Batchoy Explained

La Paz batchoy
Alternate Name:	Ba-chui (Chinese) Batsoy (Tagalog) Bachoy (Spanish)
Country:	Philippines
Region:	La Paz, Iloilo City
Course:	Soup
Served:	Hot
Main Ingredient:	Noodles, pork organs, vegetables, chicken, shrimp, beef
Variations:	Batchoy Tagalog, Bumbay

Batchoy, alternatively spelled batsoy (in Tagalog pronounced as /ˈbatʃoɪ/), is a Filipino noodle soup of pork offal, crushed pork cracklings, chicken stock, beef loin, and round noodles. The original and most popular variant, the La Paz Batchoy, traces its roots to the Iloilo City district of La Paz, in the Philippines.

Origin

The origin of the La Paz Batchoy is unclear with several accounts claiming credit for the dish:

• Inggo's Batchoy opened their batchoy stall in 1922 and claims to be the first batchoy shop in La Paz, Iloilo City; 16 years ahead of Deco's La Paz Batchoy Shop, which opened in 1938.^{[1] [2]}
• The dish was claimed to be concocted by Federico Guilergan Sr. in 1938 in Iloilo. His recipe called for a mixture of broth, noodles, beef and pork. The soup later evolved into its present form which has become Iloilo City's most popular dish. Federico Guillergan, Jr., the son of the soup's inventor, states that his father at first jokingly called the dish "bats" when asked for its name. Later, he added "choy", from the vegetable dish chop suey.
• Teodorico "Ted" Lepura opened his first batchoy shop, Ted's Oldtimer Lapaz Batchoy, at the La Paz Public Market in 1945. Run by Lepura, his wife and their children, the shop sold what they claim to be the original La Paz batchoy which at that time was priced at 20 centavos per bowl. In the 1930s, as a teenager, Lepura learned the basics of making La Paz batchoy while working for a Chinese merchant, and eventually concocted his own version of the dish.
• Other sources claim that the dish originated from the Chinese community in La Paz, since the etymology of the name "batchoy" likely comes from the Hokkien, or Hokkien .

Preparation

Ingredients of La Paz batchoy include pork offal (liver, spleen, kidneys and heart), crushed pork cracklings, beef loin, shrimp broth, and round egg noodles (miki) cooked with broth added to a bowl of noodles and topped with leeks, pork cracklings (chicharon), and sometimes a raw egg cracked on top.

Regional varieties

See also: Batchoy Tagalog. The province of Quezon has a variation of the batsoy Tagalog, also known as bombay or bumbay which derives its name from the similarity of the tied banana leaf pouch to the appearance of the turban worn by Sikhs. The dish consists of finely chopped and seasoned pork offal wrapped in banana leaf and then boiled in water. The dish is served with its cooking broth.

Batchoy Festival

The Batchoy Festival is an annual food festival held as part of the larger Dinagyang Festival in Iloilo City.^[3] First held in 2020,^[4] it features a friendly competition among aficionados and merchants to determine who offers the best-tasting batchoy.^[5] The event is a collaboration between SM City Iloilo and the Department of Tourism (DOT), and it is held and celebrated alongside the Grand Iloilo Food Festival at SM City Iloilo Southpoint.^[6]

See also

• Cuisine of the Philippines
• Kinalas
• List of soups
• Pancit Molo
• Ramen - a similar dish from Japan
• Soto - Indonesian soups, most of which are made with chicken or beef

Notes and References

1. Web site: La Paz Batchoy .
2. Web site: Batchoy .
3. Web site: Batchoy conversation with Karen Davila . 2024-08-01 . Manila Bulletin . en.
4. Web site: 2020-01-22 . Iloilo holds first Batchoy Festival - Iloilo Metropolitan Times . 2024-08-01 . www.imtnews.ph . en-US.
5. Web site: Tayona . Glenda . 2023-01-21 . Batchoy Festival: Reconnecting with the City of Love . 2024-08-01 . Panay News . en-GB.
6. Web site: Digital . Sun Star Davao . 2024-01-30 . Experience Dinagyang at the heartbeat of festivities . 2024-08-01 . SunStar Publishing Inc. . en.