You must have noticed that this blog runs ads from the Blogherads network. Pinoy Cook is also part of the network. But since Blogherads operate with “channels”, the rotating headlines (the links underneath the banner ads) here are different from those in Pinoy Cook, this blog being part of the parenting channel and Pinoy Cook being part of the food channel. But this entry is not about Blogherads.
Two days ago, one of the headlines in the food channel was a link to a tilapia recipe. It’s called breaded tilapia (with flax!) and I was curious enough to click. Surprisingly, it was an American blog. An American cooking tilapia and calling it tilapia? During Pinoy Cook’s first year of existence, expats in the U.S. and Canada would often ask me for the English name of tilapia because they were having a hard time looking for it in North America. That was a four years ago and, today, tilapia is known all over the world as tilapia.
My amazement, naturally, was due to an impression that tilapia is the fish’s Filipino name. Apparently, such is not the case. According to Wikipedia, “The common name tilapia is based on the name of the cichlid genus Tilapia, which is itself a latinisation of thiape, the Tswana word for ‘fish’. The genus name and term was first introduced by Scottish zoologist Andrew Smith in 1840.” Well, you learn something new everyday.
And, yes, it appears that tilapia has become an international star. If cooking were fashion, tilapia would be today’s haute couture. Or, maybe, the phenomenon isn’t new and the tilapia has been a star for a long time and I just wasn’t aware of it. Tilapia is recommended in gout diet, low calorie diet, bodybuilding (!) diet and low carb diet. And, being part of low carb diet, not surprisingly, I also found tilapia among the recommended ingredients in the South Beach Diet.
Wow, tilapia is Alex’s favorite fish and that’s why I have so many tilapia recipes in Pinoy Cook. I feel so fashionable. 
Tilapia here is called tilapia ever since I moved here. I do have a client who is in the fish processing industry and he’s been carrying tilapia for a while now. Sadly, his supply comes from Myanmar. Most grocery stores here carry tilapia too (dressed and all that) and they come from Taiwan naman.
In most “white” (no pun intended) grocery stores, tilapias are sold in the deli sections and are already filleted. I tried them once but they never came close to the taste of a cooked whole tilapia where you have to debone them yourself straight from your plate. Along the process kasi, the skin was already taken out, the bones, tapos the flavor siguro was all washed up in the process.
hi Ting,
Here in Benguet Province, the tilapia industry is a thriving one..it has been introduced as a livelihood to the people who live along the Ambuklao Dam,..yes we raise the tilapia in the dam itself..and yes they taste so good! I do hope you can try it out soon..
Tilapia is very popular and yummy too! It’s not too expensive and the flavoring is mild. Your photo looks so great I for one will be checking out the recipes for dinner tonite!
Ting, tilapia fillets are becoming popular in the Philippines too because of the ease of preparation. But you’re right. There’s nothing like cooking the fish whole — heads, bones and all. Makabili nga mamaya hehehe
Houseonahill.org, that photo went with one of the oldest entries in Pinoy Cook.
You’ll find the more recent ones with more decent photos.
I remember seeing a feature on tilapia in one of my old issues of Gourmet magazine (tipong mga 80′s pa ito). Some inmates of a prison in England (or Scotland) were breeding it. Parang livelihood project nila yun. Galing pa atang Israel yung mother stock nila.
Also, in one of the episodes of Iron Chef America, tilapia was the mystery ingredient.
When I was in the US last September, nakikita ko sa grocery ang mga tilapia. Kaya lang naka-fillet na and mostly from Thailand. Sa Filipino store lang ako nakakita ng may ulo.
i love the black tilapia best. they’re more oily (?) and tasty. simply pan fried or pangat, yumm!
Naku, Connie, I feel fashionable too. hehehe. Tilapia is the family’s favorite fish, aside from bangus, of course.
I love buying live tilapia from the market. They are literally still jumping when I buy them and as soon as I get home, I fry two or three of them, tapos may kamatis… naku, lalo akong minamahal ng asawa ko. LOL!
