''Tapa'' is dried or cured

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). Beef can be prepared in various ways; Cut of beef, cuts are often used for steak, which can be cooked to varying degrees of doneness, while trimmings are often Ground beef, grou ...

pork Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig animal husbandry, husbandry dating back to 8000–9000 BCE. Pork is eaten both freshly cooke ...

mutton Lamb and mutton, collectively sheep meat (or sheepmeat) is one of the most common meats around the world, taken from the domestic sheep, ''Ovis aries'', and generally divided into lamb, from sheep in their first year, hogget, from sheep in thei ...

venison Venison refers primarily to the meat of deer (or antelope in South Africa). Venison can be used to refer to any part of the animal, so long as it is edible, including the internal organs. Venison, much like beef or pork, is categorized into spe ...

horse meat Horse meat forms a significant part of the culinary traditions of many countries, particularly in Europe and Asia. The eight countries that consume the most horse meat consume about 4.3million horses a year. For the majority of humanity's early ...

, although other meat or even

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

may be used. Filipinos prepare ''tapa'' by using thin slices of meat and curing these with salt and spices as a preservation method. ''Tapa'' is often cooked fried or grilled. When served with fried rice and fried egg, it is known as ''tapsilog,'' a portmanteau of the

Tagalog Tagalog may refer to: Language * Tagalog language, a language spoken in the Philippines ** Old Tagalog, an archaic form of the language ** Batangas Tagalog, a dialect of the language * Tagalog script, the writing system historically used for Tagal ...

words ''tapa'', ''

sinangag ''Sinangag'' (), also called garlic fried rice or garlic rice, is a Filipino fried rice dish cooked by stir-frying pre-cooked rice with garlic. The rice used is preferably stale, usually leftover cooked rice from the previous day, as it result ...

'' (fried rice) and ''itlog'' (egg). It sometimes comes with

atchara ''Atchara'' (also spelled ''achara'' or ''atsara'') is a pickle made from grated unripe papaya originating from the Philippines. This dish is often served as a side dish for fried or grilled foods like pork barbecue. History The name '' ...

, pickled papaya strips, or sliced tomatoes as

side dish A side dish, sometimes referred to as a side order, side item, or simply a side, is a food item that accompanies the entrée or main course at a meal.Vinegar Vinegar () is an aqueous solution of diluted acetic acid and trace compounds that may include flavorings. Vinegar typically contains from 5% to 18% acetic acid by volume. Usually, the acetic acid is produced by a double fermentation, converting ...

ketchup Ketchup or catsup is a table condiment with a sweet and sour flavor. "Ketchup" now typically refers to tomato ketchup, although early recipes for different varieties contained mushrooms, oysters, mussels, egg whites, grapes, or walnuts, amon ...

is usually used as a

condiment A condiment is a preparation that is added to food, typically after cooking, to enhance the Flavoring, flavour, to complement the dish or to impart a specific flavor. Such specific flavors generally add sweetness or pungency, or sharp or piquant ...

Etymology

''Tapa'' in

Philippine languages The Philippine languages or Philippinic are a proposed group by R. David Paul Zorc (1986) and Robert Blust (1991; 2005; 2019) that include all the languages of the Philippines and northern Sulawesi, Indonesia—except Sama–Bajaw (language ...

originally meant fish or meat preserved by

smoking Smoking is a practice in which a substance is combusted, and the resulting smoke is typically inhaled to be tasted and absorbed into the bloodstream of a person. Most commonly, the substance used is the dried leaves of the tobacco plant, whi ...

. In the

Spanish Philippines Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine ** Spanish history ** Spanish cultur ...

, it came to refer to meats also preserved by other means. It is derived from

Proto-Malayo-Polynesian Proto-Malayo-Polynesian (PMP) is the reconstructed ancestor of the Malayo-Polynesian languages, which is by far the largest branch (by current speakers) of the Austronesian language family. Proto-Malayo-Polynesian is ancestral to all Austronesia ...

''*tapa'', which in turn is derived from

Proto-Austronesian Proto-Austronesian (commonly abbreviated as PAN or PAn) is a proto-language. It is the reconstructed ancestor of the Austronesian languages, one of the world's major language families. Proto-Austronesian is assumed to have begun to diversify in ...

