FRESH FLAVORS

Have a tall and cool drink of Refreshing Pimms

Roasted Salmon Gambas Style

Rack of Lamb Sinigang

Seabass with Mushrooms and Spinach in Filo Pastry

In creating a new medley of entrees, desserts and drinks for Le Chef at The Manor, Chef Billy King simply designed a menu based on his basic tenets about what makes food awe-inspiring. “I love doing simple dishes, those that come straight from the oven or stove, those that require simple preparations and not too complicated to prepare.”

Freshness and the high quality of ingredients, says the prolific King, are the foremost keys to ensuring dishes that offer the robust flavors of land and sea—with produce that are freshly caught or newly harvested. The obvious trick, says the chef, is to design the food according to the available materials. To ensure the scrumptiousness of the food, he uses ingredients that he can readily get his hands on, what’s in the kitchen and the market.

The cooking process and the attitude with which one approaches the undertaking also determine the outcome of one’s culinary endeavor. In his case elaborate plans and painstaking processes do not have a place in the already taxing act of food preparation. “I cook according to how I eat which is very simple and very spontaneous. It’s a normal and constant part of my cooking process. I do not devise an elaborate scheme when planning a menu; I simply imagine it.

“There’s really no secret formula in cooking. The fine qualities of cooking come from how you do a certain dish—it’s really the process that counts. Generally, when I cook, I show a lot of respect to my ingredients by cooking in them in a way that preserves their taste, their spirit and their integrity. I cook quickly to let the juices and essences of the ingredients stay inside.

For instance, when King cooks salmon that needs oil, he cooks the fish in its own juices first over low fire. He puts oil afterwards so that it doesn’t get burned and overpowers the delicate flavor of the salmon. His resounding admonition? “Don’t try to overdo the cooking because the taste of the food is the star of the show!”

Though Irish-born and trained in several international cuisines, King has clearly grown to feel affection for the flavors of timeless Filipino food. “I love classic Filipino food because it’s a blend of so many culinary influences,” he states. “Everything is based on something and nowhere is that culinary truth so evident than in Filipino cooking.”

So while a fresh rack of lamb can be prepared in so many mouthwatering ways, King transforms it into a mean sinigang done the classic way—with real unripe tamarinds.

It’s difficult to believe, however, how this wiry man could be enveloped in the inviting aromas and flavors of fine food. One would imagine that by now, King should be rotund and overweight like most in this tempting vocation.

“I go for small courses or for one big meal during the day. “The lamb sinigang could make a good breakfast meal because you have a whole day to digest it!” he remarks smilingly. On certain days, when he feels up to it, he fasts. “It’s best to be hungry and prepare the taste buds. When the appetite is all worked up, we become keen to the sensations of food, we become aware of the minute details. Then we become truly appreciative of the finer flavors of food.”

Text by Vix Sev
Photos by Ricky Ladia