Currently I’m sharing a house with a Chinese friend. When it’s time for buying food stocks from the market, I would always suggest that we buy fish. I like fish but when asked what fish I usually cook, I wanted to say tilapia but I’m afraid he won’t understand what I meant so I told him cichlids instead. The more he did not understand. hahaha
Now that I know tilapia is this fish’ international name, still I’m not sure if he will understand. Even my skills in charades is not working. Next time na tanungin ako baboy nalang ang isasagot ko. O kaya baka, o kaya gulay.
we can still buy whole tilapia here (areas in california with a strong filipino population) in a grocery called “seafood market”. my mom salt & peppers them, wrap them in alum foil and grills them over fire (charcoal bbq). then we eat it with steamed rice, patis and lemon (or calamansi). yummmy….i can’t wait to visit my folks again…
i was in trader joe’s the other day and found “citron tilapia” in the frozen food section….and also in some semi-fancy restaurants. usually salmon or ahi, but i’ve been seeing tilapia lately…
Tilapia is served in most restaurants here in the US. Our hospital cafeteria even serves “almond crusted tilapia” on weekends. I had even heard that my favorite chinese restaurant in Queens, NY was shut down by the city because they were breeding their own tilapia in tanks in the basement of the restaurant without the necessary permit from the city. Talk about fresh. Sometime ago, I would see them live in tanks at large Asian groceries but they look paler and they call it “Florida perch.” I like them “adobado”, cooked as paksiw then lagyan ng gata.
I love this fried, steamed, grilled, in coconut milk. Whichever way, masarap.
What about the big tilapia? Plapla din ba tawag nila sa west?
Kongkong, tilapia fillets have a lot of possibilities too. In fact, for some dishes, tilapia fillets are better than the more traditional lapu-lapu fillets. Far cheaper too.
Ruth, black tilapia is freshwater; the lighter one is saltwater. At least, that’s what the fishmongers say.
Rhodora, prito tapos malutong yung balat? hahaha Yan din and requirement ng asawa ko.
Kotsengkuba, re “I’m sharing a house with a Chinese friend”. Wow, if he can cook, eh di piyesta ka araw araw? Panoorin mo sya, sarap matuto ng authentic Chinese cooking. hehehe
inna, “citron” tilapia? Is that a variety?
Em, same here hehehe. I’ve even tried it in soup, pwede rin!
benchorizo, paksiw with gata sounds delicious! Ang alam ko lang grilled tapos binubuhusan ng gata.
Tito Rolly, someone told me once (si Celia Kusinera yata) that plapla is a cross-breed of tilapia and lapu-lapu. Ang alam ko rin kasi eh big tilapia lang yun. Kung cross breed eh di malamang, sa Pilipinas lang sya tinatawag ng plapla?
Asian stores here even offer live tilapias which they clean and fry for free while you wait. But I still prefer the variety in the Phil. which is smaller but tastier. I used to do a lot of fishing in my granpa’s small fish pond in the province when I was growing up and tilapia was plentiful. Yes, the good old days.
last week nagulat ako sa hypermart chain dito sa sweden may stock ng frozen tilapia fillets ..tilapia din tawag nila.. one time also in a restaurant, they serve this and walang nakakakilala sa kanya. tuwa nung waitress nung sabihin ko kilala ko yang tilapia na yan…
Try nyo din “Pinaputok na tilapia”, its a Cabalen specialty (daw). Stuff the tilapia with some sliced celery, ginger, onions and tomatoes and wrap it in banana leaf before frying. Takpan nyo agad ang pan kasi puputok agad yun! believe me, ang bango-bango ng amoy while its frying.
Eto naman is how we cook tilapia sa Bicol, syempre sa gata! Wrap each tilapia in pechay leaves, put some ginger, garlic and of course “sili” and cook it in kakang-gata.
Ahhhhh….the best with white rice!
yummy! i love tilapia. my kids like it fried or broiled.
oh, tilapia is called tilapia here. but mostly cooked as fillets. except in mexican restaurants where you could order it as a whole fish.
anu ka, 4 na seasoning lang ang pinagpapaikot-ikot nila – salt, granulated chicken bouillon, rice vinegar (sukang itim) and soy sauce.
kadalasan salt and granulated chicken lang gamit nila, cooked in high heat (10-inch high fire). pero in fairness, masarap lagi kahit puro gulay kami halos araw-araw.
dear connie,
as a hog raiser here in central luzon i hear fellow farm owners feed their dead pigs to their fish pens of tilapia. my hubby stay away from tilapia like hell. but i dont. he warns me of the mad cow disease that afflicted england last decade. same parallelism. i am not freaking joking connie. i hope some of your readers can discern this. besides buying fishmeals for their tilapias they just drop the dead carcass. nakakatipid. and same with the dalag and hito which some breeders purchase dead pigs bec it is dirt cheap. our area was swamped of swine flu last year third quarter and it was a heave of sigh where to dump but to the fish ponds of tilapia.
