Joining the Carnation Family Foodtrip was like going on a field trip. I was able to go at different sites in Taal town and I did have a Carnation-filled lunch at Escuela Pia, a Batangas Heritage site.
Escuela Pia is an old structure in the city of Taal that used to be an educational institution during the Spanish Era. It stands near to another historical site which I’ll be blogging on upcoming posts, the Basilica of San Martin de Tours. Nowadays, Escuela Pia serves as a cultural center in Taal, Batangas.
It was a Carnation-filled buffet lunch. The people in charge of the food said that everything had a Carnation condensed milk or evaporated milk within each recipe. I feasted on different dishes from chicken, pork and fish.
My favorite dish from that lunch was the Pork Tapa. It had a salty kick into it but it really compliments the milky and considerably sweet vegetable sidedish reminiscent to a mix or Tinola and Pinakbet flavor. I think I had too much of the tapa because it was really good. It looks like chopped grilled pork on the picture but it’s really a well-marinated pork dish that was finely cooked to toasted perfection. Something I’m just curious about the dish was the incorporation of a Carnation product into it. My tastebuds were not able to taste any mark either the condensed or evaporated Carnation milk in this dish.
Another notable dish from that lunch as the Chicken and Pork Adobong Puti. It was my first time to encounter such dish. Unlike the contemporary Adobo dishes, there wasn’t any soy sauce put into the dish, hence it’s not dark in appearance. I was actually fascinated on how the taste was faithful to the soysauce-filled Adobo dishes. I have to apologize though, I don’t have the answer to how the recipe was concocted and to taste as such. The answer could probably be found in Appetite Magazines next issue about the food in Taal, Batangas.
I was also able to have a creamy and a little sour Bangus dish. I can’t note anything much to the dish but it’s sauce. With a fish like Bangus to have a good and moist texture, a creamy and sour sauce made possible by the Kamias fruit was a great concoction for the dish. With the Bangus, I can’t really say more about something that stands out but the sauce was great.
I did also consume somewhat a huge version of Spanish Style Sardines. It tasted like a big salted fish. I did describe the dish in my own way that it was like a Tuna Tapa if such existed. I wasn’t able to note something more to this dish as I enjoyed the previous Bangus dish.
As for dessert, I had options to consume Filipino Desserts such as the Biko (rice cake with caramel toppings) , Bukayo (simmered sweet coconut strips in brown sugar) and the Champorado (weet chocolate rice porridge). I chose the Champorado with three scoops of Langka Ice Cream and Carnation Evap to close off my buffet lunch an Escuela Pia. I did enjoy that dessert and the people in Taal did really make great and cacao-filled Champorado.
I would like to thank the hospitality of the people in Taal and Escuela Pia who took care of all the recipes and the preparation of a wonderful Carnation-filled lunch. I really did enjoy the dishes and I would like to know the recipe behind the Pork Tapa…hehehe. 😛
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