Food and late-night food documentaries are my thing. They keep me company on sleepless nights and feed my curiosity about the people behind successful culinary ventures.
I’m not in the food business (yet? hmm…), but I’ve always admired the kind of grit it takes to create something for others to savor.
Because I’ve seen that kind of hard work up close, in my mother’s kitchen, in the making of rellenong bangus. You might be wondering where I'm going at this with this strange title I have on and this intro. Stick with me -- it’ll make sense.
If you’ve never had it, rellenong bangus is stuffed milkfish, a Filipino dish you can eat with or without rice. For some, it’s just fish. For me, it’s the edible equivalent of a life lesson: before you can enjoy the best things, you have to work for them. And with this dish, the work is no joke.
First, the fish is scaled. Then comes the “tenderizing” -- pounding it with a rolling pin (or whatever’s on hand) until the meat separates from the skin. We call it binugbog na bangus -- beaten-up milkfish. The meat is carefully removed, bones picked out, and sautéed with potatoes, raisins, and whatever else you want inside. Then, the stuffing goes back into the skin (still miraculously intact) before the whole thing is fried to golden perfection. I know the process well because my mom never just cooked it for us. She made sure my siblings and I joined in. And every time I eat her rellenong bangus, it takes me straight back to my childhood, like that scene in Ratatouille where Anton Ego tastes his first forkful and is instantly home. Sure, plenty of dishes require love and effort, but rellenong bangus is special. It’s a small reminder that hard work, whether in the kitchen or in life, makes the reward all the more satisfying. Ayun lang. (That's all.) (This is how we do it at home--there are other ways, so please, no pitchforks! If you want a different take, check out Panlasang Pinoy’s recipe.)
[Edited for flow, sprinkled with extra flavor. The rellenong bangus love remains untouched.]
Post refresh alert: Sometimes I tweak my stories so they read smoother -- but the heart, humor, and hunger behind them never change.