kinilaw

Got Kinilaw?

You know the feeling. You own a book so dear you don't even put it out on the shelves. Then in a moment of weakness you lend it to somebody  and that's the last you see of it. This is what happened to my copy of "Kinilaw". That this classic is now out-of-print and very difficult to find makes the loss even  worse. After a long search I found one online and got it in the mail today.  One read-through and its off to the vault.

"To be, purely to be - aye, that is sweetness like no other. The pristine in all its quiet fullness - of the be-ing...The silent, vibrating warmth of tangerine-colored sea-urchin roe. The oyster lying there - in its just-opened shell, already undulating in the mind, titillating the tongue..."

Kinilaw: A Philippine Cuisine of Freshness (Illustrated)
Doreen G. Fernandez, Edilberto N. Alegre
Book  /  133 Pages  /  January 1991  /  9715690149

What is kinilaw?

"This Philippine cuisine takes fish and other sea creatures, meat, fruits or vegetables- all at state- of- the- art freshness - and treats them equally, "sour-cooking" them in vinegar or other souring agents, flavoring them with the proper combination of condiments...

The kinilaw moment is that instant when the raw fish (or other seafood, or meat) meets the vinegar or other souring agent, and transformation begins from the raw state.

In cooking vegetables, there is a spectrum of textural change: from the hardness of the raw, to the limpness of the overcooked. The perfect moment is somewhere along the line, at the point when the vegetable, e.g. ampalaya (bitter melon) retains the crispness of the raw, but acquires the softness of the cooked without being either hard or limp.

With kinilaw, the perfect moment is marked visually by a change from translucence towards, but without reaching, opacity. Texturally, it is a moment when the fish or shrimp retains the firm softness of the raw, but reaches a new state of being that has been called niluto sa asim - "cooked", or more accurately transformed, in sourness. It is not an opaque solidity, with the fibres white and the flesh texture that of poached fish. Along the spectrum, it is nearer the raw than the cooked, the flesh just a breath away from the natural state, mediated only by the vinegar-acid..."

'Kinilaw: a Philippine Cuisine of Freshness' - by Edilberto N. Alegre & Doreen G. Fernandez 1991

[Photo: Lindo Gigante]

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Welcome to kinilaw.com

It happened at random.   The sight of  a photograph brought on a rush of memories; of a seaside picnic under the swaying palms and the unforgettable delicacy that is kinilaw. It lingers in the Filipino's mind like a dream, almost within reach but just barely.

To paraphrase Shakespeare, kinilaw.com is a site for all to "reminisce perchance to drool. " Maybe, in levity (and possible serious dissection) the pangs of hunger and loneliness will somehow be assuaged.

Love it or hate it, kinilaw is a part of our identity. Quoting Edilberto Alegre and the late Doreen Fernandez in their book "Kinilaw",

" We want to share this song of freshness and sweetness and texture, and of our Filipino love and respect for what is is. We want to make you sing, even in the silence of your quiet seeing."

Welcome to kinilaw.com. Kain na!

- Armand

Your comments and suggestions are always welcome. Email us: kinilawmail@gmail.com

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