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Anthony Fisher was inspired to start Seven Fingers Baked Goods by his grandma, who passed away in 2017. He used her recipes to get started. His aim, he says, was not necessarily to create “authentic” Filipino or Filipino American baked goods. Instead, his aim was simply to create food that was true to his experience as someone who is not a full-blooded Filipino and who doesn’t share the same experience as other Filipino Americans.
Anthony’s Fisher’s featured dish is the Ube and Okinawan Sweet Potato Pie, which he says best represents who he is as a baker. Sweet potato pie is a southern staple, and Fisher doesn’t remember a single holiday where this humble pie wasn’t present. He decided to swap the sweet potato for the Filipino ube, which has recently gained culinary popularity. However, Fisher wanted the ube on full display, in a way where the root vegetable is not highlighted when ube flavoring is mixed into a batter. The addition of Okinawan sweet potato provides that classic sweet potato pie texture.
Fisher uses his dad’s recipe to build the pie, which was challenging due to a lack of written down instructions.
“If you were raised in minority spaces, you know how hard it is to come up on a complete recipe,” remarked Fisher. “There aren’t usually exact measurements. It is intuitive: a dash of this, a pinch of that … spice to taste.”
Fisher had to rely on his memories to recreate the familiar feelings associated with sweet potato pie. He doesn’t shy away from warming spices, such as cinnamon and nutmeg. He finishes the pie with a beautiful meringue, which was borne of both skill and intention. The meringue highlights each individual ingredient, isolating each flavor for a brief moment.
“This dish isn’t inherently Filipino or Southern, nor is it true to my family recipe,” says Fisher. “Yet, it possesses all of those things. In the same way that I could never fit neatly into one category or another … there is beauty in the nuance and in the experiences (or ingredients) that make each of us. I made this pie to celebrate that.”
Punk Foodie offers this weekly column about Punk Food, a moniker for a cuisine without defining or distinctive ingredients, techniques and dishes which is being born out of the increasing infusion of the diverse cultures and experiences that live in our city. Find out where Seven Fingers is popping up next and go deeper via Punk Foodie’s weekly guides and pop-up calendar.
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