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Food&DrinkSati-Babi

By Stacey Muncie Photo Joe Garza

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''When you go in the Philippines and ask for 'barbecue', itmeans 'meat on a stick'," explains Martin Miranda of theFilipino street food. "It's a very common, typical treatbeing sold on the street in the Philippines." But whenHauteans think of meat on a stick, one name likely comesto mind: Sati-Babi. That's because the family-ownedbusiness has been serving the savory shish-kabobs fromits base of operations in Terre Haute for over 30 years.

t was during a conversationwith my sister last fall that Iwas first clued in to the factthat Sati-Babi is a local enter-

prise. She had re-cently mentionedpicking up some

Sati- Babis at the State Fair toher coworkers at the IndianaState Museum in Indianapo-lis. Having assumed thateveryone knew what Sati-

Babi was, she was shocked by the puzzledlooks she got from her coworkers who hadnever heard of it. Curious, she searched on-

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line, only to find the Sati- Babi website andlearn that it was based right here in TerreHaute. So she did what any good Hauteanfoodie would do - she called her Hauteanfoodie sister. "Did you know that Sati -Babiis owned by a local Filipino family?" sheasked. I did not, and I figured that if I didn'tknow, then probably a lot of other peoplewere in the dark as well. With the festivalseason right around the corner, I contactedthe Miranda family to get the scoop on thelegendary shish-kabobs and the folks whomake them.

The story of Sati- Babi is a classic Ameri-can tale of hard work and an entrepreneurial

spirit applied to a dream, albeit not Tony Mi-randa's original career pursuit. Tony beganby pursuing a medical degree in the Philip-pines, but when he fainted at the sight ofblood, those plans were scrapped. Instead,he chose to pursue a degree in business. In1968, his studies brought Tony and wife Fe(pronounced Faye) to Terre Haute and Indi-ana State University, where he would even-tually attain an MBA. Itwas during this timethat he began refining his recipe for themarinade that makes his variation of thecommon Filipino barbecue unique. Prepar-ing batch after batch of marinated shish-kabobs, he taste-tested them on coworkers

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Sati-Babi. "Peo-ple bring chil-dren," saysMartin, "andthey tell us, 'Mydad brought meto the fair, andnow I'm bringingmy kids to getSati-Babi.'" Ithas become soingrained in thelocal culture,that many folksjust assume thatSati- Babi iseverywhere, likeCoke or Ken-tuckyFried

Chicken, and are shocked to find out that it'slocal. In fact, I've been hard pressed to findanyone who did know that Sati- Babi is a localcreation. "I'm proud of the fact that it's aunique product, born out of my dad's idea,right here in Terre Haute, Indiana," Martinsays of the tasty skewers.

In 1973,Tony started selling his pro.ductat a small restaurant with only three tablesworth of seating on Wabash Avenue. Later,he moved the restaurant to the buildingwhich now houses Jimmy Johns at 11th andWabash. "He is an entrepreneur," says Mar-tin of his father, Tony. The family alsocatered, and Martin, who has been workingin the business for as long as he can remem-ber, laughs as he describes helping withevents while dressed in costume. "He mademe and my sister and brother wear thesekind of Hawaiian outfits when we served

who would t~ll him whether they thought itwas too salty, too sweet, or needed someother change. Tony eventually settled uponthe ideal combination of ingredients for themarinade. Once he'd perfected the recipe,he memorized it and destroyed the writtencopy. Like the recipe for Coke, or ColonelSanders' seven herbs and spices, the Sati-Babi recipe is a closely guarded secret. Tony,along with sons Victor and Martin, are theonly ones who know how to make the savorysauce.

For his unique product, Tony created thename Sati -Babi, which is derived from theword "sate" meaning marinated, and a varia-tion of words which mean "pork" in Filipinodialects. The name, which is a registeredtrademark, has become synonymous in thisarea with the festival staple, as generationspass down the tradition of going to get a

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food," Martin chuckles, recalling his child-hood tears and reluctance to dress in thetropical garb, and big sister Leonora's reas-surance that, "It'll be okay." His sister,Leonora Miranda Clark, grew up in the busi-ness as well, often helping to make the eggrolls that the family sells alongside theirSati- Babi. "Dad always says my sister rolledher way through college," Martin jokes.

