Ways with left-overs

The Good Life with Eli F.J. Tajanlangit

Deep-fried lechon raises this national roast pig to another level in texture, adding that layer of the soft and crispy on the outside,  so that when you bite into it, there is a slight crunch that you must hurdle before the goodness and juices of the lechon runneth inside your mouth.

Dip that with the fish sauce we call Rufina patis, and you know life is good and beautiful.

Deep-fried or turboed lechon dipped in fish sauce is just one of the many ways to enjoy left-over lechon, which is one of the features of our post-holiday dining table.

A whole slew of ham and even lechon sandwiches can also be made. Good Friend P’s family does kwa pao ham sandwiches for Christmas Eve – thin slices of Chinese ham tucked at the center of the steamed Chinese bun and sprinkled with chopped coriander.   This is something you can do even now.

A variation to that is chopped lechon meat with a dash of genuine liver sauce used as filling to the kwa pao,  If you really want to complicate your life, as my Good Friend Y once did, you can use that lechon filling to make siopao.

Cheeses are another post-holiday wonder, and if you still have in your chillers, remember that culinary tip on how to ensure your  cheese-based dishes like lasagna turn out good: use three or more kinds in them.

Good Friend T once cooked moussaka using five different cheeses that were left over from the holiday baskets she had received.  It was the most delicious, unforgettable moussaka I have ever tried. All of us who had the privilege to tast  that all raved about it for months, but when she tried to redo it, it  did not come out quite the way it was.  It couldn’t be replicated, even if you retraced everything because she just threw in all the cheeses she still had at that time.

I guess the same can be done with pizza pie. Just get a good crust, and grate all the cheese you have and shove it to the oven. See how the wonders of [at least] three cheeses  could transform  things. 

Or top your good old pan de sal with that. A signature snack food of one famous lady is pan y queso – baked pan de sal with a topping of grated queso de bola mixed with butter and beer. Yes, beer, you cannot quite imagine what magical flavors evolve when it is mixed with tangy, salty, smelly queso de bola.

The secret to good pan y queso of course is the pan de sal itself – choose one which good old crust that gently crackles at your bite to make this one an experience in different levels of tastes and textures. Famous Lady buys her pan de sal across the straits, in Iloilo which I understand is a pre-war recipe.

The beauty with recooking left-overs is of course the challenge of coaxing out new flavors from the usual, whole new tastes that are born out of mixing, say, ham bones with soft white beans.

These are flavors and tastes one cannot have everyday. Like the banquet tables where the main ingredients come from, these left-over dishes are a class unto themselves.

Come to think of it, this is the only time of the year when you can have the luxury of having guyere, gouda and perhaps parmigiano in excess you  can use them not in platters but as simple ingredients in the pan pizza or lasagna where, otherwise, we mortals would probably use only Eden cheese.*

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