain buko pie, to pandan buko and pineapple buko. They also carry ube pie.
UPDATE ON BUKO PIE QUEST: Lety’s Buko Pie from Los Banos, Laguna. I got this pie from the frozen section in one of the Vietnamese stores here in Hamilton. I was ecstatic to learn that this is a direct import from the Philippines. Why not Nang Palang’s think of this for their next move? A good idea anyways!
Packaging is very important in marketing.
Looking closely to its lid, the buko pie is made in Los Banos, Laguna. PRODUCT OF THE PHILIPPINES!
It comes frozen and hermetically-sealed as this is the ONLY way it could reach North America or other parts of the world. It has to be thawed for 3 hours and reheated in the oven.
Again, looking closely inside the pie, I was convinced it's loaded with buko strips alright.
But the taste says it all. No, it did not pass my scutiny. Factors to be considered are: because it was frozen and reheated, maybe? Or kind of buko used? Or proportion of buko-cornstarch & other ingredients? Or the crust?
Buko Pie Dilemna
February 9, 2010
There were few food issues I had to straighten out during my recently-concluded trip to the Philippines. The major one was, who has the best BUKO PIE in the Philippines? Most buko pies now are commercially-prepared and the quality is compromised. This competition is somewhat narrowed down to three competitors as I have gathered few observations already from my previous visits to Iloilo and Luzon last year. Nang Palang’s emerged as the winner last year and will face off with its steep competitor from Bacolod (El Ideal) and Laguna. Few of my readers briskly suggested to try the Laguna-made buko pie. Allow me to show you who prepares the BEST BUKO PIE in town, or should I say, in the Philippines?
The BUKO PIE from Laguna has finally arrived for my scrutiny. Thanks to my niece Elgin from Laguna who brought this buko pie made by Orient Bakeshop who claims to be the maker of the original buko pie.
Looking closely inside the pie will reveal the whole story. Here, I noted there are ONLY few strips of buko and more of the cornstarch base.
El Ideal of Bacolod prepares pies and other local delicacies. A very popular name in Negros.
El Ideal's BUKO PIE came very close to winning the competition! Strips of buko are quite visible to the eyes.
I'm glad that Nang Palang's Buko pie has upgraded their box, making it more competitive.
The Nang Palang's BUKO PIE is loaded with select buko strips and it almost fill the whole pie with it. Thus making the flavor so rich and creamy. That's my kind of buko pie, making Nang Palang's my GOLD STANDARD.
And the winner is: NANG PALANG'S BUKO PIE! This is an unbiased taste test and as I always recommend, be your own judge!
Special Enseymada (Sweet Bread)
November 6, 2009
I usually post seafoods, specifically fish, on a Friday. But today, I will post something different. Something sweet that every Filipino knows about and would be able to associate them with merienda or snack time. My chef usually makes them (if she’s up to it) but today, it’s her day off cooking. For now, I will settle for the ones that came from my favorite bakeshop, Happy Birthday Cake in Mississauga. It’s Special Mini-Enseymada! I have been wanting to post enseymada here, and today, it’s the perfect time to do just that. I picked up a dozen of enseymada yesterday together with a plateful of buko pie. Perfect timing as I can do an update on my buko pie quest.
Enseymada is a kind of sweet bread that every Filipino knows about. Through the years, many modified it by adding different ingredients such beans, macapuno, keso (cheese), ube and the like.
This kind of enseymada is smaller in size and, if one is observant enough, one would notice that it's inside a muffin cup.
BUKO PIE UPDATE!
While I was in the store (still in Happy Birthday Cake in Mississauga), my attention was called by a pile of pies inside the display fridge. Initially, I was reluctant to get one as I don’t want to get disappointed (again). However, I got a good discussion with the baker regarding my quest for a buko pie that will match Nang Palang’s. Also, I told her that I’m seeking to taste Laguna’s buko pie as I’ve heard a lot about it. No dice she said, but, she convinced me to try theirs as it is also loaded with buko strips. So, I decied to check this one out.
The owners of Happy Birthday Cake hails from Pampanga, so, it is safe for me to assume that this buko pie is Pampanga style.
