that perfect pan-grill

There is one thing that I bought this Christmas and it is making a big difference in my grilling world. I had wrecked a couple of pans during the past couple of years as I try to perfect the art of grilling using a pan for steaks, be it beef or pork. Steaks, I was taught through tedious discussion with steak lovers and through devout reading of food magazines, is supposed to be cooked under high heat to ensure that the succulent juices be trapped in the middle retaining that wicked liquid that makes all the difference in having a perfect bite or a shitty steak experience.

I’ve destroyed a supposedly Pan-grill French Tefal brand with a high-tech red spot in the middle to check the pan’s temperature. I have also tried the American brand Mayer but these two brands were all disappointments to me. They were built for medium to low heat and not for the heavy duty high powered heat needed for that perfect steak.

Then I realized after doing my once every god knows when breathing meditation to get into the meaning of joy eating meat that steak houses uses thick sizzling plates. Yes, eejit, they do. They heat the plate under high heat then put the meat on top until done to its required doneness then they pour that freaking brownish gravy that makes the plate sizzle then serve it to the salivating customers in line (this observation I based from mall food courts).

So I consciously searched for that thick cast iron skillet meant for heavy duty cooking and destiny brought me to Landmark in Trinoma. My active detachment approach in finding that right grill served me well. I am not greatly affected when I ask for a pan grill and are shown with sloppy thin shitty non-stick pans. I was calm.

Then as destiny would define it, I detachedly asked the salesperson for their available pan-grill describing my required specification that is, thick, heavy, and would look heavy duty enough. The salesperson confidently said, “we have just what you need.” Guiding me towards the display rack, I was just numb, thinking nothing, expecting nothing. Then fucking freaky December, there it was beside those shitty thin non-stick pans and small sizzling plates for sisig orders, the heavy-duty grill for steaks that has limitless potentials for great grilling.

It is manhole cover-like heavy and has a good diameter size to cover enough meat for grilling. And it was on sale at 50% off. Now that I got the tools, its time to apply the theory.

Kopiroti in Banawe

Kopiroti was first introduced to me by Thelma roughly 3 or 4 years ago when one of her students brought a piece of kopi bun that changed the landscape of Andres and Ponso's taste palate. They are fucking crazy with that brown coffee smelling flavored bun. We would pass by the Tomas Morato branch in any given day, or night, to have their kopiroti fix.

I am not so into the Kopiroti craze but i've tried their coffee and tasted like really old school coffee made by Lolos and lolas as they start their day at 4:00 a.m. in the morning (which is just 30 minutes shy of my forced waking time at 4:30 am, shesh). Was it liberty condensed milk that they blend with the coffee?

Good thing there is a new Kopiroti branch along Banawe street near some of our other favorite Banawe food spots. Wait, what if I try all the food spots along Banawe? Thats a mean shit idea. Bwahahaha!!! Now for some Kopi at the Roti to plot out the plan.

Garlic and Onion

- Renoir, 1881

Garlic and Onion rocks! I like onions called shallots because of its pungent aftertaste. I like garlic because I have to because there is garlic in this painting by Renoir. And garlic is very versatile. It can be used in pizza for garlic and cheese pizza, or in kebabs, or in bistek Filipino for sauteeing.

Garlic and Onion are the best. I heard that they are relatives. That is so cool! And also, ah, they, ah, rock, again.

Sizzlers' Blends

There is a new resto-bar hangout where I will surely, as always, time and again, get wasted bingeing on good food and cold bottle of beers.

Opened just this November 2009, Sizzlers’ Blends is a notch higher than the typical restaurants that are trying to carve a niche in the sizzling plate food genre. And it is not because of its location at the Mezzanine, Shoppes @ Victoria, in Timog Avenue (it is a stone’s throw away from the Delta circle area in Quezon City), overlooking the entry point from Quezon Avenue to the busy Timog strip, but because of what it has to offer.

The restaurant’s rustic but sleek interiors sets the mood for people expecting a delicious, mouth watering juicy sizzling steak experience (and I am now drooling just thinking of a perfect special cut t-bone steak grilled to perfection with the gravy bouncing on top of the sizzling plate, shit, I am losing my train of thoughts, I am getting hungry). While Sizzlers’ Blends is definitely a haven for meat lovers with its prime beef cuts coming from the batangas speaking cows of Batangas, it also offers an array of veggie and seafood viands that I bet, is at par with their meat courses (the pictures above the counter looks delicious).

I ordered the Sizzling pork sisig and it was just crunchily superb with that tiny dash of ginger taste to complement the pork chunks and is a perfect fit with a spoonful of java or even plain rice or a swig of ice cold beer. It was just as I imagined. I consider it as one of my favorite sisig preparation.




Thursday nights are band nights with easy listening full band set doing three sets of folk, rock, country, alternative, and maybe even hiphop music. The band that played the last time I was there was relaxing and can belt out songs from four different eras. The rest of the week is open for open jam. Just bring your guitar or your armpitik and realize your innermost dream of performing on stage.

I think Sizzlers’ Blends seems to operate in a 24/7 scheme with its doors open 7 days a week from 7:00 am for a filling breakfast until the late night for people who wishes to unwind over a bottle of beer, coffee, shake, and cool, discriminating music.

Sizzlers’ Blends is steady in terms of delivering that old traditional sizzling plate experience with that sinful gravy deliciously embracing the tender beef.

Their brand tag says it all: Tasteful fusion of Fire and Ice. Why? I almost forgot, they also serve crazy coffee based concoctions for that caffeine fix.

Wok with Yan

I grew up watching Stephen Yan in the government run channel 9 (but it was the time of the dictatorship, media was under government management, Marcos, remember?) whip up fantastic asian dishes in the canned program Wok with Yan.

He introduced his funny style of presenting the dish and cooking at the same time in front of the camera while the studio audience salivate as they wait for him to finish and share the asian gourmet food. I am always curious with his "magic powder" as he sprinkles it on top of the food magically, and mysteriously. He uses chinese cooking wine (and there was no chinese cooking wine available in the groceries at that time, its the 1980s and cooking life was much simpler then, unlike the complex choices for mixture nowadays).

Stephen Yan's chinese accent is very contagious and can really make me smile as I watch him stir up and heat up his wok. His show was an oasis in an otherwise drab television show landscape during the dictatorship. I wonder where he is now?