Bicol Express

Route map of Bicol Express

The Bicol Express dish had been formally termed by Laguna native, Cely Kalaw, as a result of her cooking competition experience in the 1970s at Malate, Manila.[2][3] She created this new dish in response to her customers' high interests for a spicy and sizzling Taro dish.[4] While trying to determine a name for the dish, Kalaw's brother heard the sound of the Philippines National Railway traveling across Kalaw's restaurant to arrive Manila.[2][4] This event inspired Kalaw to name the dish 'Bicol Express' after the PNR train that is programmed to undergo the Manila-Legazpi route.[5][6]

Prior to Kalaw's formal terminology of the Bicol Express dish, a similar Ilocano meal to this dish was recognised as 'gulay na may lada' in the regions of Bicol, Philippines.[7] Gulay na may lada is a vegetarian variant of the dish that consists of exactly the same ingredients as the Bicol Express dish, except it lacks the meat components of the meal (pork chunks & shrimp paste).[3] There is a Bicolano influence in the creation of the Bicol Express as Kalaw's upbringing is situated in the regions of Bicol.[8][9] This upbringing provided her with the knowledge about creating Bicolano cuisines and lead to the inspiration and construction of her Bicol Express dish in Malate, Manila.[9][3]

A map of the Philippines that details the coconut growing zones suitability

During the 1960s, the Bicol Express dish was created and sold by people in the Bicol Region despite a lack of name for the dish. Bicolanos would wait at the Sipocot station, Camarines Sur, for a train to make a temporary stop and they would start selling the dish to the passengers.[2][9] The dish was stored in a plastic bag and the rice was wrapped in a bundle of taro leaves.[10] The dish's convenient set up allowed it to be easily sold and spread across the region of Bicol. However, food selling on trains became prohibited on the PNR train lines and so the dish's relevance diminished over time until Kalaw was able to reintroduce and popularise the dish in her restaurant at Malate, Manila.[4][2]

The ingredients of coconut and chili peppers are predominant in dishes originating from the Bicol community.[11][12][13] Both of these ingredients are endemic across the provinces of Bicol.[5] There are over 50 million coconut bearing trees in Bicol.[14] This makes the Bicol Region the most prosperous region in the Philippines to contain this enormous amount of coconut bearing trees.[15] The region also meets the criteria for highly suitable wet conditions for coconut growing zones.[14]

Siling Labuyo (small chili pepper) is commonly used in many Bicolano cuisines.[6][16] Under the Scoville scale, the Scoville Heat Unit of the siling labuyo is 100,000 SHU and siling haba is 50,000 SHU but each of these chili peppers can vary depending on the conditions of their growing environments.[17] The siling labuyo in Bicol is much spicier than the siling labuyo in Manila, which makes it one of the spiciest chili peppers in the Philippines.[12][2][18] The Siling Labuyo peppers were introduced by Spanish settlers during their exploration of the New World.[19][16]

Inulukan, a variant that uses river crabs wrapped in whole taro leaves and cooked in coconut milk

There are numerous seafood variations of the Bicol Express dish. The meat of the dish can be replaced with fish (tilapia), crab, manta rays, shark, shrimp, etc, to alter the taste and texture of the dish. All of these dishes continue to be served with a hot bowl of rice.

Ginataang Tilapia or Ginataang Isda is one of these variations. The tilapia is boiled under the katang gata (coconut cream)[20] and vinegar, and mixed with siling labuyo, onion and garlic. The dish differentiates from the Bicol Express Tilapia as there is vinegar added into the Ginataang to provide it a more sour flavour.[21]

A more unique example is the Kinunot na Pating, or Kinunot for short. This dish is similar to the Bicol Express meal except that the pork chunks are replaced with pieces of shark bits[22] or manta ray meat.[23][8] This changes the texture of the meal and gives the person eating the dish a more exotic experience.[8]

Inulukan is another variant of the Bicol Express dish (See Inulukan for more) that uses river crabs as the meat basis of the delicacy instead of pork chunks.[8][13] All of the ingredients are then stored into a taro leave bundle and then simmered under the kakanggata (coconut cream).[24][13]

Beef is another meat replacement that can be cooked with in the creation of a Bicol Express meal. The dish uses the same preparation process as the original Bicol Express method. However, the beef is not as tender as the pork chunks, though it can be prepared and cooked faster in the pan than the pork.[25]

Pinakbet, a pescatarian version that replaces pork with vegetables such as bok choy and sweet potato shoots

Pinakbet is a pescatarian alternative for the Bicol Express dish. This dish originates from the Ilocano community and they use Vegetables to replace the pork chunk component of the meal.[11] These Vegetables are bok choy (pechay in Tagalog) and the shoots of sweet potatoes (camote tops in Filipino lingo).[26][11] The seafood component of this dish is the incorporation of alamang (shrimp) into the sauce to elevate the flavors of the meal.[15]

Gulay na may lada is the oldest known vegetarian variant of the Bicol Express dish that is created using the traditional-ways of cooking within the Bicol Peninsula.[3][7]

The Bicol Express dish have been transformed into a vegan form using various ingredient replacements. The pork is substituted with tofu and shiitake mushrooms are added to restore the texture of the dish.[27] Vegetable paste and gluten free soy sauce are used to replace the bagoong alamang that bases the rich flavors of the dish's broth.[27]

Another type of Bicol Express variants is one of Bicol's other signature dishes, Pinangat (or Laing) which is exactly the same as the Bicol Express's original recipe, except it does not contain onions.[28][10] All the ingredients of the Pinangat dish is then wrapped with taro leaves and cooked under katang gata (coconut cream).[24][8][12][10][11][22]