The Pilgrim’s Pots and Pans

I know, I know… my first entry in more than a year and it’s not a “real post” my friend Catsie would say. But then again, she also knows how obsessed I’ve been with kitchenware.

The other day I was looking for crumpet rings then decided I’ll make my own from tuna tins. Now I am trawling the net for ramekins. I have a dozen that are exactly like those in the picture above, six that are quite similar to those linked here and four rectangular ones. The yellow ones (round and rectangles) I used a month ago for mango clafoutis. One of the rectangles was utilised for roasting garlic in the microwave earlier today. It worked like a charm!

I’m looking for plain white round ramekins in different sizes and perhaps later on, other colours and designs. In the meantime, I wonder if I should make some crème brûlée with the oval ramekins. But then, I’ll be searching high and low for a kitchen blowtorch.

This is going to be a good year, I can tell! It’s a bit premature to announce but I can spare a few details. A small group in Sta. Rita is working on documenting heritage recipes. We are doing our best to be systematic and along with cooking the recipes, we’re also trying to recreate full meals complete with the china and utensils used. Not only do we wish to recreate the art of cooking but the art of eating as well.

I am very particular with the condiment plates. I still vividly remember using a small, square saucer with a divider in the middle. This was where the fish sauce (patis), vinegar (aslam), and soy sauce (toyo) were poured for individual servings. They probably stopped selling them in shops a decade ago but thankfully I spotted several at a mall a few days ago. Perhaps the popularity of international and Asian food has brought this about. One thing I found out, the Chinese spoons we used for serving achara and other sour food are properly called duck spoons in English.

Our pinggang malucung (slightly deep plates) are actually versatile pieces which many Capampangans use to serve rice and saucy dishes but can also be used as soup plates for formal sit-down dinners. They can also be utilised to individually serve pasta and for leafy salads too. A friend who was a hotelier says these are always a good investment, especially for homes that entertain often. I’m buying more of those in the future.