Beef steak is often pronounced bistek in the Philippines. Of course, the dish is significantly different from the steak one will find in American or steak-themed restaurants in that the Filipino version often come marinated or mixed with soy sauce, garlic and onions. Some call this preparation Bistek Tagalog but variations of practically the same bistek may be found all around the Philippines some with sabaw (a thick soup or sauce) and some quite dry. In fact, versions of bistek can be mistaken for adobo; the only major ingredients missing being the suka (vinegar) and dahon ng laurel (dried Bay leaves). Restaurants and eateries have their own takes on bistek and variants include substitution of pork and chicken, which I'm sure included some adjustments in the other ingredients (timpla) to address the change in the main ingredient (i.e., beef, pork and chicken will have different tastes).
We had our first taste of the fish variant for bistek when the Clairvoyant's mother substituted the tuna we brought from GenSan to the beef in her bistek. The ingredients were pretty much the same except for the tuna. The result was one of the best home cooked meals we've had, and something we'd be replicating quite often later. The tuna steak would eventually be replaced by the more select (and expensive) sashimi-grade tuna, which we found to be perfect for the dish. We christened this dish fistek, a play on fish steak, which probably has some variants somewhere. Surely, we were not the first to substitute fish (or tuna) to this favorite dish.
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| Sashimi-grade tuna is perfect for fish steak |
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