Pintos stuffed with foie gras mousse

Ronald P. Villavelez 07/01/2018

IN THE science of food pairings, I learned that cooking ingredients work well together when they share certain flavor profiles, or flavor compounds, and in most cases, aroma profiles, which happen, food scientists hypothesize, at the molecular…

Mooning over masareal

Ronald P. Villavelez 04/01/2018

MY FONDNESS for peanuts dates back to my first day in first grade: I can still remember my mother tucking a plastic pouch of peanuts in my lunch box as my snack at recess time in school.…

Taking takyong to a new level

Ronald P. Villavelez 02/18/2018

IT TOOK me almost a year to get acquainted with takyong, or bush snails (Helicostyla daphinis), our own poor man’s version of the French delicacy, escargot (Helix pomatia). I first heard about takyong during a day tour…

Love soup

Ronald P. Villavelez 02/04/2018

IN THE last degustation dinner I did two Sundays ago for a group of old friends (the same group that first tasted the very first few experiments I did in my home kitchen more than a year…

Pushing local flavors with a new, contemporary twist

Ronald P. Villavelez 01/21/2018

  WHEN I started working in the kitchen as a serious homecook, I first fiddled with my mother’s recipes based on my memories of childhood Sunday meals; homey homegrown flavors that have become the basis of my…

Finding new flavors in new places: Gallery Vask’s Anthropological Cuisine

Ronald P. Villavelez 12/10/2017

MY SEARCH for new flavors in these parts took me, a few Saturdays ago, to the capital, after I finally got a reservation for a degustation dinner for two at Gallery Vask, the only restaurant in the Philippines…

Finding new flavors in new places

Ronald P. Villavelez 11/26/2017

WHEN an English chef and restaurateur—who had worked with Marco Pierre White and Gordon Ramsay, and whose restaurant, Pollen Street Social, in Mayfair, has maintained a Michelin star since 2011—opened a restaurant in Cebu, middle of last…

Finding new flavors in new places

Ronald P. Villavelez 11/19/2017

I DON’T know if there’s such a thing as restaurant or food trend in this city. A few years ago, people were crazy about things artisanal–from breads to pizzas to gelatos and coffees. Then, the ramen thing: one…

Fashioning flavors: the science of flavor pairing

Ronald P. Villavelez 11/05/2017

WHEN I started cooking at home, I became obsessive about the whole process of planning and preparing a meal. I read Auguste Escoffier’s entire comprehensive cookbook, subscribed to a lot of YouTube cooking channels, watched a lot…

From fashion to food

Ronald P. Villavelez 10/29/2017

I AM a fashion designer by profession, managing a corporation that operates two ateliers—our main atelier in Cebu and a branch in Makati that specialize in custom-made wedding gowns and women’s formal wear—and a ready-to-wear pop-up store…

Cooking sous vide: Solving the egg problem

Ronald P. Villavelez 10/23/2017

I HAVE a confession to make: I always quail when cooking eggs (pardon the pun). It is something I have not learned by rote. Even when I was a kid, as simple as cracking eggs was a task…

Cooking Sous Vide

Ronald P. Villavelez 10/15/2017

  SOUS vide, the process of cooking food “under vacuum” at low, tightly controlled temperature in a water bath, revolutionized the culinary world when it was adopted as a culinary technique in the 70s in upscale restaurants in…

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