Cover Abi Balingit bags the James Beard Award for her cookbook, Mayumu: Filipino American Desserts Remixed. It is also in New York Time’s list of “The Best Cookbooks of 2023” (Photo: Nico Schinco)
Abi Balingit bags the James Beard Award for her cookbook, Mayumu: Filipino American Desserts Remixed. It is also in New York Time’s list of “The Best Cookbooks of 2023” (Photo: Nico Schinco)
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Pastry chef Abi Balingit is among the distinguished Filipinos who can claim the prestigious title of “James Beard Award winner.” This accolade is a testament to her exceptional culinary skills, dedication to her craft, and her parent’s cooking
Her gastronomic fairy tale started very early in her colourful life, having been born into a family that loves celebrating food. For one, Abi Balingit’s parents, who are from Pampanga, love to cook. When they decided to move to San Jose, California, where Balingit was born, they continued to feed her with dishes from their home country. “My favourite dish that my dad makes is kaldereta. And my mum is good at making maja blanca and cassava cake,” she says.
And adds, “I was very fortunate to live close to many of my relatives on my mum’s side of the family in the Bay Area. We always had big parties and invited Filipino friends and neighbours to come over and eat a lot of food! Everyone would have enough for baon to bring home afterwards.”
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Above Melon chicharron crumble
Above Strawberry shortcake sapin-sapin
Melon chicharron crumble
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At 13, she started learning to make desserts independently by reading blogs and trying other people’s recipes. However, it remained a hobby, something she dabbled in while finishing business administration and media studies at UC Berkeley. In the summer of 2017, after graduation, she received a job offer as a campaign coordinator for a live music company called Bands, intown, forcing her to move from California to New York City. As of writing, she continues to work there, this time as an ad operations manager.
In August 2020, the 29-year-old gave blogging a shot to document all her bakes. She named it The Dusky Kitchen since her baking escapades took place in a small Brooklyn apartment that barely receives natural light and is shared with three other people. It became a most welcome avenue for her to immortalise her knack for baking and display her whimsical and prolific side, something her flair for fashion had already hinted at.
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Above Marbled tahini palitaw
Marbled tahini palitaw
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She converted her favourite kare-kare into a sweet snack in the form of peanut butter cookies coated in annatto sugar and complemented with bagoong caramels. The popular kakanin, pichi-pichi, has been given a sour note with the addition of raspberry and chamoy, while her hopia is stuffed with pumpkin and yellow mung beans to suggest a well-loved Halloween pie. As proven by Curly Tops chocolate rugelach, Sunflower Cracker ube magic bars, and White Rabbit cream cheese swirl Thai tea blondies, the self-taught baker also turned to local snacks for pastries.
Above Malted milk maja blanca with corn chip crunch
Above Matcha pastillas, chewy candies made up of condensed milk and matcha powder
Malted milk maja blanca with corn chip crunch
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“I had intended it to be an online diary; maybe a few friends would read it. That was fine with me,” she shares. But that wasn’t the case. Her site started getting traction during the pandemic when she thought of selling pasalubong treat boxes to connect with her community and donate the proceeds to mutual aid organisations.
“Quarantine was a difficult time, but baking was the one way I felt less alone,” she says. Her first treat sets were composed of ube puto, horchata bibingka, mini peach mango pies, black sesame and matcha cinnamon rolls, and miso caramel and pork floss brownies. “I used the blog to share the recipes for the desserts I made so people outside of NYC could make them themselves. When I posted photos of my bakes on Twitter, Emmy, a literary agent, found me in the fall of 2020 and asked if I was considering writing a cookbook. It hadn’t crossed my mind until they made it feel like it could be a reality!”
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Above Ube melon pandesal
Ube melon pandesal
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Balingit inked a deal with Harvest, an imprint of HarperCollins, and immediately got busy writing, developing recipes and shooting for the cookbook for most of 2022 while attending to her full-time job. “I was inspired by the flavours of my childhood and experimenting with contrasting flavours of sweet, savoury, sour, etcetera. It was important to me that I also included stories about my family and myself in the memoir sections.”
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Above Adobo chocolate chip cookie
Above Halo-halo baked Alaska
Adobo chocolate chip cookie
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One of her favourite recipes is the malted milk maja blanca with corn chip crunch. “When I was younger, I remember getting to stir the pot for my mum whenever she made maja blanca. It was and still is her signature dish!” On February 28, 2023, she released Mayumu: Filipino American Desserts Remixed. Not long after, more golden opportunities and recognition came her way.
She went on a book tour across the United States, was featured in Bon Appetit and Food & Wine magazines as well as Eater and Food52, and was celebrated by the New York Times by producing one of the best cookbooks of 2023. Her most recent accolade is winning the coveted Emerging Voice award from the James Beard Foundation.
Balingit dedicates all the laurels she’s reaping to her family, whom she credits for getting her interest in food as a kid and not keeping Filipino values and flavours away from her. “They nourished me, which has played a huge role in how I view food as not just a form of sustenance but an art,” she claims. “From the beginning, they have instilled that curiosity is a virtue in the kitchen. They always told me I should keep an open mind about trying new foods, and that spirit of adventurous eating has made me the person I am today.”
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Credits
Photography: Nico Schinco
