''Daing'', ''tuyô'', ''buwad'', or ''bilad'' () are
dried fish
Fresh fish rapidly deteriorates unless some way can be found to preserve it. Drying (food), Drying is a method of food preservation that works by removing water from the food, which inhibits the growth of microorganisms. Open air drying using sun ...
from the
Philippines
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
.
Fish prepared as ''daing'' are usually split open (though they may be left whole), gutted, salted liberally, and then sun and air-dried. There are also "boneless" versions which fillet the fish before the drying process.
It was originally a preservation technique, as salt inhibits the growth of bacteria, allowing fish to be stored for long periods of time.
''Daing'' is fried or grilled before consumption, though it can also be wrapped in foil and baked in an oven. It is usually dipped in vinegar and eaten with white rice for breakfast. Notably, it is traditionally paired with ''
champorado
Champorado or tsampuradoVirgilio Almario, Almario, Virgilio, et al. 2010. ''UP Filipino Dictionary, UP Diksiyonaryong Filipino'', 2nd ed. Anvil Publishing, Anvil: Pasig. (from from ''champurrar'' 'to mix') is a sweet chocolate rice porridge i ...
'' (traditional Filipino chocolate rice gruel). It can also be used as an ingredient in other dishes.
''Daing'' is considered
poverty food because it is relatively cheap but has gained significance in Philippine culture as
comfort food
Comfort food is food that provides a nostalgic or sentimental value to someone and may be characterized by its high caloric nature associated with childhood or home cooking. The nostalgia may be specific to an individual or it may apply to a ...
.
Preparation

Virtually any fish can be prepared as ''daing''. The species of fish used is usually identified by name when sold in markets. For example, in
Cebu
Cebu ( ; ), officially the Province of Cebu (; ), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 167 surrounding islands and islets. The coastal zone of Cebu is identified as a ...
, the local specialty which uses
rabbitfish
Rabbitfishes or spinefoots, genus ''Siganus'', are perciform fishes in the family (biology), family Siganidae. It is the only Extant taxon, extant genus in its family and has 29 species. In some now obsolete classifications, the species having ...
(''Siganus'' spp., locally known as ''danggit''), is called ''buwad danggit''.
Other fish species used include
threadfin breams (Nemipteridae, locally known as ''bisugo'');
grey mullets (Mugilidae, locally known as ''banak''); and sardines (''
Sardinella
''Sardinella'' is a genus of fish in the family Dorosomatidae found in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. They are abundant in warmer waters of the tropical and subtropical oceans. Adults are generally coastal, schooling, marine fish but ...
'' spp. and ''
Dussumieria acuta'', locally known as ''tunsoy'' or ''tamban''). ''Daing'' made from sardines is usually dried whole, though exported ''daing'' may be gutted to comply with food laws in other countries.
Cuttlefish
Cuttlefish, or cuttles, are Marine (ocean), marine Mollusca, molluscs of the order (biology), suborder Sepiina. They belong to the class (biology), class Cephalopoda which also includes squid, octopuses, and nautiluses. Cuttlefish have a unique ...
and
squid
A squid (: squid) is a mollusc with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight cephalopod limb, arms, and two tentacles in the orders Myopsida, Oegopsida, and Bathyteuthida (though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also ...
may also be prepared this way (
Tagalog: ''daing na pusit''; Cebuano: ''bulad pusit'').
In Central and Southern Philippines, ''daing'' is known as ''bulad'' or ''buwad'' in
Cebuano. The types of ''daing'' which use sliced and gutted fish are known as ''pinikas'' (literally "halved" referring to the halves of the fish). Northern regions usually do not distinguish between the two, though some may use ''daing'' to refer exclusively to the halved and gutted types, while ''tuyô'' is used for all types of daing.
Variants
A variant of ''daing'' known as ''labtingaw'' uses less salt and is dried for a much shorter period (only a few hours). The resulting ''daing'' is still slightly moist and meatier than the fully dried variant.
Another variant of ''daing'' known as ''lamayo'', does away with the drying process altogether. Instead, after the fish is cleaned, it is simply marinated in vinegar, garlic, and other spices before frying.
See also
*
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 ...
*
Burong isda
''Burong isda'' (literally "fermented fish") is a Philippine_cuisine, Filipino dish consisting of cooked rice and raw fish fillet, filleted fermented fish, fish fermentation (food), fermented with salt and ''angkak'' (red yeast rice) for around ...
*
Clipfish
Dried and salted cod, sometimes referred to as salt cod or saltfish or salt dolly, is cod which has been preserved by drying after salting. Cod which has been dried without the addition of salt is stockfish. Salt cod was long a major export of ...
*
Cuisine of the Philippines
Filipino cuisine is composed of the cuisines of more than a hundred distinct ethnolinguistic groups found throughout the Philippine archipelago. A majority of mainstream Filipino dishes that comprise Filipino cuisine are from the food tradi ...
*
Kipper
A kipper is a whole herring, a small, oily fish, that has been split in a butterfly fashion from tail to head along the dorsal ridge, gutted, salted or pickled, and cold-smoked over smouldering wood chips (typically oak).
In the United Kin ...
*
Stockfish
Stockfish is unsalted fish, especially cod, dried by cold air and wind on wooden racks (which are called "hjell" in Norway) on the foreshore. The drying of food is the world's oldest known preservation method, and dried fish has a storage li ...
References
{{Filipino food
Filipino cuisine
Fish dishes
Dried fish