The Unofficial Cook

On behalf of Filipino food bloggers everywhere, we are proud to announce the start of Lasang Pinoy’s 20th Edition: “Binalot, All Wrapped Up!” for the month of August 2007.

There are a myriad ways of preparing Filipino foods and a favorite is wrapping in leaves. The dish is referred to as “binalot” and while it usually means picnic lunches, Philippine cuisine does have a thousand and one recipes that uses this technique of food preparation. It gives you a peek into the Filipino’s practical nature, ingenuity, creativity and propensity to have fun – wherever and whenever.

As in most Southeast Asian countries, the most commonly used leaf is the banana leaf. The banana leaf is huge and has this thin, waxy outer layer that makes it perfect for wrapping even the sauciest of dishes. Another commonly used leaf are coconut leaves, folded and woven into all kinds of shapes and sizes.

But Filipinos don’t stop at leaves. There’s fresh bamboo cylinders, then there’s crepes and wonton wrappers which are both an influence of the Chinese population in the Philippines. Whether the wraps are thrown on the grill over hot, live coals, or perhaps boiled or steamed, the wraps leaves its own distinct aromas and flavors to the dishes encased within. The experience of unwrapping while all the steamy goodness and aromas fill your nostrils is definitely half the fun.

The possibilities are just endless and instincts tell me there are more wraps out there being used for binalot recipes than we know of. It’s probably as many as the 7,100 islands of our modest archipelago in the South China Sea and the Pacific.

Perhaps you’d like to feature the technique of folding and wrapping, that will definitely be interesting to readers from all over. Or maybe you have the best recipe for lumpia wrappers or your very own Philippine-inspired wrapped concoction using your own wrapper idea, that’s certainly welcome.

Whichever you choose to write about in your blog or someone else’s blog (this one included), Lasang Pinoy only requires that you submit your entries to the current host or the Lasang Pinoy team with your name, blog name and the link to your entry. For quick identification, title your emails, LP20: Binalot, and please use the icon shown here on your blog entries. As always, our icon for this month was creatively designed by Iska Montero and Mike Mina – maraming, maraming salamat! Thanks to everyone at Lasang Pinoy for your support too!

For this August edition, entries will be accepted starting today through the 1st of August 2007. Unless the host gets all wrapped up in some unforeseen circumstances, we hope to release the round-up within the first week of August…then we’ll call it a wrap!

Let’s get rolling and wrapping!

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