This is my entry for Lasang Pinoy 20. Although this cooking process is inspired by an English chef, it is still a traditional Filipino dish. For those of you who watch the Food Network or Fine Living channels here in the U.S. I’m sure you have heard of the show Naked Chef by Jaime Oliver. I was watching one of his cooking shows at one time and he made a grilled dish on the beach. It was a Salmon wrapped in several sheets of wet newspaper. The newspaper idea was so the fish would not get burnt and would keep it moist throughout the cooking process.
That’s where the newspaper idea comes from. The other twist is on one of the most common ways of cooking fish in the Philippines, Paksiw, except this version is grilled with the common ingredients found in Paksiw na isda. The newspaper will keep the fish moist and from burning and I am also using aluminum foil that will seal in the rich sour flavor that you would expect from this well-known dish. Now let’s get down to the recipe and cooking process.
Ingredients:
2 Large Galunggong fish
1 Large piece of ginger root Julienned
1 Small onion sliced thinly
1 Finger Pepper cut in half
3 Cloves of garlic peeled and smashed
2 Tbs. Corn oil
½ Tsp. MSG
½ Tsp. Ground black pepper
½ Tsp. Salt
4 Tbs. White vinegar
10 Pages of newspaper
Aluminum foil
Directions:
Heat grill prior to cooking. Make two large sheets of aluminum (double sheet each) foil and place fish inside. Season it with vinegar, salt, msg, oil, ground black pepper, and top it with ginger root, onions, finger pepper, and garlic. Wrap and seal the aluminum foil. Soak newspaper in water until it is totally wet and then wrap it around the aluminum foil containing the fish. Place directly over the heat and let it cook for 50 minutes turning it halfway through. Remove the fish from the wrapping and place on a serving plate. Serve with white steamed rice.
Adjustments:
After cooking this dish the first time the result is very satisfying, but there were a couple of set backs that need to be addressed. First I forgot to put one of the key ingredients in it, the garlic. I was trying to prepare this dish and make a bottle for my youngest son. Needless to say it didn’t go so well. Another thing is that it needs more newspaper, about 20 pages. You also have to soak it really good in water and keep an eye on it while cooking to make sure the newspaper doesn’t get burned all the way through. This will defeat the purpose. Cut the cooking time to 25 minutes instead of 50 minutes, which was what I had originally done. And for a final adjustment, poke a few small holes on top of the aluminum foil for the steam to escape. I didn’t do this the first time so mine expanded like a big balloon wrapped in newspaper.
Final Conclusion:
This dish is truly flavorful and very delicious despite my set backs. Mine still came out very tasty and moist. I would strongly recommend to cook it this way when your camping. Prepare like I discussed above and just set the whole thing on top of hot coals and give it about 25 minutes and you’ll have a mouth watering dish. You can use a wide variety of fish for this dish including salmon. (If you do use salmon, I would use lemon instead of vinegar.) So that’s it. You can use your imagination as far as the ingredients go. Just cook safely and enjoy your grilled fish wrapped in aluminum foil and newspaper.
Tip1:
Spray Pam on the aluminum foil to prevent the fish from sticking to it.
Tip 2:
Keep the newspaper wet throughout the whole cooking process. This will prevent drying and burning the fish.
Tip 3:
Poke a few tiny holes on top of the aluminum foil allowing the steam to escape to prevent the foil from blowing up like a balloon.
Posted in 
Mita,
I just wanted to thank you for taking the time to host this episode of Lasang Pinoy. (LP20: Binalot) Also thank you for adding filipino-food-lovers.com to your links section. It is nice to see Filipinos take the time to help and share their passion for food and cooking. This is a great way to get in touch with our fellow Filipinos while giving them a little bit of a hand in the kitchen. Mabuhay and keep up the good work!
-Robert
Hi Robert! Great entry for LP! Here from Mita’s round-up.
Where are you in Missouri? Hubby and I met in St. Louis and we still have a bunch of family and friends there. We also go there several times a year — hopefully we can meet up sometime!
Stef,
We live in Union. It’s about a 40 minute drive from St. Louis. Union is a small town, but it is also the county seat of Franklin County. I also have friends in St. Louis. They live around Hazelwood. Anyway thanks for dropping by and god bless!
-Robert
hi! i was googling for a lumpiang prito recipe then i ended up at the LP20: Binalot blog entry THEN i found your recipe. i haven’t tried cooking paksiw na isda and i dont really remember my mama cooking pakswi na isda for us. anyway, i really would like to try it and the idea of grilling is good for me. tamad kze ako. hehe. usually, i wrap the fish in an aluminum foil and put it inside my toaster (yep, just my oven toaster). my question is…and this is probably a very silly question BUT.. is it okay if i grill the foil+newspaper wrapped fish in an oven toaster? is it safe to do so? i would love to experiment on this!
thanks!!
Hi there Ria,
There are many things you can do with the toaster oven unfortunately this is definitely not one of them. Never use newspaper in any type of oven. It will catch on fire. However if you really would like to try this recipe in the oven you may do so by baking it. Use a glass baking dish and follow the recipe above. Then cover it tight with aluminum foil and bake it @ 350 degrees for about 40 minutes. Make sure your oven is pre-heated before setting your timer. Note: You don’t have to poke holes in the aluminum foil when you’re baking it. The newspaper idea of cooking is for outdoors, ideally when you’re camping. Also using aluminum foil when cooking while your camping will save you the trouble of having to bring pots and pans and the best thing about aluminum foil is that you don’t have to wash it. Anyway good luck with your cooking and cook safely. God bless!
-Robert
this is new to me, ty for posting
I’m curious about this newspaper thing. This is only a suggestion and may be it can help, we use banana leaves instead of newspaper.
Ben,
This is more like an experimental approach. Here in the Midwest we didn’t have banana trees, although you can buy them at the international store they are not always available.
I saw this method done on TV by a famous British chef Jamie Oliver and he cooked his on the beach and it came out perfect. So, I thought I try the same method, but mine didn’t have as much newspaper as he did. So, my fish ended up a little dry. 🙂
~Robert
Hi, this post was plagiarized by someone on FB . . .
https://www.facebook.com/notes/lasang-pinoy-atbp-ni-kusinerong-gill/grilled-paksiw/10150264375113501
Last year, we discovered that he’s been lifting posts from different blog sites and posting them as his own in his blogs . . . We reported them to Blogger and those blogs were deleted . . .
Now, he’s back again and this particular post which was your entry to Lasang Pinoy 20 is now on his FB page without citing the source . . .
Btw, this is Mike, one of the moderators of Lasang Pinoy . . . Lasang Pinoy has been on hiatus for quite some time now . . . 🙂
Hi Mike,
Thanks for letting me know, To be honest with you I am not really sure what to do about it. It seems like you have to go trough a bunch of crap just to file a complain. Anyway, thanks again!
Cheers,
Robert Colinares