Taguktok: the essential Ginete Meal

What’s a Ginete meal like?  Growing up in Bulan, Sorsogon, our meal meant the simplest of food:  cocido with fried fish and lots of rice.  Cocido I later found out was markedly different from those in other regions:  it is simply fish soup soured with kalamansi (Philippine lemon) and with lots of sweet potato tops.  The soup is a bit reddish courtesy of the sweet potato tops and the slightly sour taste complements the fried fish.

With a big brood of nine kids, my father had to really make sure there was enough food for everyone.  Meal meant eating together in a large dining table (this one is still in our house in Gate), no second batches otherwise you’ll get hungry. Two regular viands and lots of rice will do.

Mondays to Saturdays we subsist on ordinary and simple meals.   Paksiw is one.  This is the ubiquitous Filipino dish of fish cooked in vinegar, spiced with onions, garlic and tomatoes and crushed black pepper and made aromatic with a piece of chili pepper added just before serving. 

My mother used to say that my father cannot survive a week without beef.  So on Sundays, it is a must that we have beef on the table, whether with vegetables or stand alone as beef steak.  The steak is distinctly Filipino:  marinated in soy sauce, kalamansi, lots of garlic, onions and a good deal of black pepper, fried and sautéed to tender perfection.  (This makes me hungry).

Bulan is blessed with bountiful seas.  And this meant enjoying special seafood dishes.  One of which is the taguktok that spicy concoction of diced tomatoes, onions, ginger, garlic, green pepper stuffed into the belly of a fish called alumahan or buraw in Bicol.   The fish is then cooked in vinegar and again lots of black pepper.

And if one really wanted to turn it into a Bicol dish, then just cook it with coco milk and garnish with fresh pepper leaves.

 If you think that laing is the ultimate Bicol dish, think again.  For us in the family, it is the taguktok.  We smother platefuls of rice with the hot coco milk sauce of this dish and lo and behold, we forget everything!  The flavor is tangy and spicy with a slight twist of sourness.  The chili peppers make you eat more rice while the fresh fish cooked in coco milk makes up for the perfect dish.

Yummy!