Midnight Express: Kapampangan’s mebubus apap con mayonesa, a tongue and tastebud twister

On Saksi's Midnight Express on Tuesday, host Mikael Daez tried former president Diosdado Macapagal's favorite weekend dish—mebubus apap con mayonesa, or steamed fish with mayonnaise.

Whenever the former president went home to Pampanga from the University of Sto. Tomas on weekends, mebubus apap con mayonesa was the dish he craved.

This Kapampangan dish is also special because cooking it is no easy feat.

After preparing and boiling the fish, it's seasoned with salt, pepper, and dayap or lemon. Then it's stuffed with garlic and onion and then steamed for 30 to 40 minutes, after which mayonnaise is added and queso de bola sprinkled on top. Take note: Only queso de bola can be used to get that desired taste.



Pampanga's paksing demonyo

Before this, Mikael had one hell of a food experience with a devil of a dish: the paksing demonyo.

Cooking paksing demonyo, or paksiw ng demonyo, does not require a lot of ingredients: only vegetables, vinegar, and sugar. The usual vegetables included in this dish are eggplant, kangkong, ampalaya, sibuyas Tagalog, garlic, ginger, and siling pansigang. These are boiled in a pot of vinegar and salt, with a bit of sugar to counter the sourness.

So why the name? It's an old Kapampangan tale: paksing demonyo was originally cooked with fish. But one day, a fisherman blamed the devil for stealing the fish he brought home for his family. With no fish to cook, his wife just turned to vegetables instead—and the result was the version of paksing demonyo that Kapampangans love now.



— Trisha Macas/BM, GMA News

It's Kapampangan Week this week on Saksi's "Midnight Express," hosted by Mikael Daez, on GMA 7.