Sandy’s Handy Cookbook
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Cooking with Sandy Daza
Cooking with Sandy Daza is today’s kitchen must. It follows much of the same principles the author’s mom, Nora Daza, used in her legendary cookbook Let’s Cook with Nora. The recipes are for food we all know or are familiar with, but their ingredients and cooking processes take us to higher expectations and appreciation for common food.
Take rellenong talong (stuffed eggplant). We all know to use ground pork, garlic, onions, and tomatoes; but Sandy adds a cup of cheddar cheese with the eggs to give the dish an interesting, sharp taste. For yet another twist, he suggests sardines in tomato sauce in place of ground pork that would offer a totally unexpected oily, fish taste that go quite well with the somewhat bitter taste of eggplant.
I checked out his recipe for fried chicken. Goodness, every cook has a special way of making this universal favorite from simply sprinkling chicken pieces with garlic to smothering them in batter. I found I like Sandy’s version best. Rub salt and pepper all over the chicken, steam for 25 minutes, let cool then rub patis or fish sauce on the pieces before deep frying. Yum!
It is the simple things like adding or replacing ingredients that make the cookbook valuable to both kitchen beginners and veterans. Being a novice cook, every recipe was to me very interesting and informative.
Going through the book, for instance, I stopped at the recipe for Bacolod chicken inasal. I had seen Sandy having inasal in Bacolod on his TV show “Food Prints” and watched him bite into this skewered dish with gusto. Expectedly he said, “Ang sarap!” (Delicious) but I knew in his mind he was thinking of ways to make it even better. I was right. In his cookbook he added ¼ cup of Star Magarine to the basting mixture. I remember Star to be a salty and somewhat greasy margarine that is used for making the traditional Philippine polvoron. It is this cream that gives the pastry a sharp taste that butter or other margarine cannot rival. Used in inasal, let your imagination flow. Remember this is the son Nora was said to have ascribed a perfect pitch for food taste.
Sandy's production team at a location shooting in Laiya, Batangas. From left: Jenny, Giselle, John, Sandy, Iggy, Patrick, Bert, Justin and Melanie.
Sandy has been a large presence in the Philippine culinary scene for over 30 years. He debuted on TV in 1987 when he and his sisters, Nina and Stella, stepped up to the cameras because the star of the show – their mom, Nora Daza, had to go out of town. The audience watched the kids cook with glee, and the rest is history.
Today Sandy has two shows on the Metro cable channel – “Food Prints,” which is a food travelogue and “Casa Daza” where he exhibits his mastery in the kitchen. In addition, he writes a column called “Word of Mouth” for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, hosts food tours in select destinations, plus runs a commissary and two full-serve restaurants. Although the tours have been on hold since the start of lockdown and the restaurants are on different stages of operations (also due to government regulations to address the coronavirus pandemic), Sandy is certain these endeavors will be back in operation before long.
The soft-cover Cooking with Sandy Daza has a total of 74 self-created recipes falling under 10 categories. Because, like I said, I am a kitchen newbie and like to impress myself at first try, I asked the author to tell me his favorites in each category. He said “Read me their names and I’ll tell you.” I rolled out the titles and quickly got my answers.
1) Appetizers – Vermicelli Spring Rolls and Smoked Fish Tofu Balls
2) Soups – Ho To Tay and Pancit Molo
3) Rice – Paella and Sandy’s Fried Rice
4) Noodles and Pasta – Pancit Langlang (combination of three noodles)
5) Chicken – Herb and Mustard Chicken, Bacolod Chicken Inasal, and Chicken Tinola
6) Beef – Shepherd’s Pie and Ox Tongue with Mushrooms
7) Pork – Baked Spareribs and all pork dishes
8) Seafood – Chili Coconut Squid and Creamed Prawns
9) Salads and Vegetables – Asian Salad and Monggo con Kenchi
10) Dessert – Reyna Blanca
“Sandy,” I asked. “Do you give people what they want or what you think they should have?” I pointed to his recipe for Children’s Spaghetti. Many Americanized Filipinos have come to like their spaghetti with a garlicky, fried beef and marinara taste. Sandy’s spaghetti uses not only ground beef and pork; it also throws in hotdogs and two tablespoons sugar. It’s a different version of spaghetti, but Filipinos young and old swear by hotdogs and sweet pasta.
“I give people what I think they will enjoy,” he answered with resolve.
Food Prints production team at a Bangkok river market. Sandy, Jenny Celdran (producer), John (camera), Iggy Bilbao (director) and Patrick (camera).
Browsing through the book I also came across a recipe for Nesting Chicken or Pinaupong Manok. I cringed upon seeing the need for eight cups of salt. “Sandy!” I cried. “What about our health?” He laughed. “You don’t eat all that salt,” he explained. “You just set the chicken on a bed of salt, let it cook then throw the salt away.” Whew.
Although Sandy has made thousands of palates happy with his cooking, he still gets nervous when he serves a dish to someone new. “I do what I do because I love to see the reaction of people I cook for,” he explained, adding, “but I get nervous when they’re trying something out for the first time. I worry if they will like it.”
Worry, really? Yes he does although fully aware that different preferences only make for better recipes. He has dishes that have been challenged by contemporaries and clients. He takes mental notes, tries their suggestions and makes changes to his recipe if they indeed make it better. Sandy has never been so proud as to not accept criticisms, and that is why he is one of the most loved chefs around. “Walang ek ek (no drama),” has been used to describe him more than a few times.
If not listening to comments and suggestions, Sandy spends time doing research on the internet. YouTube is his best friend when it comes to getting ideas or seeking inspiration for new dishes. His second cookbook was first printed in 2016 and again in 2017 and 2018. They are available at National Bookstore, Lazada, and Shoppee and as ebooks on AmazonKindle and Google Play, among others. My friend obtained our books at National for under P300.
He is now putting together recipes for a third book. Readers can be assured that like his first two books, each entry will be kitchen tested at least a few times and their ingredients will be available and affordable locally and in most Philippine stores overseas.
“Every kitchen has to start with a good recipe,” is Sandy’s dictum. Recipes, he said, should have affordable ingredients and be easy to put together. “It’s a cycle,” he reasoned. “You gain confidence building recipes and when you have confidence, you want to cook more.” And rightly so because every dish you cook will be delicious.
Sandy Daza with high school friends - the author (right) and Jean Altavas.
Bella Bonner is a journalism graduate of the UP Institute of Mass Communications. Among others, she worked as a grant writer and hotelier in Texas where she lived for 30 years. She has retired, returned to Manila and spends her days in sports, traveling and writing a personal blog, "Chicharon Diaries."
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