the finest cuisine

map of mandaue   

The City of Mandaue is a city in the province of Cebu in the Philippines. It is one of the three urbanized cities in the island and forms a part of the Cebu Metropolitan area. It is bounded south and the west by the Provincial Capital, Cebu City and north by Consolacion which is linked with Cansaga Bay Bridge. The city has an area of about 34.87 square kilometres and has a total population of about 337,320 people of Mandaue is a city in the province of .

Marcelo-Fernan Bridge

  Mandaue City is located on the middle eastern coastal region of Cebu, bordering to its right-side are Mactan Island where Lapu-Lapu City is located. Mandaue is connected to Mactan Island via two bridges which includes the Mactan-Cebu Bridge and Marcelo Fernan Bridge.

This is the proud city hall of Mandaue City. In the picture you can see the neatness and the beautiful ambiance of the surroundings.

The Mandaue Presidencia was inaugurated on 12 September 1937 during the incumbency of Cebu Governor Sotero B. Cabahug. Its construction begun two years earlier with an estimated cost at that time of Php 28,000.00. During the second world war, the presidencia was used as a garrison by the Japanese Imperial forces. On March 19, 1975, the new city hall was inaugurated. A second and third wing was added to the left side and the right side of the main building. An additional floor was also added from the main building connecting to the two new wings. From the original L shape of the old municipal hall floor plan, the new city hall format has now become an E-formed floor plan.

Aside from it's place, Mandaue City has it;s own original cuisine. The original cuisine in Mandaue includes the Bibingka which is steamed rice cakes mixed with coconut and sometimes egg. 

BIBINGKA SA MANDAUE

<ONCE TASTED-ALWAYS WANTED>

                                                                                                                                                                                                           Bibingka is a type of rice cake native to the Philippines. This is traditionally made from galapong (milled glutinous rice), coconut milk, margarine, and sugar. During dawn masses on Christmas season, side street vendors are a common sight preparing and selling this delicious rice cake along with “puto bumbong.

HOW TO COOK:

 

Bibingka is made with rice flour and coconut milk or water. Other ingredients can vary greatly, but the most common secondary ingredients are eggs and milk. The traditional preparation is very time-consuming. A specially made terra cotta container is lined with a single large section of a banana leaf. It is placed over preheated coals and the rice flour and water mixture is poured into it, taking care not to spill it into the container itself. Another piece of banana leaf is added to the top and covered with more preheated coals.

The end result is a soft and spongy large flat cake that is slightly charred on both surfaces and infused with the unique aroma of toasted banana leaves. Toppings are then added, which usually consists of butter/margarine, sugar, cheese, or grated coconut. Other more uncommon toppings include piniping (pounded immature rice grains), pineapple, and salted duck eggs. You can often find a mixture of two or more of these toppings on a single bibingka. Bibingka with sumptuous amounts of toppings (and ingredients) are sometimes called Bibingka Especial.

More modern methods involve bibingka being baked in an actual oven inside a caldero or ordinary cake pans. The result lacks the distinctive smoky smell of charcoal but is otherwise the same, especially if banana leaves are also used to line it. Mass-produced bibingka in Philippine bakeries are also made using characteristic tin molds that give them a crenelated shape similar to large puto or puto mamon (cupcakes).

There are different varieties of Bibingka aside from Mandaue's...These are the following:

Bibingka Galapong cooked with slices of salted egg with toppings of grated coconut and kesong puti

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Bibingka is often comapred to pancakes because of its round shape, golden brown color and the pudgy softness. Despite similarities in appearance, the tastes are worlds apart. I always associate the taste of the sweet and savoury pancakes with with more industrial cooking processes: eggs, flour, butter whisked together and fried in a pan—and the industrial feel of it is just right to allow you to get through a lazy Sunday brunch or a fast-paced weekday breakfast. The Bibingka is more rustic: it is made of galapong or glutinous rice soaked in water and ground with coconut milk to form a dough before being put on a banana leaf and baked in a special clay pot heated by coals from the top and from below. It is topped with butter or margarine, kesong puti (white cheese), itlog na maalat (salted duck eggs), sometimes sugar and even grated coconut. It is savory, sweet and salty. It is more rustic as the banana leaves help in giving a balmy taste to the bibingka. It reminds me of Christmas, of going to the Church for Simbang Gabi the road lit and the cold December nights warmed by coal ovens cooking an assortment of sweet treats like bibingka.

Bibingkang Malagkit is made from glutinous rice flour. It is moist and is usually served sliced into square blocks.

It is made of glutinous rice, coconut milk, coconut cream and sugar. The mixture is placed in a baking pan lined with banana leaves. Baked until the crust turns golden brown. The taste of bibingka malagkit is similar with the suman, another type of rice cake.  

There are still lots of variations of bibingka but I just know a little and that's what i wrote here.

If there is a ”mother-of-all-Philippine-rice-cakes’,’ bibingka would win the title hands down.

Bibingka is not only a rice cake that crosses regional lines in the Philippines it also has an iconic status in traditional Philippine cooking. Traditional Philippine baking employs very spartan kitchen implements, and the baking process is a tedious one involving hours of preparing the glutinous rice and coconut milk mixture and, equally challenging, preparing the earthenware pots that served as ’oven.’

With the pasty mixture poured into pots that are lined with banana leaves, the earthenware pots are placed inside improvised stone ovens, and charcoal fire is placed on top and below to slowly (and carefully) heat the stone oven. If this description is hard to follow, the baking itself is an equally tough challenge. Of course with modern ovens, this tedious process became impractical, but discriminating bibingka diehards swear that cakes baked the traditional way are more tastier.

Proof of bibingka’s iconic status is that the word bibingka itself has entered Filipino venacular as in “Parang na-bibingka sa init,” which means to experience hellish heat or fire. Imagine experiencing fire on top and fire below! Or the comment “Ang girlfriend niya ay mukhang bibingka.‘” Translation: ‘His girlfriend looks like a bibingka”  Not necessarily a compliment as it means that the girl has a plumpy figure or is moon-face (bibingka is round and soft).

The cake is best eaten fresh when it is still warm, soft with a subtle nutty taste. Variants of the bibingka are bibingka cassava (local yum), with optional toppings of grated coconut. As with other rice cakes, a perfect accompaniment for bibingka is hot chocolate. With this delicious duo, one could never invent a more delightful treat!

Mabuhay ang bibingka!