Kitchen Disaster: BAKED RELLENONG BANGUS (Stuffed Milkfish)

For the record, this is the only 3^rd time I have made Rellenong Bangus (stuffed Milkfish); and my 3^rd time was still not a charm!  Not that I don’t like this dish, but just the thought of making this dish makes me soooo tired already. Yes, it is soooo daunting, I would advise you not to do it and just buy a ready to cook one like the ones from Goldilocks.

The first time I made this was during 2^nd year high school, during Home Economics, which was done by group. I was asked by my group mates to be the one to separate the milkfish skin from its flesh in preparation for the Relleno. At that time, maybe because of pressure, I was able to do it without tearing the fish skin and we made it all look whole again just in time for our Home Economics teacher to grade it.  We were lucky. After that, I found out that there are fish vendors who’s more skilled in doing this, so whenever I make one, I just requested the fish vendors if they can prepare to “relleno” it for me.

When I married my husband, I discovered that he never had rellenong bangus before so I decided to make one for him. Unfortunately, there are no fish vendors here in Narnia that prepares the milk fish for "relleno". So, I had to retrace the exact step by step on how we exactly did it several years ago! And, it was not a SUCCESS! Just before I fried it, the milkfish skin tear apart and its flesh was all over the pan; and it became a “Rellenong Bangus Omelette”. But nonetheless, my ever supportive husband claims he enjoyed it, so much, that he always requests for it, much to my apprehension.

Yesterday was a Sunday, and I had no Clinic duties so I ran out of excuses not to make some Rellenong Bangus for him. When he came home, he was like a giddy kid with 2 pieces of 600 g milkfish. I was horrified and I had to knock back my entire drool back to my throat!

Okay, here’s the deal, with proper instrumentation, I have no problem removing gums then suturing them back again together into its jaw bones during oral surgeries. But I seem to have a huge problem, de-fleshing, deboning and removing the flakes of the milkfish then re-installing them back again to make it all whole again during Rellenong Bangus cooking! So much for surgical precision!

Oh well, read on to know how I faired during my 3^rd attempt of cooking Rellenong Bangus.

Tip: If you have generous fish vendors in your market, kindly ask them to already debone and separate the milkfish flesh from its skin, asking them that you plan to make a Rellenong Bangus. This will save you a loooooot of time in the kitchen.

If your fish vendors are not that gracious in doing this, here’s how you should do it:

Note: This is not a glamorous thing to do!

1) Clean the fish of all its gills. Pound the fish using the back of your knife to loosen its flesh from its skin.

2) Fracture the spine at the back of neck and remove its guts.

3) Using something that is not so sharp, like the wide handle of your serving spoon, carefully release the milkfish flesh from its skin, pushing toward until its tail.

4) Crack the bone at the tail and pull out the milkfish flesh and set aside the fish skin and meat.

So here’s my “murdered” version of it: 

When the hardest part is over, here’s what you will do with the milkfish skin and flesh:

1) Soak it in a shallow plate marinated in 2 tbsp of Calamansi juice (you can use lemon or lime), 2 tbsp of soy sauce and 1 tsp ground pepper. Set this aside until ready to use.

2) In a stockpot, pour some water just enough to cover the milkfish flesh, add some salt, celery leaves from 2 celery stalks (save the celery stalk for later use) and bay leaves. (If you don’t have celery leaves or bay leaves, just use salt water). Boil the milkfish until flesh is white and cooked.  Once cooked, drain and flake the fish flesh, making sure that all of its bones have been picked off.

Tip: If you have some kitchen tweezers around, it will come handy at this time.

Tip: Do not throw this stock; you can use this fish stock for other use. Save it in the fridge.

3) In a sautéing pan, fry about ½ cup of diced potatoes and ½ cup of diced carrots. Set aside.

4) In the same pan, heat about 3 tbsp of cooking oil, sauté 1 diced onions, 2 cloves of garlic, 2 tomatoes, and 2 sliced celery stalks.  Cook for about 5 minutes.

5) Stir in the flaked milkfish, 1/3 cup green peas, and 1/3 cup raisins.

6) Make a well at the middle of the pan and stir in 2 beaten eggs.

7) Incorporate the cooked carrots and potatoes. Top it with about 3 tbsp of cubed butter and just let it melt. Season with some salt and pepper and add about 2 tbsp of liquid seasoning (like Knorr Liquid Seasoning or Maggi Savor).

8) Remove from heat and stir in about ¾ cup of shredded cheese.

9) Let it cool and prepare to stuff this in the fish skin.

*This is the 2^nd hardest part!  And this was when disaster happened. While stuffing the milk flesh to the skin, the inevitable happened and I, once again, tear the skin from its head! And once more, I got LAZY and did not attempt to stitch it together this time. So, instead of dredging the milkfish in flour and sewing its slit with needle and thread; and then frying it again to explode all the flesh in the pan like the last time I did, I opted to BAKE it this time. Preheat  oven to 275 C; butter the baking dish then bake the stuffed milkfish for about 45 minutes or until skin is a little golden and crispy.

10) Slice into serving pieces and serve with some hot rice. Dip it in some catsup if desired.

Whew!!! That was a lot of hard work and I am still NOT looking forward to making another one! Hahaha So I should prepare myself with more excuses for my husband since he is already requesting for another one!

Honestly, I think, if for the taste alone, this was a winner! But if this will be graded by my Home Economics teacher, this will FAIL!  =)

They say practice makes perfect, but I would still just buy ready ones, IF ONLY it is available here! =)

Happy Eating! =)