When I interviewed her artist daughter Mia, Elaine Ongpin Herbosa prepared a good lunch for us. It was a most delicious repast that started off with a cheese plate, charcuterie of jamon serrano, and Waldorf Salad. This was followed by chicken asparagus soup and then, the piece de resistance, roasted chicken with potato garnishing. For dessert, we had fresh-from-the-oven cassava cake topped by latik (coconut caramel). The conversation was relaxed yet animated and fun.
It turned out that the lady of the house, Elaine, is a whiz in the kitchen. Of course, she is an art educator with her own home serving as her school. Here, her students of various ages learn from this lady whose family has had a strong affinity with the arts, her grandfather, Alfonso Ongpin, having owned Arte, a famous art supplies store and gallery.
One of the country's top collectors during the prewar and postwar years, Ongpin played a key role in the development of generations of Filipino artists, many of them struggling, who had an "open credit" to the art supplies sold in his store. They would pay him back with paintings, thus adding to his treasure trove of Filipino masters' works.
While recognized for the many artists she has coached, Elaine has achieved equal renown for her cooking and baking prowess. A big hit this Christmas season are her enseimaditas which her customers from the gated villages buy as gifts. These are available whole year round along with her other specialty, cassava bibingka.
Cooking became a passion for Elaine because, as a wife and mother, she stayed mostly at home. Her husband much preferred her staying at home and she hardly had lunch with friends. When she was all alone with the household help, while the children were in school and her husband was at work, she engaged in various crafts and cooked, eventually mastering some dishes and delicacies for which she would be known, and then becoming a hostess and later on a home-based food entrepreneur. Elaine said these passions saved her from going insane due to loneliness.
Below is my interview with Elaine who, despite being busy in the kitchen this season of joy, graciously found the time to share her story with us:
Enseimaditas all year round
Daily Tribune (DT): You seem to have discovered a perfect recipe for your enseimaditas. How did this happen?
Elaine O. Herbosa (EOH): A Tita, Tillie Ongpin, who was from Cagayan de Oro, spared a whole day to teach me all her recipes. After some years, I gave her my enseimaditas and she couldn't believe it was what she had taught me. She said it was excellent. I had improved her recipe and used expensive best-quality ingredients.
DT: In what way has your artist's life contributed to your life in the kitchen?
EOH: Baking is an art, too. From the beginning till now, I try to maintain the quality. I taste one piece from every batch made.
DT: You are a world traveler. What are your favorite international desserts and which restaurants serve them best?
EOH: I think international desserts do not compare to ours. But last month in Singapore at Madame Fan, Marriott Hotel, I loved the taste and novelty of their coconut custard dessert. It came in a little coconut shell, smoking! Dry ice, I guess.
DT: Is your ensaimadita baking and selling a once-a-year pursuit or is it whole year round? What other specialties do you sell?
EOH: All year round, I bake by orders only and it gets to the buyer on the same day it's baked, right out of the oven. I used to have a long list of things I baked. Now I concentrate mostly on this, but I also recommend my cassava bibingka with latik, food for the gods, and cocoroons. It's like a domino effect. The buyers give them as gifts and the recipients don't fail to order.
Mom was a fabulous cook
DT: How did your love for cooking evolve? Does this go back to your childhood?
EOH: I never entered the kitchen till I got married. My mom, Lourdes Velayo Ongpin, was a fabulous cook. The first time I cooked sinigang na baboy I asked her how to do it. She gave me step-by-step instructions but failed to tell me to boil the pork till tender. I did it all in 10 minutes and it was inedible -— the pork was still so tough! Baptism of fire!
DT: The Ongpins are known for the arts, business, and government service. What are the family traditions when it comes to the culinary arts?
EOH: Art and culinary arts are two family passions, and they manifest in many of us. My lola Doni Ongpin Villacorta was an artist, too, and my first art mentor. She was a great cook as well. She taught me how to make empanadas. She would make pastillas de leche, ube and langka, and halayang mangga for a living. My mom would buy everything she made. My sisters Cynthia and Deanna make the best callos. Even my brother Jimmy cooked. His recipe of chicharon was in the menu of Ilustrado restaurant as JVO's chicharon.
I serve merienda in my art classes and they end up ordering what I serve. Lomi is a favorite, and lengua, too.
DT: Among your children and grandchildren, who has taken as much interest in cooking? How did you pass on this passion to them?
EOH: Mia, my artist daughter, wants her husband Paul (a New York chef) to continue my enseimaditas business. Luigi, my grandson. also wants to inherit the business.
DT: Does food ever manifest in your art works?
EOH: No, but maybe, just fruits in a still life. But my lola Doni would paint lechon heads, a medley of dishes like sinigang na bangus, crabs, and fruits.
Queso de bola hoarder
DT: Does love the second time around play a role in the kitchen and your and his taste buds? What are your favorite restaurants?
EOH: Toti is very supportive of my endeavors, both art and cooking. We both enjoy eating out often. One of our favorites is Terry's at Molito. In our last cruise we had an overdose of all kinds of cuisine. When we got home, I just wanted to eat tuyo.
DT: What is always in your fridge? What is always in your cupboard? What is your go-to fresh market, specialty store, and supermarket? What is your old reliable dish for entertaining?
EOH: I hoard queso de bola for my enseimaditas. For a whole year these were not available. Glad they're in all the supermarkets now. Since I entertain a lot and have friends and students around, I keep a well-stocked refrigerator and cupboard. My reliable dishes are callos, lengua, lomi, leg of lamb, Russian salad, and grilled prawns.
DT: What is always on your noche buena table? What do your relatives look forward to that you always bring to family reunions? What is your standard Christmas food gift to friends and relatives?
EOH: Noche buena has never been a big deal here. Since Mia lives in New York and my son Al usually goes to his in-laws with his two kids, I would never stay up for Noche Buena. Christmas lunch is more our thing. I always have cuchinillo, paella, a leg of Chinese ham, garden salad, prawns, and chicken asparagus soup in one buffet table and yummy desserts in another.
US$200 a crab
DT: What is in your pasalubong bag when you visit friends and relatives abroad?
EOH: Since foodstuff is banned in most countries, I hardly bring food. Occasionally I try to sneak in jumbo pastillas de leche.
DT: What do you swear by among Philippine delicacies?
EOH: I love bibingka malagkit with thick latik!
DT: What do you love to serve to friends and guests?
EOH: My mahjong friends also love to eat and even request their favorite dishes when we play. Yesterday we had the best balut from Pateros.
DT: Who assists you in the kitchen?
EOH: My cook Meriam has been with me for maybe 20 years. I've taught her everything I know. She absorbs well. I just "make her cuento" how to do it. Of course, baking is an exact science. One must follow the recipe to the letter. I have Joey who does the one-hour kneading per recipe, and four other assistants.
DT: What dining places would you recommend? And what dishes?
EOH: More often we are in Molito. There are many restaurants with different cuisines one can choose from. I also recommend Raging Bull in Shangri La and Ministry of Crabs in Shangri La, too. Kimpura remains our favorite Japanese restaurant, Jade Garden for Peking Duck, and Terry's for Argulas and Super Paella, The Flame at Discovery and their lobster bisque, Lake Fire Grill in Tagaytay for nouvelle cuisine, Phoenix Court at the Bellevue for Chinese food, and Citiclub at Alphaland.
DT: What is in your culinary bucket list?
EOH: I think I've savored all things. I wiill never tire of crab and lobster. Still shocked at the price of a mud crab in a Sydney resto — US$200 for one crab only, medium-sized but truly yummy. Once we ordered lobster in Balesin for P7,000!