The holiday season is probably the time that the most important item in your kitchen is overworked…Here are some tips from celebrity chef Rolando Laudico or Chef Lau to easily prepare a home-cooked meal — a seven-to-ten course meal at that!
“I usually host the Christmas Eve dinners, and if we’re home, the New Year’s Eve dinners for my family at our place,” he says. “I basically cook everything! Instead of giving them individual gifts, that’s my gift for all of them.”
What does Chef Lau llike to prep for the family? “There must be some sort of lechon, so I’ll roast a suckling pig or a pork belly, plus do other roasted dishes like beef and turkey,” shares Chef Lau. “We’ll have a festive rice dish like paella or risotto, and pasta as well. And there’s always seafood like a fresh whole fish, which I either bake, steam, or grill.” His wife, Chef Jackie – who is known for her pastries and patisserie – will make the desserts.
For this year, Chef Lau plans to prepare dishes that are staples in Filipino parties, but to which he has added his own unique spin. Two of these dishes are the Embutido Lasagna Roll, a new twist to the usual embotido wrapped with lasagna noodles, and baked with a lot of cheese; and the Pork Bellychon with Castanas Liver Sauce.
For example, if you’re cooking lechon and the heat distribution isn’t even, your roast won’t brown evenly as well.”
And over the years… Chef Lau has been using the same brand that most Filipinos have used in their homes( I know I did as we used to have one with an over) “I learned how to cook in my mother’s kitchen using a La Germania, and I think it’s still around! The La Germania is indestructible!” In fact, La Germania has been a part of his journey as a chef since he was a young boy of seven up to becoming the culinary powerhouse he is today. “Chef Jackie and I also used La Germania to start our catering business 17 years ago – I remember it was a five-burner stove and oven, which still works up to now,” adds Chef Lau.
