Bicolanos are known for their "gata" or coconut milk-based cuisine. Most of their food stuff are either cooked in coconut milk or laced with coconut meat.
But there is one known dish that does not have a tinge of coconut and can only be found in Baao, Camarines Sur - the tinuktok. Tinuktok is actually a soup but typically served as main dish for most Baaeno tables. It should not be mistaken as another name for pinangat. That famous pinangat is totally different from the tinuktok of Baao. Pinangat is boiled in coconut milk until it became creamy and saucy; it is wrapped with taro leaves.
Tinuktok is relatively similar to the sinigang of the Tagalog Region. However, there are some twist in it. Instead of whole or sliced fish, tinuktok is made of finely chopped fish, shrimp or crab meat rolled into balls and stewed into water together with the other ingredients - ginger, onion, garlic and natural flavorings -fish sauce or rock salt - that made up the sinigang. It is mixed with leafy vegetables like kangkong or camote leaves and banana blossoms that are usually found in sinigang. Another slant is, instead of the usual tamarind, the Baaenos put what they called libas leaves (from libas tree) for the soury flavor. Calamansi juice can also be used as alternative to libas leaves. Authentic tinuktok does not use artificial flavorings.
Anecdotes of the dish traces its root during the Japanese Occupation when food were scarce. Fish catch usually end up to the hands of the Japanese soldiers. To hide away from the prying eyes of the Imperial Army, the fisherfolks had to chop the fish into pieces and sneaked away from checkpoints. It evolved into balls to confused the soldiers and used as supply to feed batteries of Filipino guerillas.
A number of eateries and food stalls are offering tinutok. Most of them are located in Baao marketplace. Itinerant vendors also offer tinuktok during night market. But, if you want a taste of authentic, special tinuktok, Kabies Catering Services is a place to go - accepting made-to-order tinuktok according to your preference. It is located in Brgy. San Nicolas, Baao.
When in Baao, you might get confused when you heard "sig-ang" or "magsig-ang". In Rinconada (local dialect) magsig-ang meas "to cook rice". It has nothing to do with the sinigang of the Tagalog.
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