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Saturday, December 03, 2005
Making Carcar's treats
By Jenara Regis Newman
Carcar is famous not only for its picturesque heritage architecture but also for its culinary treats, peddled by its industrious residents, mostly at the rotunda, a natural converging place for travelers going southeast or southwest, or going up to Cebu City. Among these treats are ampao and chicharon, the making of which were demonstrated during its last fiesta celebration.
It’s amazing how simple it is to make them, but also, how laborious!
Alma Campugan, of Myrna’s Delicious Ampao, demonstrated ampao-making.
She is the daughter-in-law of Myrna Campugan whose mother, Cayetana Tagarorang, went into the business of ampao-making in the ’70s, giving the favorite kakanin of Carcar a twist: she added peanuts to the rice crispy.
The first step, Alma says, is to steam-cook the rice and then place the cooked rice on an amakan sheet to dry in the sun.
Then the dried rice is fried until it pops. When it is cool, a handful of peanuts is mixed into it. A syrup is then made with sugar and lemonsito juice. When the syrup is done, it is poured and mixed thoroughly with the rice-peanut mixture, and then poured into its mold. For purposes of the demonstration, Alma used a baking pan for commercial purposes, she has a bigger and deeper mold. She then rolls a rolling pan over it to smoothen its surface. The ampao is now done.
When it cools, Myrna uses a knife to cut it into the desired size with the help of wooden rulers specifically sized and made for the purpose, and then placed in plastic bags.
For the chicharon, done in huge vats for commercial purposes, Gemma Alcover of Mat-Mats, used a big frying pan. The first step, she says, is to cut the pork skin into the desired size, usually an inch wide, an inch and a half thick (to include the fat and some bits of meat, for a more cholesterol-filled treat!) and five inches long. The strips are first boiled in water with salt and, if desired, vetsin, till almost done. They are then taken out of the pot and set aside to air-dry. Then the strips are fried in hot oil. With the use of tongs, Gemma then feels the cooking strips for firmness. When they are firm, she scoops them out of the frying pan and heats up the oil some more to a very high heat. Then she puts the strips back in and lets them puff and pop and voila, the chicharon is done. And there is absolutely no spattering of oil that would cause burns for the chicharon maker. The chicharon strips are scooped out and cooled before they are weighed and placed in plastic bags, ready for the next chicharon aficionado to buy.
(December 3, 2005 issue)
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