Lutong Kapampangan: Burong Isda

Pampanga was named after the Indung Kapampangan river, the longest river in Central Luzon. It is a historical province and it is also the first province and the richest spoil created by the Spaniards in 1571. Because of the Kapampangan's revolt against the domination of Spaniards,the province is also honored as one of the 8 rays of the sun in the national flag. Pampanga is also known as the culinary capital of the Philippines, probably because most of the kapampangan's are excellent cooks, since the Spaniards have colonize Pampanga for a long time too, they have already adopted some of the culture causing them to ingeniously incorporate Spanish and Chinese elements into their cuisine that have made their food preparation and culinary arts both exotic and scrumptious; Bringhe, Bulanglang (pork ribs slowly cooked in guava), tidtad, adobong kamaro,betute tugak (fried stuffed frogs) and taba ng talangka, are just some of their exotic and scrumptious cuisines. 

One of the known food specialties of  Kapampangan's is the Burong Isda. Buro is a tagalog word which also means fermented or pickled. Burong Isda as the name itself says, is a fish fermented with rice for a week or two. The rice use in buro is actually a red yeast rice or angkak in Kapampangan language and the fish that's usually putted in it is Tilapia. It is serve as a side dish for fish and with vegetables like ampalaya,talong and okra; now, as I've told you buro is a fermented rice and fish and to tell you honestly it doesn't smell good but don't judge it by it's smell and look, because buro really taste good especially when you eat it with the okra. There are also other kinds of buro, there's the Burong Hipon (this taste good too) and burong taba ng talangka (fats of the little crab).

Burong isda with the vegetables (okra and eggplant)

Burong hipon serve as a side dish for the fish.

Buro that can be bought at the supermarker though of course it's taste is not the same as the homemade buro.

Buro was introduced to me by my grandma, she cooked this once and for the first time seeing that kind of food, I really don't want to eat it, because first it doesn't smell good second it do looks like a vomit >< but my grandma made me eat it, she actually said "Hindi mo pa nga natitikman,ayaw mo na agad." so I have no choice but to taste it. I remember that I was actually pinching my nose when I tasted it xD thinking that I won't actually have a sense of taste when I do that, but unfortunately it's no use. The taste isn't really bad though, a bit sour for the reason that it's fermented. I took another scoop and put it on my plate my grandma just laugh at me and after that I tried the burong hipon and burong talangka. (this happened when I was still a kid around 8 years old. ) 

I realized that my grandma have her point with what she said "Hindi mo pa nga natitikman,ayaw mo na agad." it's like judging the food with how it looks but there are foods that doesn't look like it taste good but when you've already try to taste it, you will know that it really doesn't taste bad at all.

Pampanga has a lot of exotic foods, I've tasted the stuffed frog, hahaha...since my grandma told me that phrase..I started to taste the food first before saying that I don't like it, but of course if the food really looks suspicious on the first place, I will immediately say that I don't like it or more like I don't want to eat it. xD hahaha! 

P.S. If you want to make your own burong isda, I found this helpful recipe.  just click the link below ^^

http://www.lutongkapampangan.com/2010/07/buro-kapampangan-specialty.html

Sources/References: 

http://www.clarkphilippines.com/facts-about-pampanga-philippines

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pampanga

http://blauearth.com/tag/burong-isda/

my grandma is my source too xD