Drippings

The Good Life with Eli F.J. Tajanlangit

As the old folks used to say, don’t discard the drippings, all flavor and nutritional value are there. Drippings, of course are the liquids that ooze out of the meats when we bake, grill, turbo, roast or pan-fry them, the fluids that are forced out by the heat and flow unto the oil, or perhaps, the marinade. They are generally used for sauces and gravies, seasoned with herbs and spices and then thickened by starch.

But in many kitchens, I know they are still used the good old way: to coat cold rice in mix-it-up or samo-samo dishes, as we call them in the dialect or flavored rice as they are now known in restaurants. Roast beef rice. Smoked chicken rice. Fried pork chops rice. The list is endless, but it is interesting to note how this samo-samo phenomenon which had been popular usually with fresh egg yolks and salt, have gained a respectability with these recent ways.

But back to drippings. I recall the culinary wisdom that held them in high esteem for being loaded with flavor and nutritional goodness recently, when I tried sweet potatoes, or camote, cooked as a last layer in a baked fish recipe. It wasn’t supposed to be there, it wasn’t in the recipe. They were placed there to add bulk because the dish was too deep and the fish and veggies did not fit nor look nice.

Well, the camote, sliced half an inch thick each, was delicious, several levels of taste playing in each piece. And the secret to that was no secret at all: they absorbed all the drippings from the layers of fish, olives, olive oil, tomatoes, garlic, onions, freshly-cracked peppers, aromat and other seasonings on top. Imagine all of those ingredients sweating out their flavors and nutrition, the liquids flowing out into the dish, and then down to the camote slices, there to drench it. I could imagine these liquids bubbling in the heat, the water evaporating in the process called reduction and leaving out only their flavors, nutrition; their essences infusing every pore of the camote that turns soft and limp in the process. Imagine the goodness.

Now, other ideas are dancing in my head: what about squash, carrots, taro or any of the veggies that absorb quickly? Perhaps they might also be used as bulk filler in this baked dish. It is rather exciting, except that caution has to be taken that their own flavors do not overpower the rest of the dish because they’ll destroy it. But then again, who knows? They might just enhance it. There were not too many camote slices in that dish to affect it.

What’s even more interesting is one can carefully pick out the camote and serve them on the side as the carbohydrate of the meal. Or they can be a curious surprise there, hidden below, to be discovered by those who properly plumb the dish.

I remember a bacalao preparation offered by one of those restaurants atop The Venetian in Macau. It was called grilled bacalao, but was I guess really baked, or maybe the baking came as a last procedure. But what made this one outstanding, aside from the thick slab of cod that was soft and nicely salted were the baby potatoes hidden under the mound of veggies on which the fish sat. Like those camote slices, these baby potatoes took on all the essences of the veggies, Portuguese sausages, the fish and the seasonings on top. It was like eating silky and flavorful bacalao.

But there is a no-fuss, no-frills way of enjoying your drippings: use it as a dipping sauce without subjecting it to any more process or additional ingredient. I know some people who want their roast beef like this: they’d drench each bit in the drippings that are collected during the cooking, as though reuniting the elements that got separated by the heat before putting them into their final destiny which is the mouth, in the final ceremony which is eating.*

For feedback, go to www.lifestylesbacolod.com. Or check Bacolod Lifestyles on Facebook.

back to top