Scrap meat no more

Spending an afternoon chatting with these young entrepreneurs is like taking a crash course in the ins and outs of the tuna business. If you like trivia, you’d be amazed at the various tuna facts Alvin could tell you. For instance, not everybody knows that tuna should be caught using a hook and line, never a net (although we’re quite sure unscrupulous fishermen often take shortcuts). This prevents the struggling tuna from getting bruised and decreasing the quality of the meat in the process. Fifteen days at sea would yield an average of 20 pieces of tuna of varying sizes. Upon return to port, the tuna should be handled very carefully to avoid more bruising. "Nobody wants a ‘manhandled tuna,’" says Alvin who, along with wife Emma, runs the popular Sikat-Tuna Inihaw.

It would also do tuna eaters good to know that there are different classes of tuna – A, B, C, even D. Grade A tuna are the most sought-after and are the ones used for sashimi. These are also the ones being exported abroad. The other grades are classified according to the degree of freshness and the quality of meat with the latter depending on how the fish is handled. "Class D tuna has meat that easily disintegrates. Naaagnas na in other words. These sell for as low as P30 a kilo," says Alvin.

Low-quality tuna, he adds, are drenched in pig’s blood and passed off as fresh in local markets. You have to have a sharp eye (or you have to know your tuna supplier) if you don’t want to end up with a battered tuna.

Don’t expect tuna to appear when there are storms at sea and when a red fish local fishermen call "diana" appears. The latter, rounded and has a meat similar to beef, is said to drive away the tuna. This, say the Velasquezes, usually happens in April.

With the good cuts already reserved for restaurants abroad, local tuna suppliers are left with "scraps" – that is, throw-away stuff like panga (jaw), tail, and the curious-looking bihod and bagaybay (roe and milk). The latter is a creamy, whitish stuff found in the tuna's belly and is quite good when dipped in soy sauce with kalamansi and chili. We were told it‘s a popular pulutan among beer drinkers but it also goes well with steaming hot rice.

Well, for this husband-and-wife team, these scraps are worth more than their perceived value. Now, with 25 franchise and one family-owned restaurants in Tagaytay (located along Maharlika Highway near Lestlie’s Restaurant), the Sikat-Tuna chain has given these once taken for granted tuna parts a new image. In recent years, tuna belly which used to be exported has become popular here as well.

"In the past, they would just throw away tuna tails in Davao. Tuna heads were also given away to fishermen who would whip up great adobo and paksiw with these," says Alvin who spent three years in Davao studying and mastering the tuna business.

An engineer and nurse respectively, Alvin and Emma didn’t think they’d end up selling tuna. What began as a home business at their BLISS residence in Sikatuna Village eventually grew into a thriving tuna business a couple of years later. From merely 50 kilos of scrap tuna meat, the Velasquezes now buy about a ton of tuna – including class A meat – every month. Since General Santos City (a major source of tuna in the country) can only produce about 150 kilos of panga every day, they have to look for other sources and got as far as Indonesia to be able to meet the demand.

"We never thought we’d go into the restaurant business either. We were quite content with just supplying restaurants in the metropolis," says Emma who, in the early ’90s, used to deliver tuna to restaurants in Timog, Quezon City using a stroller. Pregnant at that time with their first child, Emma also had a crazy schedule which required her to go to the airport every other day at the oddest hours – either 4 a.m. or late at night – to get the fresh batch of tuna that husband Alvin sent from Davao.

According to Alvin, the popularity of tuna panga began 30 years ago when Ihaw-Balot restaurant started serving inihaw na panga. It was only the last decade when interest in panga picked up once again. "We introduced the chicharon balat ng tuna in Katips restaurant and crispy buntot in Dencio’s," says Alvin, adding that they’re also one of the founders of tuna chorizo.

For somebody who doesn’t like tuna that much, Emma has come up with a wide variety of tuna products including tapa (this one either looks like beef cubes of liver slices when cooked), chorizo, tocino, sisig, and embutido. She’s now in the process of perfecting several dishes including tuna kaldereta, bola-bola and carbonara. In the Velasquez household, it‘s Emma who does the experimenting and Alvin naturally ends up tasting all her concoctions.

At the Velasquezes’ Tagaytay restaurant, non-meat eaters will be delighted to see a wide variety of meals including sinigang na panga, tuna sashimi, crispy buntot, and sizzling/grilled bihod and bagaybay, among others. Of course, the classic grilled panga and belly continue to be bestsellers. For variety, the restaurant has started serving salmon, blue marlin, scallops, gindara and tanigue. The couple’s attention recently got caught by another exotic tuna part – the eyes. Mata ng tuna, according to Emma, would make a tasty paksiw dish. "Two persons can share one eye because it would be a huge serving," she says. Alvin adds that mata ng tuna tastes so much like mata ng tilapia and mata ng bangus.

Tuna lovers who want to cook on their own can order from the Velasquezes directly. All they have to do is to call – or text, for regular customers – in advance for their orders which come with Emma’s very own special sauce (a closely guarded secret, we are told). The Velasquezes can also give you some tips on the proper way to grill a tuna so it would remain juicy and not end up tasting like a piece of carton or paper. Of course, they won't reveal all their secrets when it comes to certain cooking techniques.

"Some of our customers going to Batangas for the weekend will call us and just pick up their orders in Tagaytay the next day," says Alvin.

The couple’s Tagaytay place has a brisk take-out business since the area can only accommodate less than 40 people. During weekends, the Velasquezes are there personally manning the business. A visitor will be greeted at the entrance with an ihawan painted with the familiar yellow-and-blue Sikat-Tuna logo. According to Emma, the colors signify the sun (sikat) and the sea (for the tuna). Obviously named after Sikatuna Village where the business began, Sikat-Tuna can also be an affirmation of their thriving tuna business. No, the name doesn’t have anything to do with the datu who participated in a historic blood compact with Spanish conquistador Miguel Lopez de Legazpi in 1565 in Bohol.

Like any other couple involved in family business, Alvin and Emma quarrel over business decisions at times. "Sometimes we argue over the costing of the products. I also want to expand slowly while my husband wants otherwise. These are things we really discuss and fortunately we end up meeting halfway," says Emma. But if there’s one thing they’ve learned in their more than a decade-old business, it’s how to deal with all sorts of people. "Since a food business needs to be handled carefully, we’re taking it slow when it comes to franchising and putting up more restaurants. We don’t want to sacrifice quality for quantity," adds Emma. At present, Sikat-Tuna has outlets as far as Baguio, Lucena and Subic, as well as in various places in the metropolis.

Business, according to the couple, peaks especially during the summer months. The lenten season, in particular, boosts tuna sales mainly due to Catholics’ abstinence from meat during this time. "Our sales during the Holy Week is enough to cover for our lean months," says Alvin.

Not everyone knows that the Philippines is the second largest tuna exporter to the US after Thailand, and that there are about 10 tuna canneries in Mindanao. Most Filipino consumers do know about those familiar tuna in cans that come in different "flavors". We don’t even need to tell you about the healthy properties of tuna, or other deep-sea fishes for that matter. But not everybody knows the story behind these so-called "scrap meat." Now we do.