My google analytics data only goes back a year or so… so when I recently ran a query on the top 10 most visited posts, I got the following list. The blog is nearly 3 years old, so there are probably MANY posts in the first two years that would have qualified for one of these top positions. At any rate, many readers might benefit from this list…
1. Top 10 Pinoy Dishes… this topping the list is a no-brainer, as is the post that asked people for their favorites.
2. Inasal na Manok… geez, can’t figure why this would be so high on the list, but if you google it, my post comes out as the first item.
3. Pork Tocino
4. Top 10 Pinoy Desserts, another no-brainer, as well as the earlier post asking folks for their votes.
5. Leche flan
6. Sisig, another google assisted popular choice, google the word “Sisig” and marketmanila is ranked second after Wikipedia
7. Ensaimada, please try and make this the 1950’s way… too many folks think the cakey undercooked and airy versions in the malls and bazaars today is the ideal ensaimada…yikes! And for some history, read this pre-amble by my sister…
8. Philippine Fruit Index, which links a reader to many of the previous fruit posts on Marketmanila.
9. Where Can I Find/Buy? Obviously, a lot of readers are having problems finding ingredients in Manila…
10. Baking Ingredients 101, a good post if you are planning to bake a lot this holiday season, check out the comments for tips on where to find stuff.
16 Responses
Hi Marketman! Your blog is just great! I only recently discovered it after reading the feature in Yummy Magazine. Since then, I’ve been trying to catch up, reading your posts from the beginning. Thanks for sharing your passion for food!
hi marketman! i’ll try hard not to sound too much of a market manila junkie. :D i’ve been lurking for quite some time now. and i have to say, your site has become a sort of on-line cooking bible. i can’t wait to try your leche flan recipe, which makes use of organic eggs and carabao’s milk. i just hope the asian store where we shop here in texas has carabao’s milk!
do keep on posting such enjoyable reads! :D
I just checked out the posts above, and they were great! A wealth of information from very generous readers too…I like the links to #9 and #10..although product availability is very unpredictable, it’s nice to know that some ingredients are actually available locally…a very interesting read!
hi marketman,
how about “Top 10 Merienda”, “Top 10 Pinoy Brekkie (Almusal)” or “Top 10 Pinoy Midnight Snack”?
if you haven’t yet, how about writing about the ubiquitous coconut? Coconut would be so interesting to read about. There are so many uses and by-products.
thanks!
I’m new to your blog and have missed many recipes. I think this has been the most fun I have ever had in recipe research. First it is Pinoy, and then there are so many choices! I am at a loss what to choose and they all sound (smell) so good! Thanks.
Thank you for calling everyone’s attention once again to the ample resources just lying in wait in your archives that are within anyone’s easy reach. The ensaimada entry alone is well worth rereading and mulling over many times over even if for just what has befallen many of our specialties (rampant commercialization through indiscriminate corner-cutting). Look what has happened to pandesal.
The tocino post comments shows how a harried visitor to this blog can read and yet not read into what’s written. I noticed too the repeated recipe requests was beginning to grate on your nerves. One recipe request that particularly galled me was asked by somebody who wants to go into business. I thought you have to have a specialty that you want to share with the world first before you go into business selling ‘em.
And lastly, you referred to the Wikipedia sisig entry which I looked up and found informative enough and linked to an authoritative Kapampangan Cuisine blog, Karen’s Pilgrim’s Pots and Pans. Last year, when I checked out some of the ready entries of Filipino Cooking in Wikipedia, I found a lot of them begging more questions that they answered, poorly written and pitifully misleading if not out and out wrong. Since this blog attracts many accomplished aficionados of Filipino Food, perhaps we can rally them to contribute their take on their favorite specialties to raise the quality of information that the rest of the world needs to find about Philippine Cookery in Wikipedia.
Apicio,I’m with you on this,I don’t know why some people are so thick? I wish people would read the post before they comment or ask.
MM,many thanks for all your help and very entertaining and informative posts!
