So, I was wrestling with the New York Times crossword the other day, you know, my usual morning thing with a coffee. Most of it was clicking into place, then bam, I hit this clue: “Sauce in Philippine cuisine.” And that little phrase just sort of kicked off a whole train of thought, way beyond just what word would fit in the boxes.
It threw me back to when I first really got into trying to cook Filipino food myself. I’d eaten it out plenty of times – you know, lumpia, adobo, all that good stuff – and always loved it. But actually making it in my own kitchen? That was a whole different story. I remember standing in this Asian market, feeling totally lost, trying to find the right stuff for a recipe.
Figuring Out the Basics
First up, soy sauce. But it wasn’t just any old soy sauce. I quickly learned that for Filipino cooking, folks often have their favorites, sometimes it’s a specific brand, like Silver Swan, or maybe Datu Puti. They call it ‘toyo.’ That was one mystery sort of solved. Seemed simple enough.
Then there was vinegar, or ‘suka.’ And again, not just the plain white stuff I used for cleaning windows. We’re talking cane vinegar, palm vinegar… so many kinds! Each one has its own little kick. I grabbed a bottle of cane vinegar, Datu Puti again, I think. It’s wild how key that vinegar is, not just for making adobo, but for all sorts of dipping sauces. You just gotta have it.
And then there’s the one that, if you skip it, things just don’t taste right. I’m talking about fish sauce. ‘Patis.’ That stuff is potent. Amber colored, super salty, and just packed with umami. I’ll admit, the smell straight from the bottle made me hesitate a bit at first. But when you cook with it, man, it just changes everything. It adds this deep flavor that plain salt can’t touch.
Actually Using the Stuff
My first shot at chicken adobo, well, that was something else. Pretty sure I went a bit too crazy with the patis. But hey, that’s how you learn, right? I started playing around more. Making little dipping sauces for fried chicken or spring rolls – a bit of suka, some chopped garlic, maybe a chili or two, a splash of toyo. Suddenly, my food started tasting a lot more like the real deal.
I even got into making ‘sawsawan,’ which are basically those little dipping sauces you mix up yourself right at the table. It’s kind of fun, like your own little science experiment:
- You start with toyo or suka, or sometimes both.
- Garlic, minced up, is a total must for me.
- Onions or shallots, chopped up fine.
- A squeeze of calamansi if you can get your hands on it; lime works in a pinch.
- And yeah, a few drops of patis for that extra punch.
- Sometimes I’ll throw in a bit of sugar or some crushed red pepper.
It’s all about getting that balance of flavors – salty, sour, savory, with a little sweet or spicy thrown in. And these sauces, they’re the heart of it. That crossword clue just reminded me how much there is to explore. It’s not just about one single sauce; it’s a whole bunch of them, used in all these cool ways. Honestly, it makes me want to go cook up some adobo right now. Or at least dig out that old crossword and see what the answer actually was. Probably ‘PATIS’ or ‘TOYO’, depending on how many letters they needed, I guess.
