Recipes from my mothers

Point of view

- By DOROTHY DELGADO NOVICIO

In the house we grew up in was the oddly named area most Filipino homes have—the dirty kitchen. I think we called it such because it's where the firewood-and charcoal-fueled stoves laid, compared to the cleaner kitchen where the gas stove rested. The "DK," as we referred to it, was the center of gravity of our two mothers, both exceptional cooks of the family.

Their singularity in creating dishes isn't in the league of gourmet chefs but along the lines of ingenuity that slow food advocate and friend Chit Juan hails in terms of utilizing home-grown, backyard ingredients and infusing them into our cuisine.

If master chefs embarrass their protégés, or worse, toss the food into the bin when the dish they create turns out unpalatable, Nanay and Mommy would still commend us for our labor. I'd know by their facial expression if my fish cocido's too sour, meaning I must have added juice from 20 pieces of freshly-squeezed kalamansi instead of just 12. Nanay, upon tasting the soup, would jiggle her head in a kilig fashion then squint her eyes, while Mommy would slurp the broth with gusto as if it were the piece de resistance!