🇵🇭 Philippines · Southern Luzon (Batangas and Cavite; Tagaytay)
BulaloFilipino beef bone marrow soup
A Filipino soup of beef shank and marrow bones simmered for hours into a clear, rich broth, often with cabbage, corn or greens, served with rice and a fish-sauce and calamansi dip.
Origin and history
Bulalo is a beef-shank and marrow soup of Southern Luzon, best known in Batangas, which SBS calls the cattle-trading capital of Luzon, and in Tagaytay in Cavite, where many travellers eat it. The name comes from the Tagalog bula, marrow. The exact origin is uncertain and may be old; Doreen Fernandez counts it among the many nilaga (boiled) dishes of the Philippines. It is served with rice.
Make it at home
- Makes
- 6 servings
- Total time
- 3 h 30 min
- Hands-on
- 30 min
Ingredients
- 1.5 kg3.3 lb beef shank with marrow bones, cross-cut in thick rounds, with extra marrow bones if possible
- 2.5 L10 cups water, plus more to keep the pot covered
- 2 onions, red or white, sliced
- 1 tbsp whole black peppercorns
- 4 to 5 tbsp fish sauce (patis), to taste
- 1 tbsp coarse salt, to taste
- 2 ears sweet corn, cut in 3 to 4 pieces each; optional
- 1/2 small cabbage, in wedges
- 2 bunches baby bok choy (pechay)
- 5 to 7 bird's eye chilies, for the dip, chopped
- 4 tbsp fish sauce, for the dip
- 3 calamansi or 1 lemon, juiced, for the dip
Method
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1. Cover the shank and bones with cold water in a large pot, boil 5 minutes, then drain and rinse the bones and pot. This keeps the broth clear.
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2. Return the meat to the pot with 2.5 L of fresh water. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer gently for 1 hour, skimming off the scum and fat that surface.
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3. Add the onions, peppercorns, salt and fish sauce. Cover and simmer another 2 hours, topping up with hot water if needed, until the meat is fork-tender and the marrow has loosened.
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4. Skim the fat off the top. Bring back to a gentle boil.
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5. Add the corn and cook 5 minutes, then the cabbage and cook 3 minutes, then the bok choy for 1 minute. Taste and adjust the salt.
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6. Mix the dip: chilies, 4 tablespoons fish sauce and the calamansi juice in a small bowl.
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7. Serve in deep bowls, with marrow bones, meat and vegetables, with rice and the dip.
Notes
- The soup is a long, slow simmer of beef shank and marrow, kept clear, and is served from the bowl with rice; SBS places it among the nilaga (boiled) dishes. Scoop the marrow onto rice or into the broth.
- Chef Miguel Vargas, quoted by SBS, says the traditional Batangas version has no vegetables; modern bowls often add cabbage, pechay, bok choy, corn, potato or saba bananas. Tagaytay, in Cavite, is a well-known place to eat it. Some cooks add sibot, a packaged Chinese herbal spice mix. The dip is fish sauce or soy sauce with calamansi and chilies.
- A pressure cooker cuts the cooking to about 1 hour; keep the pot at a simmer otherwise so the broth stays clear.
- Make-ahead: the broth improves overnight; lift off the set fat before reheating.
Adapted from Panlasang Pinoy, Batangas bulalo, Foxy Folksy, Bulalo, and SBS Filipino, Bulalo: a hearty soup for the Filipino soul.
At the festivals
No festival we list has printed it on a menu yet.