ebun a barag

A bowl of boiled (half-cooked) ebun a barag presented during the sneak preview of MarQuee Mall's "Big Bite! The Northern Food Festival" in Angeles City last week

ebun a barag - (e-bun a ba-rág; Capampangan exotic food) [n.] monitor lizard’s egg. 

Other local names:

• itlog ng bayawak in Tagalog
• itlog sa halo in Cebuano 
• itlog sa hawo or itlog sa haw in Boholano 
• illuk alivo in Itawis

This is the egg of the Capampangan monitor lizard (scientific name: Varanus bitatawa) they called barag or what is known as bayawak in Tagalog.

The pliant shell of the egg would shrink after it is boiled (half-cooked) causing the surface to dent 

The taste of ebun a barag is agreeable.  It reminisces the taste of masabaw na balut penoy. A friend, Kenny Ngo of  Life is Kulayful gestures with approval after trying ebun a barag.

Another friend, Az Coladilla of Azrael's Merryland Blog, seems to be fascinated also by the ebun a barag. A rare exotic delicacy of Pampanga.

Its egg yolk is cream-colored and the egg white is transparent. 

The yolk is creamy-white and does not hold any shape. When squeezed out, the yolk would flow like toothpaste. The albumen (egg-white) is transparent and coagulating like that of chicken egg and flow thin (watery) 

The Capampangans would boil the bayawak’s (monitor lizard’s) egg as malasado (half-cooked)  and eat the cooked egg by puncturing a hole on the top side of the shell and then squeezing the pliant shell. The egg’s content is often spread on hot, freshly cooked rice.

The pliant shell of spent egg would just deflate like a busted pingpong ball. Unlike the shell of chicken egg, the shell of ebun a barag  would not crack or brittle 

It tastes similar to the balut penoy egg that is masabaw (moist and juicy)

RJ Ledesma, co-founder of Mercato Centrale, sips ebun a barag during the sneak preview of MarQuee Mall's "Big Bite! The Northern Food Festival" in Angeles City last week. 

Related posts:

Balot itlog manok

Orange egg barbecue

Balut

Guinness's largest serving of balut in Pateros

References:

• National Geographic, “Giant, fruit-eating monitor lizard discovered in the Philippines” Ed Yong, April 7, 2010, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/giant-fruit-eating-monitor-lizard-discovered-in-the-philippines

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Continue to follow my blogs. You can also follow and learn more by joining us in our Facebook group. Have more bits and pieces about our kind of food, ingredients, and ways of cooking, dining, and knowing food culture across the 7,641 islands of the Philippines. I will search for more and continue to share my findings. It is my pleasure to rediscover the known and least known things or the unheard ones and put them here for everyone to find, learn, and treasure. 

Encouragement and enthusiasm are not enough. I also need moral support, prayers, and anything else that can uplift my spirit and keep my good reasons. Keep them coming. All I know is that I am happy with what I am sharing and giving away. If you are pleased and happy with what I am doing, just smile and please share the happiness. Keep sharing and include to share the PHILIPPINE FOOD ILLUSTRATED. I feel energized when my blog becomes one of the reasons why you are happy and smiling. 

Edgie Polistico  

betute tugac

A freshly fried betute tugac. I got this on the sneak preview of MarQuee Mall's 'Big Bite' The Northern Food Festival in Angeles City, Pampanga in October 2013.

 

betute tugac - /ba-tú-tè tu-gák/ (Capampangan delicacy) [n.] stuffed frog; a fried stuffed edible frog.

 

Other local names: 

• a.k.a. batute or batute tugak in Capampangan 
• also spelled as betute tugak in Capampangan

A Capampangan dish made with whole tugac (farm frog) caught from the river or from rice paddies of Pampanga.

Skinned ricefield frog sold in the public market of  Cabanatuan City January last year. There are ingenious  and Novo Ecijanos would tan the skin into leather and made into taxodermy-like coin purse attached with keychain holder.

The frog is skinned and all its entrails are removed. The feet are cut off, its head decapitated and thrown away. The cleaned hollowed body is then stuffed compactly with minced meat of another frog, or added with ground pork or finely chopped chicken meat or their combination as stuffing. 

The stuffing is seasoned with finely chopped fresh herbs and spices that include leaves of tangle, a fragrant premma tree (Premna odorata) an aromatic leaf of the tree also known as alagaw in Tagalog. Other seasonings may include other locally available herbs and spices (i.e. garlic, red onions, ginger, tomatoes, kuse, kulitis, etc.) - all minced or chopped into small pieces.

When I came back to Cabanatuan City last June 2012, I brought home and cooked these skinned frogs.

The internal organs of the frog have to be removed and the hollowed cavity has to be filled with ground meat mixed with seasonings and minced tangle leaves if you are going to make a betute tugac.

The stuffed frogs are fried like a relleno. It is deep fried until brownish red or darker and crisp.

The host was trying to impress us with a serving of betute tugac during the sneak preview of MarQuee Mall's 'Big Bite' The Northern Food Festival in Angeles City, Pampanga.

Capampangan betute actually means butete in Tagalog or puffer fish in English.

The stuffed frog is called betute because the bulging-filled belly of the frog makes the frog look like a pufferfish.

This one is filled with ground meat and minced vegetables. The tangle leaves in it added the aromatic flavor.

Betute tugac is served and eaten with a dipping of spiced-up vinegar, chili sauce, or toyomansi. Without the dip, the fried frog would taste flavorless, and its two spreading legs are just pieces of tough meat.  The fillings are made tastier if added with ground pork or beef with all the seasonings and herbs mentioned earlier (above).

Dipping the betute tugac in spiced up vinegar (or any Pinoy dipping sauce) would bring out the taste and enhance the flavor of the frog.

 

All photos by Edgie Polistico are copyrighted. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

See Index of Entries here

If you liked this post and our site, share it.

Let us know your opinion on the subject. Feel free to comment in the comment section, below. We need to know what you think.

Tell us what other topics you would like us to write, share, and discuss about.

Encouragement and enthusiasm are not enough. I also need moral support, prayers, and anything else that can uplift my spirit and keep my good reasons. Keep them coming.  Sharing and giving away is happiness to me.  If you are pleased and happy with what I am doing, just smile and share the happiness we have in the PHILIPPINE FOOD ILLUSTRATED. I feel energized every time my blog becomes one of the reasons why you are happy and smiling. 

For more about Filipino food, you must try this Philippine Food, Cooking, and Dining Dictionary. It is OPEN and FREE.

Continue to follow my blogs. You can also follow and learn more by joining us in our Facebook group. Have more bits and pieces about our kind of food, ingredients, and ways of cooking, dining, and knowing food culture across the 7,641 islands of the Philippines. I will search for more and continue to share my findings. It is my pleasure to rediscover the known and least known things or the unheard ones and put them here for everyone to find, learn, and treasure. 

Encouragement and enthusiasm are not enough. I also need moral support, prayers, and anything else that can uplift my spirit and keep my good reasons. Keep them coming. All I know is that I am happy with what I am sharing and giving away. If you are pleased and happy with what I am doing, just smile and please share the happiness. Keep sharing and include to share the PHILIPPINE FOOD ILLUSTRATED. I feel energized when my blog becomes one of the reasons why you are happy and smiling. 

Edgie Polistico