If one would pay close attention, this buko pie is loaded with buko strips inside!
True to her words, this pie qualifies for my kind of buko pie! Very close even the taste of it! This buko pie deserves 9 in the scale of 10! My highest so far!
Sweet Memory
September 24, 2009
My eyes zeroed in to the pie siting by the shelf in one of the Filipino stores in Mississauga. It says, BUKO PANDAN PIE by Pinoy’s Best of Scarborough, Ontario. I have second thoughts of buying it as it might not measure up with my standard. As I have related before, my buko pie’s gold standard is based from Nang Palang’s. So far, nobody passed beyong that bar (yet!). Anyhow, what will I loose if it turns out to be a flop, nothing! So, here we go.
Pinoy's Best Buko-Pandan Pie
A cut piece of the pie. From a scale of 1-10, it hits right thru the middle, 5!
Some readers may wonder what’s really with Nang Palang’s Buko Pie that made me adopt it as my GOLD STANDARD. Well, here it is: from the pie crust to the amount of real buko in it and the pandan flavoring and coloring. It all boils down to the “real flavor” of buko in it. Some readers suggested the Laguna buko pie and the Tagaytay buko pie, as a “must try”. We’ll see!
Nang Palang's Buko-Pandan Pie. A PERFECT 10!!!
Other Nang Palang's pie flavors. ube, pineapple and the plain, buko pie. Yikes! That made me crave for them now!
Cristina’s Cakes Inc.
March 18, 2009
Here in Hamilton, a small Filipino population of just over 5,000 won’t let a name of a good Filipino baker pass by without being noticed. And it is through word of mouth that we learned of her business. A very dedicated and accomodating, Cristina Galang-Tayag left the Philippines in 1986 with Fine Arts and Advertising Design degree. Later on, she attended classes in Baking and Cake Decoration here in Canada. Cristina acknowledges her mom’s baking business greatly influenced her baking skills and the desire to be a professional baker.Presently, her mom has her own bake shop in Montreal. Cristina used to live around my neighborhood so it was easy for us to pick-up regular and last minute orders from her house. Because business was growing (really big!), she sold her former house and moved to a business section of the city. Cristina’s Cakes ( 605 Concession St., Hamilton, Ontario, tel.# [905] 578-0890) carries a variety of cakes and pastries Filipinos long for. You can email her at: info@cristinascakes.com. She was in disposed when I took these shots, so it’s only her husband Alvin and their store assistant Jeycee was in the store. Please check out her website to see her cake masterpieces!
Synopsis of My Trip to Iloilo – Part 1
My recent memorable trip in Iloilo culminated about three weeks ago. Due to technical difficulty encountered with my previous web host, I was not able to post in Hapit Anay the remaining half of the pictures I had taken during the trip. So, I decided to relocate, renovate and rename my previous website.
So, I will start where I left off at Hapit Anay.
Dulgies Trip, Again?After spending a wholesome lunch at Breakthrough, Marcos, Jorp and I decided to pick up our order of the famous bingka in town at Mohon. Surprise! Someone picked up our order by mistake and we ended up with nothing. That’s STRIKE ONE! Empty-handed, we then proceeded to pick-up our order at Nang Palang’s, a fair distance from Mohon. Initially, we where gratified as we got all our orders from there. Only to find out later that their good-looking bingka was a flop! That’s STRIKE TWO! Then on the way back to Jaro to pick up RCJ’s bingka, someone pick-pocketted my borrowed cell phone. That’ STRIKE THREE! We had enough bad experiences for a day. Though we found out the last two later before we went to Dulgies. Marcos splitted from us, so it’s Jorp and me who went to Dulgies.
JAPANESE CHEESECAKE. Once glazed with strawberry toppings, they looked and tasted good.
BREAD PUDDING with ICE CREAM. Drizzled with caramel sauce.
RCJ BINGKA. This is the larger size, costs 80 pesos and rated the best!
NANG PALANG'S BINGKA. They looked so good but don't be deceived by it because the taste was a flop.
BUKO-PANDAN PIE. This delish pie redeemed Nang Palang's image. They also comes in buko-pineapple flavor.
Recent Comments