Sinamak - vinegar and spices

I love sauces and dips as well as certain salad dressing like vinaigrette. This post features one of our favorite dips or sawsawan as we term it in Filipino. Sinamak is a popular dip in the country and you can use it for a variety of foods including seafood/fish, pork, beef or poultry. It is basically vinegar loaded with spices such as chili pepper and garlic. People from different regions tend to favor certain vinegar (my father, an Ilonggo, favors coconut vinegar) and certain amounts of spices. The concoction and spiciness depends on the tastes and preferences of those who would be using it for their meals. The sinamak is not necessarily a quick mix as it may also be aged. I must do some research on the aging but letting the mix stand for a couple of weeks to a month is apparently enough for this acidic dip.

Sinamak by our family driver Larry 'formulated' using a recycled bottle of botrytis

I like sinamak as a dip for my dried fish (danggit, dulong, dilis, pusit, lapad, etc.). These usually are part of my breakfast and goes well with eggs and fried or garlic rice. Tatay used to bring a bottle or two from Iloilo whenever he traveled for homecomings. My aunts and uncles there have these prepared at our home and theirs and Tatay just picks a bottle or two he could bring back. He also mixed his own sinamak at home but the ones from Iloilo used vinegar an uncle himself used to make from the coconuts there (home-made). I thought that was what it made those sinamak so special.

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