''*Capa''. ''

Tinapa Tinapa ''Tinapa'', a Filipino term, is fish cooked or preserved through the process of smoking. It is a native delicacy in the Philippines and is often made from blackfin scad (''Alepes melanoptera'', known locally as ''galunggong''), or from ...

'' (literally "prepared by smoking") is another

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...

, though it usually refers to

smoked fish Smoked fish is fish that has been cured by smoking. Foods have been smoked by humans throughout history. Originally this was done as a preservative. In more recent times, fish is readily preserved by refrigeration and freezing and the smoking o ...

Dishes

Before cooking tapa, the meat is cured or dried and cut in to small portions thick or thin slices. As a method of preservation, salt and spices are added. After preparation, the meat can be cooked either grilled or fried. Just like any other ''ulam'' (main dish) in

Filipino cuisine Filipino cuisine is composed of the cuisines of more than a hundred distinct Ethnic groups in the Philippines, ethnolinguistic groups found throughout the Philippines, Philippine archipelago. A majority of mainstream Filipino dishes that comp ...

, tapa is usually paired with

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

. It can be garlic rice, java rice, plain rice or any other types of preparation. As a side dish, tapa sometimes comes with

(pickled papaya strips) or sliced vegetables (usually tomatoes). Vinegar (oftentimes with

siling labuyo ''Siling labuyo'' is a small chili pepper cultivar that developed in the Philippines after the Columbian Exchange. It belongs to the species ''Capsicum frutescens'' and is characterized by triangular fruits that grow pointing upwards. The fruit ...

) or banana ketchup is usually used as a condiment.

Tapsilog

''Tapsilog'' is the term used when ''tapa'', garlic-

fried rice Fried rice is a dish of cooked rice that has been stir-fried in a wok or a frying pan and is usually mixed with other ingredients such as eggs, vegetables, seafood, or meat. It is often eaten by itself or as an accompaniment to another dis ...

(''

''), and fried

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the ...

(''itlog'') are combined into one meal, which is served primarily during

breakfast Breakfast is the first meal of the day usually eaten in the morning. The word in English refers to breaking the fasting period of the previous night. Various "typical" or "traditional" breakfast menus exist, with food choices varying by regi ...

. In

, a

restaurant A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and Delivery (commerce), food delivery services. Restaurants ...

that primarily serves ''tapa'' is called a ''tapahan'', ''tapsihan'' or ''tapsilugan''. According to some sources, ''tapsilog'' and ''tapsihan'' are colloquial

slang A slang is a vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in everyday conversation but avoided in formal writing and speech. It also often refers to the language exclusively used by the members of pa ...

words; however, these terms are already being used by those restaurants and many Filipinos from all social strata. ''Tapsilog'' and ''tapsihan'', therefore, may now be considered standard words in the

Filipino language Filipino ( ; , ) is the national language of the Philippines, the main lingua franca, and one of the two official languages of the country, along with Philippine English, English. It is only a ''de facto'' and not a ''de jure'' standard langu ...

rather than slang.

Restaurants

Small restaurants called ''tapsihan'' (or ''tapsilogan'') in many

barangay The barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as ''barrio'', is the smallest Administrative divisions of the Philippines, administrative division in the Philippines. Named after the Precolonial barangay, precolonial po ...

s in the Philippines serve ''tapsilog'' along with some of its variants (see ''

silog ''Silog'' is a class of Filipino breakfast dishes containing ''sinangag'' ( garlic fried rice) and ''itlog'' ("egg"; in context, fried egg "sunny side up"). They are served with various accompanying savory dishes (), usually fried meat dishes suc ...

''). However, large

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for ...

establishment chains in the Philippines, particularly some

fast food Fast food is a type of Mass production, mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. ''Fast food'' is a commercial term, limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheat ...

chains and even most hotels, have already ventured into the selling of ''tapa'' and the ''tapsilog'' due to the popularity of this type of cuisine, including the ''tapsilog'' and its variants on their breakfast menus.

References

External links