Batangas Bulalo Cook-Off

To kick-off another loong weekend yet adventurous escapade, have a chance to witness bulalo cook-off here in not sooo far south – Batangas City.

Spearheaded by SM Hypermarket, the gastronomic aroma of the whole area was filled with delicious yet sumptuous servings of bulalo.

Bulalo is eversince one of the specialty food in Batangas aside from Kapeng Barako and Special Lomi.  Its simplicity to boil the beef bones slowly over low heat brings out the flavor of the meat, and keeps it very tender.  What makes it delectable if the fresh cattle came from Batangas.

Glad to know that SM Hypermarket Batangas holds the Bulalo Supersized Cook-Off  in an attempt to bring together foodies/resto owners to showcase their bulalo cooking. What more, this will be serve up the largest amount of the delicious soup ever to be made in one area at one time.  Two winners will  each get P 25,000.00 worth of SM gift certificates and a plaque of recognition.

This is also my first time to see several versions of bulalo dishes aside from the traditional beef bones in soup and vegetables.  From garlic chammy, kaldereta, sweet style, sizzling mushroom and even simple bulalo without its soup.

Aside from the showcase dish, each team was bound to prepare numerous bowls of serving. The minimum that they can prepare is 50 bowls weighing 100 grams each.

All the members of the team were very participative and alert while I was enjoying watching each of them as they beat the time given for the arrangements.

Declared winners were La Elegancia team for the best tasting and Lutong Bahay for the most numbered bulalo served.

Reason? Still the judges chose the most classic, artistic and traditional way in presenting the bulalo meal – tasty soup with lot of healthy colorful vegetables around topped with crispy garlic. For the most numbered, 166 bowls of bulalo to be exact. Whoow!

As the contest was finished, we feast out with the different taste of bulalo going from one table to another table. We also compared yet enjoy steaming bowl of its palatable yet luscious kick of what a Batangas bulalo is. Overall, I really enjoyed the whole involvement even just a bystander. What more, I gained friends from the resto owners themselves and definitely will visit their place.

My congratulations to SM Hypermarket for spearheading this kind of cooking activities – from cooking demo, cooking contest and kitchen makeover giving an extra-ordinary shopping experience.

For more information, visit :

SM Hypermart Facebook Link  – http://www.facebook.com/pages/SM-Hypermarket/123059457294