Batchoy
Encyclopedia
Batchoy is a noodle soup
made with pork
organs, crushed pork cracklings
, shrimp
, vegetable
s, chicken
stock
, chicken breast, beef
loin and round noodle
s. Its origins can be traced to the district of La Paz, Iloilo City
in the Philippines
, hence it is oftentimes referred to as La Paz Batchoy.
organs (liver, spleen, kidneys and heart) crushed pork cracklings
, vegetables, shrimp
, beef
loin, shrimp broth, chicken stock and round noodles or miki. The noodles are similar to spaghetti
, but are generally a bit finer.
Oil is heated in a stock-pot. The pork organs, shrimp, chicken and beef are stir-fried for about a minute. Soy sauce
is then added. The shrimp is then added and left to simmer for a few minutes. This broth is then added to a bowl of noodles and topped with leeks, pork cracklings (chicharon) and sometimes a raw egg is cracked on top.
eat the soup using spoon and fork, although it may undoubtedly be eaten using chopsticks
as well. The solid ingredients (noodles and meat) are generally consumed first, the liquid broth rounds out the meal. Diners are encouraged to ask for a second, third, or even a fourth helping of kaldo (Hiligaynon
, "broth").
Noodle soup
Noodle soup refers to a variety of soups with noodles and other ingredients served in a light broth. Noodle soup is an East and Southeast Asian staple. Less well known, a form of fresh noodle is used in soup in certain parts of Europe , and in northern China; usually, it is served for breakfast...
made with pork
Pork
Pork is the culinary name for meat from the domestic pig , which is eaten in many countries. It is one of the most commonly consumed meats worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BC....
organs, crushed pork cracklings
Pork rind
Pork rind , is the fried or roasted skin of a pig. Frying melts most of the fat from the pork rind...
, shrimp
Shrimp
Shrimp are swimming, decapod crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water. Adult shrimp are filter feeding benthic animals living close to the bottom. They can live in schools and can swim rapidly backwards. Shrimp are an important...
, vegetable
Vegetable
The noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....
s, chicken
Chicken
The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...
stock
Stock (food)
Stock is a flavoured water preparation. It forms the basis of many dishes, particularly soups and sauces.- Preparation :Stock is made by simmering various ingredients in water, including some or all of the following...
, chicken breast, beef
Beef
Beef is the culinary name for meat from bovines, especially domestic cattle. Beef can be harvested from cows, bulls, heifers or steers. It is one of the principal meats used in the cuisine of the Middle East , Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Europe and the United States, and is also important in...
loin and round noodle
Noodle
The noodle is a type of food, made from any of a variety of doughs, formed into long thin ribbons, strips, curly-cues, waves, helices, pipes, tubes, strings, or other various shapes, sometimes folded. They are usually cooked in a mixture of boiling water and/or oil. Depending upon the type, noodles...
s. Its origins can be traced to the district of La Paz, Iloilo City
La Paz, Iloilo City
La Paz is one of the seven districts of Iloilo City, in the Philippine, on the island of Panay, in Western Visayas. It was formerly known as "Ilawod" or "sea/wet land" together with Jaro which was referred to as "Ilaya" or "mountain/dry land"....
in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, hence it is oftentimes referred to as La Paz Batchoy.
Origin
Batchoy's true origin is inconclusive. Documented accounts include the following:- The dish was concocted in the La Paz market in 1938 by Federico Guillergan, Sr. His recipe called for a mixture of broth, noodles, beef and pork. The soup later evolved into its present form which has become Iloilo CityIloilo CityThe City of Iloilo is a highly urbanized city in the Philippines and the capital city of Iloilo province. It is the regional center of the Western Visayas, as well as the center of the Iloilo-Guimaras Metropolitan Area...
's most popular dish. Federico Guillergan, Jr., the son of the soup's inventor, states that his father at first jokingly called the dish "bats" when asked for its name. Later, he added "choy", from the vegetable dish chop sueyChop sueyChop suey is a Chinese dish consisting of meat and eggs, cooked quickly with vegetables such as bean sprouts, cabbage, and celery and bound in a starch-thickened sauce...
.
- Teodorico Lepura opened his first batchoy shop at the La Paz public market in 1945. Run by Lepura, his wife and their children, the shop sold the original La Paz batchoy at that time priced at 20 centavos per bowl. In the 1930's, as a teenager, Lepura learned the basics of making La Paz batchoy while working for a Chinese merchant, and eventually concocted his own version of the dish.
- Other sources state that the dish originated from the Chinese community in La Paz.
Preparation
Ingredients include porkPork
Pork is the culinary name for meat from the domestic pig , which is eaten in many countries. It is one of the most commonly consumed meats worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BC....
organs (liver, spleen, kidneys and heart) crushed pork cracklings
Pork rind
Pork rind , is the fried or roasted skin of a pig. Frying melts most of the fat from the pork rind...
, vegetables, shrimp
Shrimp
Shrimp are swimming, decapod crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water. Adult shrimp are filter feeding benthic animals living close to the bottom. They can live in schools and can swim rapidly backwards. Shrimp are an important...
, beef
Beef
Beef is the culinary name for meat from bovines, especially domestic cattle. Beef can be harvested from cows, bulls, heifers or steers. It is one of the principal meats used in the cuisine of the Middle East , Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Europe and the United States, and is also important in...
loin, shrimp broth, chicken stock and round noodles or miki. The noodles are similar to spaghetti
Spaghetti
Spaghetti is a long, thin, cylindrical pasta of Italian origin. Spaghetti is made of semolina or flour and water. Italian dried spaghetti is made from durum wheat semolina, but outside of Italy it may be made with other kinds of flour...
, but are generally a bit finer.
Oil is heated in a stock-pot. The pork organs, shrimp, chicken and beef are stir-fried for about a minute. Soy sauce
Soy sauce
Soy sauce is a condiment produced by fermenting soybeans with Aspergillus oryzae or Aspergillus sojae molds, along with water and salt...
is then added. The shrimp is then added and left to simmer for a few minutes. This broth is then added to a bowl of noodles and topped with leeks, pork cracklings (chicharon) and sometimes a raw egg is cracked on top.
Eating
Most FilipinosFilipino people
The Filipino people or Filipinos are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the islands of the Philippines. There are about 92 million Filipinos in the Philippines, and about 11 million living outside the Philippines ....
eat the soup using spoon and fork, although it may undoubtedly be eaten using chopsticks
Chopsticks
Chopsticks are small, often tapered, sticks used in pairs of equal length as the traditional eating utensils of China and its diaspora, Japan, Korea, Vietnam and Northern provinces of Laos, Thailand and Burma. Generally believed to have originated in ancient China, they can also be found in some...
as well. The solid ingredients (noodles and meat) are generally consumed first, the liquid broth rounds out the meal. Diners are encouraged to ask for a second, third, or even a fourth helping of kaldo (Hiligaynon
Hiligaynon language
Hiligaynon, often referred to as Ilonggo, is an Austronesian language spoken in the Western Visayas region of the Philippines.Hiligaynon is concentrated in the provinces of Iloilo, Negros Occidental and Capiz but is also spoken in the other provinces of the Panay Island group, including Antique,...
, "broth").