GALBI

Cooking did not come naturally to my mom’s side of the family. In the Philippines, the family had a cook who prepared all their meals. None of them learned how to cook until they immigrated to the US. To this day, my mom barely cooks; if she does, it’s as minimal as possible. When galbi was introduced to our family gatherings many moons ago, it was something my mom & any one of my time-strapped family members could easily prepare, thus becoming a mainstay at the table of every family gathering.

I’m not exactly sure how or when galbi was first introduced to us. The Bay Area is a melting pot so it’s not far-fetched to believe that it was introduced by someone’s coworker or by going out to eat. I suspect it was my aunt who started it—she was always out “gallivanting” according to my Grandma & the one that cooks the most out of the siblings. When she learned & shared how easy it was to make, the rest is history. As simple as it was, my mom always had a million things on her plate so sometimes I would take over the prep duties. All it required was taking the short ribs out of the packets, placing them into a plastic bag, dumping jarred marinade into the bag & shoving it into the fridge until it was time to cook. We would line a baking sheet with foil for easy clean up & bake until the meat was nicely caramelized.

Instead of using the jarred marinade, I wanted to try to make it from scratch. I took a little bit of creative license & subbed @sibeihosibeiho sambal since I didn’t have gochujang. You can probably decipher all the ingredients from the picture—just process them all together until smooth, pour over the short ribs & marinate overnight. The next day, just grill & enjoy. Again, this isn’t a traditional Noche Buena dish, but it’s been a part of my food memories for so long. This also serves as a reminder that while it is important to preserve traditions, it’s also okay to throw something new into the mix & make some new, delicious memories in the process.

@nomnom_nori & @triciasanmateo are going to continue the series by sharing their Noche Buena memories in the coming weeks. In the meantime, stay cozy and cook something delicious!

🖤Jane

INIHAW NA LIEMPO

For as long as I can remember, my family always had some kind of inihaw at every gathering. One favorite was inihaw na liempo, so naturally it would appear at the Noche Buena spread. Inihaw na liempo is ubiquitous in the Philippines where pork is king. It’s an equalizer—rich or poor, everyone loves it. I distinctly remember eating a piece that just came off the charcoal grill: it had some serious char & had the perfect balance of crisp & chewy textures, of salt & acid. On its own, it was already delicious but could be enhanced with a dunk in some sinamak or toyomansi.

Preparation for this dish is simple: you marinate pork belly & you grill it. When I was chatting with family members about how the marinade was prepared, I received a few variations: with soy, with salt, with vinegar, with calamansi. The basics include some sort of acid, some form of salt, garlic & pepper with varying ratios of each ingredient. In short, everyone has their own way of doing it so I followed suit.

I like liempo more acid forward so I do a 2:1 ratio of acid to salt. In this case, I used sugarcane vinegar and tamari. Sugarcane vinegar, native to the Ilocos region of the Philippines, is reminiscent of sherry vinegar or apple cider vinegar. Then I added crushed garlic cloves, black pepper & liempo slices. Marination time varies, but anywhere between 6-8 hours works. Depending on thickness of the slices, the cook time will vary. On my stovetop grill, it usually takes only a few minutes on each side before they’re ready to be enjoyed with rice & sawsawan (sinamak from @magnapdx) of choice.

Having to think & dig & write about this has brought back so many happy memories of me celebrating the Advent Season with my family both in the Philippines & back in California. It’s such a simple dish, but cooking it makes me feel a little closer to them at a time when it’s not so simple to just catch a flight to see them. Hopefully, I’ll be able to see them soon, but until then I’ll be cooking for comfort and creating my own Noche Buena memories with my little family here.

More soon. In the meantime, we’d love to hear about some dishes you make during the holiday season!

🖤Jane