The Biscocho Pasuquin at Pasuquin Bakery, Ilocos Norte
For most of us,biscochois just a smarter way to use up old bread. Stale slices are slathered in butter or margarine, sprinkled with sugar, and given new life as a coffee mate. In this Ilocos bakery, however, bread is baked specifically forbiscochopurposes. Uy confessed that it’s her personal favorite among all the types of bread they encountered.
“There are two presentations of bread: the soft, croissant-shaped one that you can unfurl and the crunchybiscochomade of either the crumb or the cover of the original bread,” she explained.
The crumb is separated by hand to become the crunchybiscochowith which most of us are familiar. Anise gives it a subtle and sophisticated flavor. In their travels, Orillos learned that manypanaderosuse anise in their recipes.
The pan de sal
Pan de sal, literally translated as salt bread, is the national bread of the Philippines and while we think we’re all initiated with it, there are as manypan de salvarieties as there isadobo.
Despite the diversity, Orillos said there are similarities: the breadcrumb coat, the golden-brown crust, and the pointy-edged top calledsingkitorgatla, which naturally occurs when the baker uses a wooden dough cutter to split the pieces.
“The best ones are made in apugonor wood-fired oven, which is rare nowadays but still very much alive especially in the provinces. In NCR, there’s Panaderia Dimas-Alang in Pasig City,” said Orillos.
The nomenclature of bread
Filipinos are incredibly witty and that humor can be reflected in the way we name bread.Kalihim, for example, goes by 14 different names across the country—and the ones in Visayas are mostlybastos(dirty), said Uy. “The bread’s provocative red filling looks like the pouty red lips of a woman of ill-repute.”
“And then there is themonaywhich in the Visayas is a nickname for a female’s private parts. The bread is named such because of the suggestive part in the middle of the bread. It also gives customers a chance to be naughty when buying the bread like when they say, “Magkano po ang monay niyo, Ate?” added Uy.
Other ways of naming bread stem from the physical look: bonete (bonnet), kababayan (the hat of a kabayan or local), star bread (obviously a star), kurbata (necktie), pinagong (turtle), lambingan (hugging), teren-teren (conjoined train compartments).
When all else fails, there’s pop culture to fall back on. According to Orillos, bread trends often reflect personalities of a certain time, such as the pan de Nora (in honor of actress and singer Nora Aunor) and elorde (after boxer Gabriel Elorde).
When all else fails, just do it again. Repetition is a common Filipino practice for naming children and apparently also bread. Apart from teren-teren, there are also lubid-lubid and bicho-bicho.
