06/03/2023
FRESCO (A Family Heirloom Recipe Narrative)
by Erick G. Garcia
๐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ง๐ง๐บ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ด๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ...๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ญ๐ต ๐ง๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฉ. ๐๐ข๐บ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต. ๐๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด. ๐๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ค๐ฐ.
This quintessential bread of Villareal is pretty much served during daytime, a classic breakfast or snack. And when we talk about Fresco in Villa nowadays, one name instantaneously pops up. Mana Baby.
Mana Babyโs narration of her familyโs heirloom recipe made her sentimental and nostalgic. โAs a child, I was really amused simply by how the dough was made and how everything was done. I would stand by the table where Nanay was making what for me was a bread of wonder. That time it wasnโt just bread for us but literally the โbreadwinnerโ, as Fresco sustained and helped us financially. It was our means of livelihood and most of the time our food.โ
Mana Baby recalled that her mother, Nanay Conching, decided to bake and sell Fresco in order to help her spouse, Tatay Vicente, who was a farmer, in the familyโs subsistence, that is, to somehow support the schooling and the day-to-day necessities of her and her siblings Lilia, Eladio, Carmelita, Imelda, Adela, Fermina and Fedencio.
Way back then, โlagud han tubaโ (residue of coconut wine) was used to raise bread dough and Fresco was baked using a โhudnuanโ, a rectangular clay oven set upon hot coals and ignited pieces of firewood. Fresco was made by mixing brown sugar, salt, โlagud han tubaโ and water until the mixture became foamy and dissolved. The flour is then gradually added, stirring until absorbed in the concoction. Once the mixture became sticky, the dough was shaped into individual loaves and let rise for 5 minutes, then baked for about 10 to 15 minutes.
Mana Baby employs the same process of making the dough but this time, she uses yeast to raise bread dough and an electric oven to bake. Baking became a lot easier now, and less labor intensive with the use of electric ovens as compared to using the traditional โhudnuanโ. However, she asserted that she is forever grateful to the โhudnuanโ because it literally supported them for long in their younger years.
Selling Fresco has been one of Mana Babyโs sources of income and her steadfast sustenance in upholding and supporting her family. She was able to send her children, Paul Czar, Richard, Kara, Patricia and Julimer to school and provided some of her familyโs necessaries with the help of the aforementioned family heirloom recipe. She claimed that nowadays they utilize half sack of flour each day to cater to their costumersโ demand, as Fresco has been part of the Villahanon breakfast.
Quite a number of Villahanons order Fresco from Mana Baby. Balikbayans and those who come home for the fiesta or other occasions would request for the classic bread as pasalubong or for their snack once they return overseas or get back to the city. Fresco is also common in morning receptions or in events such as โponsyonโ, death anniversaries or even in birthday celebrations.
A family heirloom recipe is indeed a treasure that family members could go on telling accounts about on dinner tables and in other memorable circumstances.
Mana Baby culminated her narrative with the hope that one of her children would continue what she somehow considers as her motherโs legacy and her own bequest for her children, the family heirloom recipe that is the Fresco.
