Dining Back Then PLUS Beefsteak Recipe

Dining with friends

DINING BACK THEN

I got this recipe from the internet and it brought a rush of memories because this was a favorite family recipe. Let me talk a bit about our eating habits when I was young. My father was a rather formal man and when he was alive, we had our three elaborate meals -- breakfast, lunch, and supper -- in the family's dining room.



Breakfast was usually fried eggs with meat or fish or both,and rice. There was always rice with all our meals, even if we had bread or pasta. The meat could be homemade beef jerky, chorizos, spam, or Vienna sausages. Fish could be local dried fish with vinegar and salt - yum! There could also be pan de sal or pan de leche bread. The grownups had coffee; Mama always gave me milk because I had beri-beri as a child. She would also give me my vitamins in the morning as well. (Every night, for years, she gave me a raw egg. Very slimy - yuk!)

Everyone returned home for lunch, and this consisted of soup, followed by several dishes of fish, meat, vegetables, and again rice.  Always rice. When I was young we did not eat lettuce; uncooked leaves were unpopular perhaps because of fear of cholera. Our salad consisted of cucumbers, tomatoes, and onions. Dessert followed. There was always fruit, but there could also be leche flan or some other rich pastry. Drinks could be Coca Cola or lemoncito drink or some other juice drink. And water; we drank a lot of water.

There was also merienda after school, around 5 p.m. which consisted of pastry or cake with Coca Cola or hot chocolate. In the summertime especially, we would indulge in salty snacks - those Chinese champoy or jicama with salt or green mangoes with salt

Let me explain about the popularity of Coca Cola and other soft drinks; this was because bottled drinks were sterile and safe. Our drinking water at home was boiled, and we were careful about drinking water in other places. Coca Cola was jokingly called "Filipino wine."

Supper was similar to lunch in that it included soup, main dishes, and dessert.

The following recipe came from Panlasang Pinoy  with modifications.

So, dear readers, I'm sharing this recipe and my memories to you. Enjoy!

Tagalog Beefsteak (or Bistek Tagalog)
Ingredients
1 lb beef sirloin, thinly sliced (I've used rib eye and it works, although the cut is thicker)
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 lemon or 3-4 calamansi
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 large onion, sliced into rings
3 tbsp cooking oil
salt to taste

Procedure:
1. Marinate beef in soy sauce, lemon or calamansi, ground black pepper for 1 hour or longer;
2. Heat the cooking oil in pan, stir fry the onion rings until soft. Set aside.
3. In same pan, fry the marinated beef without the marinade until meat browns. Set aside.
4. Saute garlic;
5. Pour marinade in with garlic and bring to boil;
6. If beef is not every tender, put in the marinade and simmer for 15 minutes until beef is tender, adding water if needed. If beef is tender, you do not have to simmer, just let it soak in the marinade.
7 Add onions and add salt if needed. Watch the salt because soy sauce is already salty.
8. Serve with rice.
I like to serve this with salad and vegetables like peas.

Cooking in Hoi Ann, Vietnam

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photo of beefsteak courtesy of Deana Morrow
tags: food, wine, pasta, seafood, beef, recipe, cooking, Filipino food