SM Hypermarket Master Chef Supersized Cook-off
10:45 PM
Vernon Joseph Go
A truly pinoy Christmas is never complete until you've walked home on a
frigid morning after dawn mass and stopped to sample a warm bibingka
from a small stall by the road. Naturally, with Christmas being so
close, SM Hypermarket chooses to cap their quarter-long Master Chefs
extravaganza with a celebration of one of the most iconic of holiday
treats, the bibingka. And where better to do it than in the home of the
biggest `ibingka in the world, Mandaue City, Cebu.
Known
as the source of the best bibingka in the country, Mandaue City is also
the home of many ingenious bakers who have taken delicacy and given it a
delicious twist. But one thing stays the same - all Mandaue bibingka
are cooked in the classic "inurno" style.
Some make it with grated keso de bola on top, others with a later of salted egg, and still others with a generous heaping of grated coconut and muscovado sugar. The batter is made of rice flour, coconut milk, yeast, and sugar. The micture is then baked to perfection in a terra cotta container. Red-hot coals placed above and below heat the batter through until it is fluffy, moist, and delicious, with a dark brown crust on top. It is this unique method of cooking, and the smoke from the coals, that gives bibingka its distinctive flavor.
Some make it with grated keso de bola on top, others with a later of salted egg, and still others with a generous heaping of grated coconut and muscovado sugar. The batter is made of rice flour, coconut milk, yeast, and sugar. The micture is then baked to perfection in a terra cotta container. Red-hot coals placed above and below heat the batter through until it is fluffy, moist, and delicious, with a dark brown crust on top. It is this unique method of cooking, and the smoke from the coals, that gives bibingka its distinctive flavor.
Last
November 18, 2011, SM Hypermarket kicked off the holidays in Cebu by
holding a festival for bibingka makers and lovers of the treat. Its
Supersized competition paid tribute to the many variants of the basic
recipe and challenged chefs from all over to create the tastiest
bibingka, and to serve up as many plates of it as they can.
At
the end of the day, two groups were declared as winners. The best
Tasting and Most Number of Plates Served Category winners each received
P25,000 worth of SM gift certificates and a plaque of recognition from
SM Hypermarket.
Alang-Alang group won the Best
Tasting Bibingka with a staggering rate of 93.33%. The Largest Bibingka
Serving was given to Mandauehanon group for serving a total of 391
pieces of bibingka.
