Linagpang: A Grilled Soup
/(Second prize winner of the 2023 Doreen Gamboa Fernandez (DGF) Food Writing Award, now on its 21st year.)
Grilling goes by different names throughout the Philippines: Inihaw, in the National Language; ineyew, the Rinconada dialect of Bikol but inasal in standard Bikol, a name shared in Hiligaynon; sinugba to the Cebuano; and tinuno to the Ilocano. That’s according to Datu Shariff Pendatun in his essay for the book Table for Ten: Asean Shared Food Traditions (Studio 5 Designs for the Department of Foreign Affairs, 2021). In the same essay, Pendatun traced our written roasting tradition to the roasted fish with ginger served “by native lord Rajah Colambu for his guest Antonio Pigafetta, an Italian companion of Ferdinand Magellan.”
Three centuries later, “on the 29th of September 1898, at the dinner celebrating the ratification of the proclamation of the independence of the Philippines in Malolos, chapon doré or roast capon with a bread, mushroom, and pork sausage stuffing was served as the rôti or roast course of the meal.” - Francis Dave Lacson Selorio’s essay, “Long Live Sinalay,” won Honorable Mention in the 2021 DGF Food Writing Award.)
Linagpang nga Isda (Source: Tam’s Family Mix Channel | Youtube)
In Mambusao, Capiz, my hometown, my elder sister and I would be left home on Sundays, while Mama and Papa ran errands. We would play in the streets at dusk until Tatay Palok, our maternal grandfather, would arrive from his rice fields with a string of freshwater fish such as puyo (Anabas testudineus) 1 and gourami (Trichopodus trichopterus) 2 or whatever his fish trap caught.
Tay Palok would turn his analog radio on. While waiting for his favorite Sunday composo (musical ballad) program, he would light charcoal briquettes atop the soot-black parilla (steel grate) using dried coconut leaves as tinder. As the coals go aflame, he would clean and gut the fish, skewer them with bamboo sticks, and grill them. While they are still smoking hot, he would skin and debone them until all that’s left are pearly opaque fillets. He would then toss these fillets in a bowl of chopped red onions, tomatoes, kutitot (chili, Capsicum frutescens) 3, and sibuyas dahon (spring onion) and season those with rock salt, a pinch of vetsin (monosodium glutamate), and a few squeezes of calamansi juice. And just as the dinner table is set, Tay Palok would reach for the thermos and pour hot water over the heartiest grilled soup of my childhood—linagpang nga isda.
Chef Francis Dave Lacson Selorio
Though ‘lagpang’ refers to our local way of marinating meat or fish, its meaning evolved into a more elaborate grilling of fish or chicken as primarily proteins, shredding them, and turning them into soup. Just like adobo, linagpang varies regionally. In Iloilo, dumaraga nga manok (free-range chicken) is boiled with the addition of ginger and guinamos (shrimp paste). Negrenses use batwan (souring fruit) and grill all the vegetables. In Cebu and Bohol, as eternalized by Max Surban in his folk song, they use turagsoy (snake fish) or haluan in Mindoro. While linagpang is mainly a Visayan flair, cooks in the provinces of Quezon and Aurora grace leftover grilled matambaka (bigeye scad) a second life with this preparation.
Ever since we learned to tame wildfire 2.6 million years ago, grilling has been a natural instinct. It started as a means of improving the digestibility of food, then became a way of preservation, and eventually became a flavor booster when we discovered that smoking can improve anything.
Grilling is a universal language. It’s our mother tongue in cooking; something we have always understood. It’s a sensual act, each ingredient a lover. Grilling is soft. It kisses, caresses, tames, and brushes. At the same time, it’s also primal, animalistic. It’s dangerous. It smokes, smolders, flames, burns, and kills. You, fire, and the ingredient—a ménage à trois.
It is said in Science and Cooking by David Weitz, Michael Brenner, and Pia M. Sörensen (WWW. Norton and Company, 2020)5 that being curious and asking the right questions to deconstruct a complex process, like grilling, is at the heart of science and the scientific method. Hence, reminiscent of those Sunday dinners with Tatay Palok, I recreated his linagpang with a more scientific approach to grilling and somehow understood both its simplicity and complexity. Why would one go through the trouble of grilling the fish before making a soup?
Grilling is a universal language. It’s our mother tongue in cooking; something we have always understood. It’s a sensual act, each ingredient a lover.
I started by burning mango wood until they’re ashy embers. Not having the freshwater fish of yesteryears, I placed the tilapia over the coals—center-stage, locked in. There’s no moving at this point—respect the first kiss, they say—and the magic begins. Instantaneously, a group of biopolymers called lignin in the mango wood breaks down into aromatic particles. As the tilapia heats up, drippings start to form. These drippings kiss the coals and create a hot smoke, brushing the fish with more delicious flavor-filled molecules. As the flesh approaches the internal temperature of 40°C, protein denaturation sets in. The fish muscles arranged in sheets and separated by a thin band of connective tissues, coagulate and turn into delicate flakes, giving linagpang a sensual mouthfeel and a sweet finish. A minute over, however, and the proteins are pulled together; the flesh is denser, and all the water molecules are squeezed out. 6 The fish becomes dry and grainy. Worse, with much disrespect to the fish, it burns. Grilling is unforgiving, but when done with intent by the likes of Tatay Palok, it becomes an alchemy that develops, deepens, and intensifies the flavors of anything it touches. It’s a symphony of magical wonders happening all at the same time.
Telltales will say that freshwater fish are too “fishy” or “gamey” to be prepared as is, hence, the grilling. Nevertheless, whoever discovered this culinary breakthrough is nothing short of genius because were it not for the distinctive smokiness this method yields, Tatay Palok’s linagpang nga isda could’ve been just another regional variation of sinigang.
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1) Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2019). "Anabas testudineus" in FishBase. August 2019 version, https://fishbase.mnhn.fr/summary/Anabas-testudineus.htm
2) Froese, R. and D. Pauly. (eds.) (2024). "Trichopodus trichopterus" in FishBase, https://fishbase.mnhn.fr/country/countryspeciessummary.php?Country=Philippines&genusname=Trichopo dus&speciesname=trichopterus
3) DeWitt, D.; Bosland, P.W. (2009). The Complete Chile Pepper Book: A Gardener's Guide to Choosing, Growing, Preserving, and Cooking
4) Polistico, E. (2016). Philippine Food, Cooking, and Dining Dictionary (p. 554)
5) Brenner et al.(2020). Science and Cooking: Physics Meets Food, From Homemade to Haute Cuisine (p.34)
6) Farrimond, S. (2017). The Science of Cooking. New York: DK Publishing (p.44-45, 66-67, 82-83)
Francis David Lacson Selorio is a chef who also finds time to write stories about food. He is sous chef at Francesco’s and Café Mabini in San Juan, Metro Manila and is also owner of Crypto Café which has outlets in Roxas City and Iloilo. He’s also head chef in research and development for the commissary of Ace Prime Holdings in Iloilo.
