FOLLOWING the success of his first two cookbooks — Homemade for the Holidays and From Our Table to Yours — best-selling cookbook author, food stylist and writer Angelo Comsti is back with his third masterpiece, The Filipino Family Cookbook: Recipes and Stories from Our Home Kitchen.
Published by Singapore-based Marshall Cavendish Cuisine, The Filipino Family Cookbook takes readers into the heart of every household, the kitchen, where families prepare the most delicious meals. It contains more than 50 family heirloom recipes from not just the author’s own family but also from the families of some of the Philippines’ top chefs and favorite food personalities. The recipes are accompanied by personal photos and stories or anecdotes about the featured dishes. Most of the recipes have been handed down from generation to generation, and the passing of time has only made them even more special. Some even date back to the 1940s and are truly treasured by the families who have enjoyed them for decades now.
Some of the personalities who contributed recipes to the cookbook are pastry chef and cookbook author Aileen Anastacio, multi-awarded chef Jessie Sincioco, Raintree Group of Restaurants corporate chef Kalel Chan, chef and Deep Dips bottled sauces, dips and toppings creator Arnold Bernardo, Purple Yam’s Amy Besa, actress-turned-chef Janice de Belen, Chefs Gino Gonzalez and Junjun de Guzman of the Center for Asian Culinary Studies (CACS), PR practitioner Gwen Cariño, Cyma’s Chef Robby Goco, talented chef de partie Decker Gokioco, Fleur de Lys Patisserie’s celebrity chef Jackie Ang Po, Iloilo’s famous chef-caterer and Tabu-an organizer Chef Rafael Jardeleza II, award-winning book designer and food writer Ige Ramos, Isabela-based international chef Cocoy Ventura, restaurateur and caterer Chef Myke Sarthou, Milky Way’s debonair Chef J Gamboa, and food historian Felice Sta. Maria.
The Filipino Family Cookbook was recently launched at Powerbooks Greenbelt 5, Makati City, with several contributors of recipes in the cookbook joining author Angelo Comsti. Some of them even put up food booths to give guests a taste of their dishes, including preschool teacher and restaurateur Chinky Dionisio, whose Rellenong Manok (stuffed chicken) regaled everyone; Muffin Galvez shared Casa Marcos’ Paella; Chef Decker Gokioco had a whole chafing dish of his Four-Day Pork Belly; Chef Jessie Sincioco presented her mom’s Raw Papaya Kinilaw with Pork Loin; Pepita’s Kitchen’s Dedet dela Fuente served her best-selling Lechon, which guests really queued for, Chef Arnold Bernardo served his four Deep Dips variants — Tuna Puttanesca, Spicy Tinapa in Tomato Sauce, Antipasto, and Tomato Eggplant Pate — on canapes. Cupcake Lab had some really interesting desserts, such as mini chocolate cupcakes with beehive icing and chocolate mousse on ice cream cones. For drinks, two bartenders were mixing up cocktail drinks using Destileria Limtuaco spirits non-stop.
The Filipino Family Cookbook is now available in all National Bookstore and Powerbooks stores at Php845 per copy.
