Adobong pusa or cat adobo

Do you know that even cats are eaten by people in the Philippines? They cook it in adobo style, sautéed with garlic, onion and laurel leaf seasoned with soy sauce and vinegar. This is a favorite appetizer during their drinking spree.

Adobo/ prito o litsong daga or adobo/ fried or roasted rat

Rats from the rice paddies are also eaten. They would skin them, cut the head, the tail, and the legs then all internal organs are removed. Actually these rodents are clean because they only feed on rice. Cooking is done the adobo way deep fried. It can also be roasted like chicken.

Kilawing bunog (raw young of a mudfish)

These are eaten raw spiced up with vinegar or citrus juice, pepper, and salt.

Kilawing bunog

Adobo o pritong palaka (adobo or fried frogs)

Frogs can be cooked in adobo style or deep fried. It's tastier than chicken. There are also some people in the Philippines that eat legs of bullfrogs cooked in the same manner.

deep fried frogs adobo style

Adobong ahas (snake adobo)

This is cooked in adobo style. Snake is commonly eaten in Asia because of its medicinal value. It's also a good aphrodisiac.

Snakes/ snake adobo

Adobong bayawak/itlog (monitor lizard meat/eggs)

It is sautéed in garlic and onion, ginger and laurel leaf with pepper, soy sauce, and vinegar or more popularly called adobo. This is perfect for “pulutan” (food appetizer while drinking wine or liquor). The eggs are usually cook by simply boiling it, it taste salty and delicious. Their eggs are considered exotic because it's rare and hard to find.

Lizard adobo / a lizard/ lizard's egg

Prito o sinangag na salagubang (fried beetle)

This is common among provinces where mango trees abound where beetles usually thrive. It's crunchy like its grasshopper counterpart.

A beetle fried beetle

Adobong paniki (bat adobo)

Cooked in adobo style or cooked in coconut milk.

A bat

Kilawing aso o kambing (Raw meat of goat or dog)

Raw meat spiced up with chopped onions, pepper and salt. Others would grill it medium rare first. A kilawing kambing (raw goat meat) become more bizarre when added up with fresh liquid extracted and drained from the stomach or intestine of the goat.

kilawing kambing

Sinangag o adobong susuhong/camaro/ararawan (adobo or fried mole crickets)

This is a kind of edible insect usually found in the rice fields before planting season. It is sautéed in garlic, onion, and olive oil or cooked by simply frying it.

A mole cricket / fried camaro/ dried adobo/

Sinangag o adobong tipaklong o balang (fried or adobo grasshopper or locust)

They are cooked just like the way mole crickets are cooked.

A grasshopper / Fried grasshopper / Adobo

Ginataang kuhol (Snail cooked in coconut milk)

There are varieties of snails being cooked and eaten in the Philippines. Only two are being shown here. Ginataang kuhol or suso is sautéed with garlic, onion, ginger and pepper plus coconut milk. There are also other ways of cooking these snails.

A Golden snail (kuhol)/ Ginatang Kuhol

This kind of snail (suso) is sautéed w/ fresh tomato. I cooked and photographed this one myself.

Papaitan (came from the Filipino root word, “pait” which means “bitter”)

This is consists mostly of goat or cow innards. This is sautéed in garlic and onions (ginger is optional). The bitter taste is from the bile or stocked produced from the stomach of the goat or cow. This is also a delicacy for us but exotic for others.

A pinapaitan

Dinuguan (dog meat or pork blood stew)

It is a common delicacy here in the Philippines like the balut. Yes, vampires and mortals alike may find this viand so tempting. It is a combination of pork/dog meat and innards stewed to perfection with pork blood (“dinuguan” means “bloodied”). It is best eaten with a puto (steamed rice cake). When it is cooked dried it is called tinumis or pinaputok. A variant of dinuguan cooked by the Ibanags in the Northern part of the country is what I considered exotic, the cooked dinuguan is added up with fresh blood before serving it. Bizarre isn't it?

Tinumis / Dinuguan w/ puto

Balut

This is a 2 to 3 week-old hatched duck egg (with embryo), which is hard- boiled. It can be spiced up with salt, vinegar w/ diced garlic and onion, and chili.

A balut

Jumping salad (Shrimps jumping salad)

It is called jumping salad because the shrimps are prepared alive and eaten alive. Spiced up with citrus juice or grated unripe mango, salt and msg. as easy as that.

Prito o ginisang tateg (fried/sautéed huge worms)

This one is what I consider the most bizarre of them all. These worms can be found on rotten trees or rotten stack of rice hays. They are usually cooked by deep frying it. It can also be sautéed with garlic, onion, tomato and pepper. I haven't tasted this one yet.

The process of cheese making is basically the same no matter where you go. It is very simple and can even be tried at home if you are feeling adventurous.

Each country has it's own particular types of cheese and the names vary. Here is a small selection of the more interesting UK produced ones.

1. Buffalo

   This is a fairly recent addition to the UK market. It was first produced in 1996 and has a mild flavor with a touch of almonds. It is hard and made with unpasteurized buffalo milk.

2. Cornish Pepper

   This is a rich, creamy cheese which is liberally sprinkled with cracked peppercorns. It takes about five weeks to make and is soft and moist in texture.

3. Exmoor Blue

   This blue cheese is made from ewe and goat's milk. It is strong tasting and suitable for vegetarians and compares well to other blue veined Stilton type cheeses.

4. Gospel Green

   This is a hard, Cheddar type cheese made from cow's milk. It is unpasteurized and has a slight aroma of apples.

5. Stinking Bishop

   This hard cheese is made from cow's milk. It is washed in an alcoholic drink called "Stinking Bishop" which is made from pears. It has a very strong, ripe flavor and smell.

6. Tymsboro

   This soft cheese is made from goat's milk. The natural rind is dusted with black ash and covered in a light, white mould. It has a light after taste of lemon.