‘A Taste of Heaven’ is part of a fundraiser to establish the Fr. Herb Schneider, S.J. Institute for Community Building
The book launch of “A Taste of Heaven,” a cookbook by Fr. Herbert Schneider, S.J., was supposed to be a grand event with a benefit dinner. It was commissioned by the Brotherhood of Christian Businessmen and Professionals (BCBP), one of the communities founded by Father Herb, as he is called by all the communities he formed and is spiritual mentor to—Ligaya ng Panginoon, Couples for Christ and Familia.
Because of the pandemic, that launch was put on hold and eventually scratched. But according to those who planned the event, it was also a blessing, because the launch on YouTube and Facebook was not as costly. Talks were given by the elders of each community, those who managed the project, those who put the book together, and Father Herb.
Father Herb, who is a Jesuit professor of the New Testament, reminded us that the Old and New Testament describe “heaven as a banquet or a feast.” That is why he chose “A Taste of Heaven” as the title of his cookbook.
He writes in his introduction that “a cookbook is but a manual of instructions on how to bring heaven into our everyday life.” He stresses that the dining table has “great power,” for it is where one builds a family and a community.
He remembered a time during his studies in Innsbruck, Austria, when the small student community decided to share meals, and the personal interactions also meant sharing hearts and minds. He recalled that in the early days of Ligaya ng Panginoon, the potluck dishes were not only a method of interaction but a way to taste local regional food, from Aparri to Jolo.Celebratory
The chapters are divided into celebratory meals—from the simplest “Team Building” meeting, to the major Christian celebrations of Easter, Advent and Christmas. Recipes range from easy favorites such as salads, soups, dips and cookies, to the more complicated Beef Bourguignon, Oven-Roasted Leg of Lamb and the really challenging Turducken—a chicken within a duck within a turkey.
Vicky Pacheco, executive chef and COO of Chateau 1771 restaurant group and member of the BCBP, gave her lighthearted assessment of the cookbook during the launch. She described the Turducken as containing one whole community. Despite being a member of one community, she has never met Father Herb, so she said the recipes gave her an idea of who he was.
She thinks he is a priest masquerading as a chef, that he is organized, shares preparation strategy and suggests alternatives, but at the same time, she feels that some of the recipes are painstaking, “like climbing Mt. Everest.” Yet there are those that are quite simple, like the Sugar Preserved Lemons, she cited. And keeping with her funny commentary, she says even that needs patience, because they can only be sampled after two weeks.
I was managing editor of the cookbook. Yes, some of the recipes required skill, like deboning all the three fowls involved in the Turducken. It was the biggest hurdle of chef Dan Michael Silbor, who handled recipe testing.
First, turkey was hard to get after the Christmas holidays when production began. Then, after the roasting, the proof of a well-cooked dish was that the slice had to hold together all three—the white meat of the turkey, the dark meat of the duck and the brownish meat of the chicken. The success is seen on the cover of the book.
My work was made lighter by the team I worked with—artistic director Jenny Lynn Peña, who determined the look of the book, the color palette and the layout; food stylist Tina Diaz, who not only makes the food look delicious, but brings and arranges countless props to evoke the theme of the meal; and photographer Mark Floro, whose lighting and shadows help bring the pages to life, using tricks of the trade you never imagined would be employed, like bird feathers. INQThe sale of “A Taste of Heaven” is a fundraising effort to establish the Fr. Herb
Schneider, S.J., Institute for Community Building. A donation will get you a cookbook. BCBP, tel. 88190051.
Email the author at pinoyfood04@yahoo.com
Micky Fenix discovers local flavors from around the country and writes about them in her weekly column Country Cooking.
