My First Dinuguan

I am not fond of  dinuguan or blood stew,  though I eat it occassionaly as accompaniment of lechon or puto.   Blood, entrails and offals are not that big on my list,  but as a cook, I have to overcome my difference if I want to be good at my trade.

So it was one of those lazy weekends, that I decided to make some.  I scanned through so many recipes, and my daughter-in-laws was the closest that I really liked.  And the ingredients I got from the Oriental store.

Last year, when I was at the Chocolate Show, Puerto Rican chef Martin made a pork chocolate sauce for his pernil (baked pork) and it tasted delicious.  I wanted to replicate the idea.

I tried at first to put more chocolate than blood, but at the first taste, it was more of champoradolike, so I added more blood.  Which after time, I did get the consistency and taste that I desired.  My ratio was 3:1 , more on the blood side.  What made it really like blood stew was the evident taste of the vinegar prior to adding the reds.  At least for me, I didn't really have that much of the rustic taste of blood because of the bitter chocolate that I incorporated.

After  cooking my first dinuguan, I procrastinated in taking pictures since I just wanted to enjoy my lazy day.  No sooner than I could think of, friends dropped by for some friendly chatter and my dinuguan soon vanished, leaving me with no pictures but the semi- mis en place of my dish.

Rocco di Spirrito said that before making it in print, he had to test his recipes 15 times, and every time he does, it comes out different.  Well, I'm 14 recipes short, but in due time, I will come up with my own version of the blood stew.....abangan!!!!!