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Balut is a Philippine street fare which is rarely welcomed by foreign tastebuds, especially when they are oriented on what it is.

Philipine Balut

Balut is fertilized duck embryo, cooked, kept warm, and usually sold as street food.

The concept is generally a taboo in western countries but also available in other south east asian neighbors like Vietnam and Laos. A famous source of balut in the Philipines is Pateros where incubation and selection of the eggs are carefully done.

NomnomClub.com @ WordCamp Philippines 2009

Eating balut has also been featured in a number reality-TV series as part of daredevil tasks like Survivor, Amazing Race and Fear Factor. It is also considered an aphrodesiac.

In a WordCamp Philippines 2009 conference held last Saturday, we had Beau Lebens and Seth Bindernagel as guests speakers from WordPress and Mozilla, respectively.

WordCamp Philippines 2009

On a gathering at the night after the wordcamp conference, a balut vendor passed by Whistlestop where we were having our dinner. And being foreigner and guests, we dared them to take on a balut-eating challenge. Seth was game and ready, although Beau needed a little more convincing.

The Japanese guy, also from Mozilla, was tough. He compared the probable experience to Japan’s serving of fish sperm. This totally deserves a completely separate blog (perhaps next time). 🙂

Seth Bindernagel

Anyhow, it was Autralia versus the USA with Seth on the right corner and Beau on the left. The Wordcamp organizers, volunteers, and friends taught them the step by step procedures as to how to eat a balut and proded them on in the process mentioning “don’t look” (at the embryo) so as not to visually discouraged them. LOL.

How To Eat A Balut

1. Lightly tap the tip of the egg shell on any hard surface just like a hard boiled egg. This is done with caution so as not to spill the young duck’s juice.
2. After a hole has been punctured, one could immediately sip the warm juice. The broth essence is full of protein.
3. Peel off the rest of the eggshells to reveal most parts of the yolk and the young chick.
4. Give it a dash of salt to enhance the flavor. The embryo is slightly moist as some of the juice still remains. This is perfect for the pinch of salt to mix with.
5. Eat while still warm. Swallowing it whole is possible but bite-after-bite is recommended. (do not forget to remove the “white part” which is hard and rubbery – this part is not eaten as it is hard to digest).
6. Congratulations! You have just proven that you are as tough as the Survivor, Amazing Race and Fear Factor contestants! 🙂

Peel off the Balut Shells

Add a Pinch of Salt

Chew Away 🙂

With the recent interest in balut, the delicacy has found itself  served in different ways including as appetizers in restaurants, preserved in bottles, or cooked as adobo. Unsold balut in the streets are eventually fried and sold as a different delicacy alltogether.

Here’s a video of the “How To Eat Balut” incident.:

A good tip is to choose your balut young, with the embryo as undeveloped yet as possible. This means that the young chick is “not yet” a chick. Otherwise, you’ll feel some feathers/hair in your tongue or end up chewing out the balut‘s “beak“. Eeewww. LOL. 🙂 Nomnomnom.

Light finally shed on the drumbeat on the recent “Let There Be White,” today. It was Red Ribbon‘s newest cake – the White Forest.

Inspired from Black Forest

It was named so as it was inspired from the Black Forest Chocolate Cake of which Red Ribbon has been greatly known for and has become a classic cake through the years. With the release of the White Forest, it aims to tap the white chocolate lovers out there in a similar way.

The White Forest is a light combination of white chiffon layers and cherry bits filling. Covered with light cream all-over and held by sweet wedges of premium white chocolate, the White Forest is also adorned by whole red cherries on top.

It is one of the softest and lightest cake I have ever tasted. In Filipino, “Hindi siya mabigat.” (It is not heavy)

Unlike other cakes, the White Forest is both light and soft which does not overpower the meal you just had. A friend remarked that it does not have the “liquor after-taste” apparent in the Black Forest; which she liked.

White Forest - Red Ribbon

Price

A junior sized cake is priced at P335 while the regular one is at P560.

In summary, I think the White Forest is perfect for the white chocolate lovers out there; or simply those looking for a soft and light cake that would deliciously cater to their sweet desires. Nomnomnom. 🙂

“Let There Be Light,…and There Was White.”

Come and join Red Ribbon‘s Blogger Event this coming September 17, Thursday, and discover a deliciously memorable dessert experience to delight those you care about the most.

Be the first to see the television commercial (TVC) of Red Ribbon‘s newest darling. She’s as light as the White clouds in the sky on a sunny day.

Please register below and receive a ‘White Ticket’ in your indicated email inbox within the next 12hrs. Please register early as slots are limited.

It will serve as your pass and raffle stub to the blogger event on September 17, 2009, 7 o’clock in the evening to be held at the Function Room of Red Ribbon Libis branch.

Are you a Mommy Blogger? You might want to attend this instead.

Sept 14, 2009 Update:
For the 7pm blogger event, the registrant uptake was way faster than expected and the 40 slots are now filled. If you haven’t registered, you may still do so but you will not receive a ‘white ticket’ just yet. You will also be listed under the ‘waiting list.’ When a slot becomes available, you will be notified by email together with the ‘White Ticket’ to confirm your slot by the afternoon of Sept 16, Wednesday.

Sept 16, 2009 Update:

Registration has closed

Here’s the map to help you on your way (click image to enlarge):

Red Ribbon Libis Map

For any inquiries, please feel free to send an email to admin@nomnomclub.com or contact 0922*8*JONEL*3.

See you there!

Nomnomnom:  (nom-nom-nom)
noun – an expression of eating; thereby creating a sound.

Nomnom Club is born out of love for dining and trying out a variety of edible and drinkable creations that nourishes the physical body and comforts the soul.

Nomnomnom

Nomnom the Foodie

Food. Yes, this is a food blog which is endorsed by its resident foodie named Nomnom. If you check out the blog title banner, he is partially peeping over the font characters. 🙂 He is still shy as of now, but promises to completely  show himself in public 31 days from now. The blog started 09-09 and he’s coming out by 10-10.  🙂

He loves checking out the different restaurants, coffee shops, pasta places, grills, doughtnut shops, fast-food joints, café, hideaways, pizzerias, bars, and the latest food spots in town.

Nomnomclub.com Food Blog

He enjoins himself in the foodie photos whenever he gets the chance. He is also a distant cousin of Sago from the travel & food blog LetsGoSago.net who pops about the travel photos.

Nomnom Club

Nomnom Club

Nomnomclub also envisions itself to evolve into a membership-type of food-lovers’ organization in due time, hence the ‘club‘ suffix.

For now, allow Nomnom to share with you his awesome future food adventures!