Erwin is ISKAndals.com’s regular contributor. A Credit and Financial Analyst in Manila, Erwin migrated to Canada in 2003 and made a drastic career change a year and a half later. With his passion for food and love for cooking, he took a Continuing Education Chef Training Course at George Brown College’s Chef School in Toronto. Don’t miss his other beautiful musings on food.

This beautiful entry was written by Erwin for ISKAndals.com more than a year ago but only published today. I was on a very long hiatus, sorry guys! Pero sabi nga nila, huli man at magaling… huli pa din! I am sharing this for Food Friday and Food Trip Friday. – Iska

H (a) I!

I had several hours to kill before proceeding to my second, and not exactly, pleasant job. It is during this quiet time in the food court that I plan and think what’s next in my totally repetitive and routinary kitchen work life. I kept telling myself that I am doing this to buy stuff for myself, which I had foregone in years and the future. I just had to work my ass out, but that’s an entirely different story. I’m not exactly enthusiastic about doing two jobs, but during this selfish and meaningless period of thought and endless wondering, I discovered a food or dish that I had eaten so much during my university years in Manila.

In the food court was several food choices: Vietnamese, Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Canadian Brunch, Mexican Burritos and definitely, as always, McDonalds. To perk me up a bit, I would buy a cup of coffee and a muffin before going to the grind of this weekly routine of mine, and observe the ‘cooks’ prepare their fast food. From these choices, I was mesmerized by the Japanese Homestyle Food prepared by a Japanese or maybe a Korean family just across from where usually I sat. One of the ladies was blending white loaf into the food processor churning it into fresh breadcrumbs, and maybe, the father was slicing tons chicken breasts into bite size pieces. I observed their mise en place three times a week and was intrigued by it.

At this period, I was also drinking Sake basically to put me down to sleep after a very tiring day of working doubles and thinking when my next day-off would come. From the day’s observance in the food court and from the kick from Sake I drank the night after gave birth to the thought of making Oyakudon.

Yes, fellows, Oyakudon, Gyudon and Tonkatsu were the main food I ate at ‘The Aristocrat’ during my university years; mostly Gyudon though. Initially, Oyakudon for me was a very complex dish, but when I checked out the ingredients on-line and in the bookstore, I realized that it was just basically poaching chicken, onions, and battered eggs over Japanese stock.

Equal Parts: Poaching liquid
Sake
Soy Sauce
Dash of Dashi (diluted in water)
Mirin
Salt/Pepper to taste
Sugar

The Main:
1 Chicken Breast
1 to ½ Slice White Onions
2-3 well beaten eggs
Finely chopped Scallions
Steamed Rice/Japanese Rice

Optional Ingredients: Garnish
Preserved, Pickled Ginger (in bottles)
Sliced Cucumber/ Grated Carrots

In a sauté pan, heat the pan at low to mid until the poaching liquid simmers.

Add the onions and wait until they become aromatic.

Add the chicken slices, turn up the heat a little, and wait until the chicken slices cook; turning them on all sides.

Beat the eggs with scallions and about ¾ of the leftover white onions, and slowly add the beaten eggs into the sauté pan.

Lower the heat, and cover for a few minutes, making sure the eggs and chicken are cooked.


Serve over hot steaming rice.

Erwin

When I was growing up, my parents and I used to eat out and try different restaurants after celebrating the Sunday Mass. Moreover, during the course of the summer break, I had the opportunity to see some places which, when looking back, I had never realized how lucky I was as a teen to be able to travel. My family and I went to Europe and some parts of the United States, and what I saw along that path of my life inspired me to become a 'Chef.' The 'whites' they wore for me, during those growing-up and finding 'myself' years, portrayed a sort of fascinating and powerful figure in an extremely sophisticated, higly inviting and invigorating work place; and still maintain an unblemished and clean uniform after a very busy service. That picture of a 'Chef' stuck to my head for so many years.

True enough, with meager resources left to spend for the youngest, that dream never happened. Life went on. I went to university and studied an insignificant course, Business Management, and after graduating, I ended up working as a Credit and Financial Analyst in the banking industry in Manila; slugging it out in the corporate arena in Makati. It was the first taste of being called a 'yuppie' and was almost always looking forward to an after-office eating and drinking extravaganza in the expanding and growing Makati Business District; and, of course, the weekend.

Anyway, forging ahead to my life today, that dream as 'Chef' stayed in the back of my mind all the time that when I left the Philippines for Toronto in 2003; and after finally settling down on my own in 2005, I had started studying Professional Culinary Arts Courses in the City College to get that almost long-forgotten 'dream' going again. It was a Continuing Education Course, and more or less, students who have also shifted careers or who were trying to find work (like myself) as a newly landed found ourselves working with pots, knives and fire which I believe and I felt, everyone in class have never, ever touched during their past, professional lives.

Since then, I have been working in and out of different kitchens; flipping eggs and hamburgers, grilling steaks, shoving bread and chicken in a 500'C oven, and almost anything that can be either deep-fried or toasted just to serve hungry, sometimes pesky, customers. I became a 'grease' cook; a short-order cook with no definite place of employment, and definitely not a 'Chef.'

My articles are based on the after-thoughts of my past and present day experiences in this fast-paced, starkling, and sometimes disheveling kitchen environment. I never imagined that a kitchen 'worklife' turned that way as against the 'Ideal' environment I had thought about for years. No regrets. During this journey, I've discovered food which I've never thought I'd be able to taste. I learned to appreciate wine and travel more; now that I have understood the culture of food to society. That was non-existent when I was growing up.

This journey has not ended. I'm still discovering and still learning. It's a tough industry to be in and for what's next or for where I'll finally end up in remain a sordid mystery.