…black tilapia is freshwater; the lighter one is saltwater…
added info lang po, since my husband is from Candaba, Pampanga (where there are a lot of people “breeding” tilapia), sabi po nila yung lighter-colored tilapia yun yung mga galing sa mga fish farms…
I was going to respond to all the earlier comments but Arny’s comment made my jaw drop.
oh my! i love tilapia so much i sure wish i haven’t consumed those that have been eating dead pigs! like you miss connie, my jaw dropped as well, and so did my appetite.
but i still love you dear tilapia. about time the world recognize your distinct and great taste.
abby, it’ll take more than that to kill my appetite for tilapia.
but i think it’s worth reading up on. and maybe write a column if i get enough materials.
arny, perhaps some documentation?
dear connie,
as an avid reader of your blogs except the cat lover blog (I am a dog lover, yellow labrador retriever and a pit bull) i strive to adhere to be honest with my thoughts lalo na i give comments to your blogs once in a while. the dead pigs feeding to the tilapia is an old practice na. get your langgonisa and tocino from the wet markets and most of them are from dead pigs.we have ready buyers of dead pigs and they are different prices from the live and the farm gate prices.and of course they are cheaper.any pig farmer u can interview and they would answer the same thing as i did.but reputable tocino and langgonisa makers (think pampanga best etc) buy pigs that are overweight (think 2 inches of fat) and they are cut lesser than the farm gate price.they dont buy the dead ones bec they have meat inspectors who check their plants.these make the tocino more flavorful and tasty bec of the fat.from the wet markets yan ang walang inspection.so try to be careful.
but going back to the topic…most pig farmers who have swine losses instead of burying it find a ready buyer for these pigs.but I AM NOT TELLING ALL THE TILAPIA BREEDERS DO THIS. AND NOT ALL PIG FARMERS PRACTICE THIS. but most do. i still eat tilapia but i like it inihaw and fried not gisa or steamed. i think that kills the bacteria. it is up to u and the readers to discern this info.i dont want to start a ruckus bec we chinese, am fil am, wants to do our job quietly na walang gulo whatsoever.
naku connie i want to go on and on. but hanggang dito lang ako.
arny
arny, don’t misunderstand me. I am not questioning your honesty or your motives. In fact, I appreciate the information. But I can’t write a column just like that. And I think that this issue is worth writing a column about. I need some data. If this is such an old practice as you say, there’s bound to be something somewhere. It can’t be such a well-kept secret. If you can point to some documents, or specific persons, I’d really appreciate it.
Dear Connie:
Like hundreds and thousands of people out there, I’ve been following your Pinoycook blogs since November. Thanks for all the tips and instructions that make cooking so easy.
This is my first time to read your houseonahill blog and you know what? It’s because I was researching Oyster Sauce and breast cancer on google and your article in the Manila Standard oct 2007 popped up as no. 1 article on the list. I totally agree with what you said there. Then, there’s this link to your personal blog. So, here I am! Am going to check your tilapia recipes later. Again, thanks and keep blogging!
dear connie,
if pointing my fellow peers, hog raisers like us, on who does these practices is like …i dont know how to put it in words. u can continue my sentence. i wish i can help.
in this day and age o f mass production for food consumption any businessman who could do to minimize losses can make through the day by making a little twist. but rottening carcass of pigs in my theory, the bacteria that consumes is what the tilapia eats. not the carcass mismo. i am no rocket scientist but tilapia is not carnivorous di ba? hanggang dito na lang talaga ako connie. i am sorry.
arny
Tilapia is considered a good breeding material not just because of its tasty meat, their strong defense to diseases but also because their omnivorous. Just like goats, they’ll eat anything. In some countries, they are considered as pest controllers. They eat larvae of disease-carrying mosquitoes. But they are also considered as pest when released in the wild because they also eat eggs of native fishes thus disrupting the eco-system.
In China, they are released in rice paddies after the planting season. They act as pesticide by consuming worms and insects harmful to rice plants. Kaya double-harvesting ang nangyayari. May kanin na, may ulam pa.
Im a Filipino here in NY and ive been here for long… since 1980, i grew up havin tilapia in our dinner table. American People sells tilapia(and ofcoures they call it tilapia) in groceries as far as i can remember, thats the problem of some filipinos who havent been out of the country, sometimes thought that a fish like tilapia originated in the Philippines, Adobo, a filipino dish but what they dont know is that Adobo is a spanish dish, and do you know that balut is NOT off filipino origin? balut started in China and famous in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand… sometimes we need to get our facts straight… so it wouldnt be that embarrassing…
Its a good thing that internet was invented to open vast horizons into our mind…..
I’m from Batangas, connie. we are raising tilapia here in our farm. We would like to make our harvest to be filleted and packed. Do you know buyers of tilapia fillets in large amounts? We are planning to pack them in two halves per pack.Deboned already.Thanks a lot. Have a great day.