Adobong Pusit

We were challenged by our brother to do our own version of Adobong Pusit. And being a cook, i gladly took his challenge. I never made this dish before, so i had to consult my mentor and the best cook in the world..... My Mom! hahaha..

Adobong Pusit is squid cooked in ginger, tomatoes, onions, garlic, soy and vinegar. In our version, i made squid ink risotto, using the the adobo broth. I then poached the squid in the same broth to give that adobo flavor. lastly, i fried some very fine vermicelli noodles (pancit bison) for some contrast of textures.

I think our brother is very happy with this one.

- Alo and Boots

"He cooks, I eat. That's it!"

Chocnut Mousse

Chocnut is a childhood favorite not only to ours but also to many filipinos of our generation. Boots and i used to buy tons of this chocolaty, nutty goodness and devouring it in one sitting. It's dry and crumbly weird texture is what made us fell in love with this chocolate.

We were thinking of a dish that will remind us about our childhood. A dish that ones you eat, will transport you back to your childhood memories. One of our cousins suggested to make a dessert out of a chocnut, and thats where it all started.

This dessert has 5 different components to it; Chocnut mousse, Chocnut ganache, chocolate cake, Chocnut sauce, and a pistachio tuile. With these elements put into one dessert, it surely transformed a very humble ingredient into a sophisticated, yet familiar dessert.

Hope you enjoyed this one!

- Alo and Boots

"He cooks, I eat. That's it!"

"Pork Dinuguan"

With halloween just around the corner, Boots and I were thinking of a dish that best suits the season. So why not remake the native filipino dish called 'Pork Dinuguan" which is basically pork stewed in its own blood!

With our version, we braised the pork belly in pork blood, vinegar, tomatoes, onions, garlic, chili, and a little bit of water. When the pork is cooked and tender, we took it out from the braising liquid, then seared it. We then strained the blood and thicken it for the sauce.

Pork Dinuguan best matches with Puto (rice cake). We made our very own Puto and topped it off with salted egg and herbs.

Hope you guys like this one!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!  =)

-Alo and Boots


"He cooks, I eat. That's it!"

Let's Go Bowling!

It was our Aunt's birthday so we made her a cake on her special day. She loves to go bowling which gave us an idea on what to do with her cake. With the bowling theme in mind, we made two separate cakes. One for the bowling ball and another for the bowling pin. We also painted the fondant with brown food coloring to mimic the bowling alley floor.

Hope you guys like this one! =)

-Alo and Boots

"He cooks, I eat. That's it!"

Beef Nilaga 'Consomme"

We L.O.V.E. eating Beef Nilaga! As a matter of fact, its Boot's all time favorite. But we're sick and tired of eating this dish with this fat and grease floating all over the broth. So we thought of a way of cooking this dish to remove all these nasty stuff.

By making a consomme, we clarified the stock and remove all the impurities, so we only get that pure and very flavorful broth.

With that said, here's another video showing how we made our Beef Nilaga"Consomme".

Hope you guys enjoy!

-Alo and Boots

"He cooks, I eat. That's it!"

Oyster Appetizer

So our sister got us some fresh oysters from the eastern market in DC last Saturday. We wanted to do something and play around with it a little bit. Alo remembered that they used to serve oysters with mignonette at his old job. Inspired from the dish he learned from Chef Chris and Chef Karen, he did his own asian flavored mignonette.

So this is what we came up with!

This is our very first ever video. =D
Let us know what you think.

Thanks!

-Alo and Boots

"He cooks, I eat. That's it!"

Oxtail Mechado

Oxtail is one of our favorite cut of meat, but in filipino cuisine, this is only typically used in "kare-kare". What we wanted to do is to highlight this cut of meat and make it the main star to a different dish. And what better way to cook this meat than to cook it "Mechado" style! Combining both our favorite meat and favorite dish is a match made in heaven.

The first thing we did was browned the oxtail, then braised it in crushed tomatoes, soy sauce, mirepoix, lemon rind, bay leaves, peppercorns, and thyme. After brasing it for about 2 to 3 hours, we removed the meat, strained, and reduced the sauce. "Mechado" is usually serve  with potatoes, carrots, and bell peppers. So in our version, we roasted baby bell pepper and blanched baby carrots. For the potato part of the dish, we made pomme puree and piped it in a vol-au-vent, which is a puff pastry shell. Lastly, we added fried quail egg just because we liked it. =)

-Alo and Boots

"He cooks, I eat. That's it!"