MM I have tried several of your recipes the leche flan and ensaimada took me back decades from when my lola used to make them. Whenever I feel like cooking I look up recipes from your archives first. I agree with Munchkinmommy, your blog has also become my on-line cooking bible. Thanks for making life much easier and yummier.
Apicio, I have been lurking on The Pilgrims Pots and Pans, was it your Gulgoria Recipe featured a few months back? Looks difficult but I will try it one day. Tried her Pesang Bangus too, really good.
I love leche plan so much.
I just had lunch in Manila Walk somewhere in Los Angeles and was not pleased with the Filipino food they served. I was hoping they are serving leche plan but at least they have turon, adobo, menudo, daing na bangus, lechong kawali, pritong tilapia, guinataang langka, pinakbet, dinuguan, sinigang and more Its a turo turo. The presentation could have been better except that they are using styrofoam and plastic spoon and fork.
There are empty boxes behind the counter hence it looked so cheap, tacky and not presentable. Why can’t we not create a very festive and artful Filipino restaurant whether it is a turo turo or not. The place looked so cheap.
I’ve been to many Chinese, Thai and other international restaurants and indeed they always have authentic ambiance and excellent food presentation. I find Bibingkahan more pleasing than other Filipino restaurants but still most of our restaurants in LA are using plastic cutleries and styrofoam plates and drinking cups.
Many times, I’ve had lunch in Manila Walk, Manila Sunshine and Manila’s Lechon situated in Carson and LA vicinity and they don’t have the right ambiance.
I had lunch in Conching’s Restaurant in National City, Ca. They have fantastic food. Good quality and the right portion but as always cheap styrofoam and plastics are in use. Their halo halo, banana cue and main courses are the best in the region but I wish they can do more.
I’ve had lunch in Barcelona in a secluded Filipino restaurant and as usual its not up to standard.
When can we improve our Filipino restaurant abroad?
Tama na ba iyong kumita na lang ng basta basta without dreaming of making it big?
Hi MM! I have been reading your blog almost daily for a year now. I have read a lot of the earlier articles but not all. May I suggest creating an index of all your recipes and all the fruits and vegetables that you have featured? Of course, the “Categories” on the sidebar, the “Search” facility and the “Archives” section are very useful. There are times, however, when it is just nice to have an alphabetical list to look at and to chose from.
I get a lot of hits from my chicken inasal post too. It’s always top of the list…
mita, yes, a lot of folks must want to make this at home… ECC, with 1,300 entries, it is getting hard to find what one needs… I have so many techy issues now, sitting down and indexing everything would be tough right now… however, I find that if you type in a topic into google, together with marketmanila, it is a great way to go through my posts… danney, the whole pinoy restaurant issue abroad is a loaded topic… I too, wonder why the quality can’t be improved but I suspect there are some stars in certain cities… Epi, Karen of Pilgrims Pots and Pans was a huge help to me when I first started this blog, I miss her more frequent entries but I understand she is busy with public service… jimbo, hahaha, you and Apicio have obviously read some of my more DIRECT comments, annoyed, even. Apicio, I agree about Wikipedia’s sometimes incomplete entries on our food, I hope we can improve some of these entries… John, the archives have a lot in store, my current tech problems are bogging down my blog and limiting my time in the kitchen! dee bee, I do have a few posts on coconut, and how to make coconut milk from scratch, and enjoying a fresh coconut. elaine, there’s lots more in the archives! munchkinmommy, I know there is a place near Vancouver than bottles and sells water buffalo milk, they probably ship elsewhere in North America. However, if you don’t find it, use good whole milk and organic eggs. There will be a slight loss of flavor authenticity but it will still be a good leche flan. Ange, you are welcome!
Now that explains why Karens last post was May of this year.
I substituted table cream when I tested the flan recipe and the result was impressive both taste and texture-wise. The table cream is a good replacement because it supplies the rich taste and mouthfeel of water buffalo milk one is looking for. Eggyolks of free-range chickens also makes a marked difference.
hello there, does anyone know where to buy thick styrofoam?
Blame it on Judy Ann. The hits on inasal na manok probably came from those who watch her soap on ABS-CBN.