In the 198os, the business shifted fromthe restaurant and catering, to a concession-aire enterprise, bringing Tony Miranda'sSati -Babi to folks at festivals throughout theWabash Valley. From the end of May to Oc-tober, the Sati- Babi stand serves up egg rolls,lemon-shake-ups, and of course, shish-kabobs to hungry patrons. ''You knew whenfestivals came, you were gonna work," Mar-tin says of the family business. "I can imag-ine if my dad was a farmer, we all would haveworked the farm." The Miranda family's old-fashioned work ethic and cooperative spirithas carried Sati -Babi beyond the local festi-val circuit. Although they primarily workfestivals in Indiana, "My dad has taken Sati - ..Babi as far east as Yankee Stadium, as farwest as the Iowa State Fair, as far north asthe Wisconsin State Fair, and as far south asKeyWest." Martin adds, "I'm proud of thefact that we provide a service elsewhere, andbring money back into the local economy."The Mirandas work up to twenty festivals ayear. Their schedule necessitates that thefood, which is hand made by the family, beprepared in advance beginning in earlyspring. "Product is made in the off seasonand frozen. If we've done the right thing, bythe end of May we've got enough to last untilSeptember." But sometimes sales exceed

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the amount of product they've prepared.Such was the case last fall during the Cov-ered Bridge Festival, when Victor was atMansfield selling Sati- Babis while Martinstayed in Terre Haute and made more prod-uct in order to keep up with the demand.

itting at a stainless steel tablein the family's county-in-spected commissary, Mar-tin threads chunks of

marinated pork onto bambooskewers as he talks about theprocess involved in making

Sati-Babis. "It has to do with color," he says,explaining that the meat marinates for ap-proximately 3hours, until it has reached thedesired hue. The family then begins assem-blingthe shish-kabobs, laughing andjokingas they work, "On the best of days, we'rehere making food and having a good time."Tony, Victor and Martin get a lot of this qual-ity time together, because they make ap-proximately 50,000 Sati -Babis every spring- enough to provide nearly 85 percent of

Terre Haute's population with a skewer eachyear. And while the Mirandas enjoy workingtogether, making that many Sati -Babis is alot of work. "What yo.u see now is whatkeeps competition away," Martin says as hequickly spears piece after piece of the hand-cut pork.

But 50,000 shish-kabobs aren't the onlything keeping the family busy. They alsomake two sizes of egg rolls, large ones andsmall ones similar to the traditional Filipinolumpia, as well as their top-secret sauce,which is then used to marinate slices ofBoston butt for the Sati -Babis. The egg rollsare filled with a mixture of beef and pork,which is ground together with water chest-nuts before being tucked into an egg rollwrapper and rolled into the familiar shape.In addition to preparing enough food to feedthousands of hungry festival-goers, they alsoproduce enough extra sauce to sell it by thebottle. It's even available for mail order viatheir website, satibabi.com. Martin recom-mends it not only for meats, but also as anaddition to stir fry, fried rice, or even tofu "if

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you like that Sati -Babi taste" but don't eatmeat.

The enticing smell of Sati- Babi beingcooked in the open air of a festival or fair iswhat attracts first-time customers. But it'sthe taste imparted by Tony Miranda's secretsauce that keeps them coming back, yearafter year. That flavor, perfected over 30years ago, prepared each summer by the Mi-randa family, and sought after by genera-tions of festival patrons, is what makesSati-Babiunique. Martin says occasionally,people will ask him about the secret sauce,wanting to know what's in it. He says hesometimes teases them, asking, "Do you re-ally want to know what it is?" When they sayyes, as they always do, he calls them closer,as if preparing to divulge the family recipe.Pausing a moment for dramatic effect hetells them, "It's love." Martin laughs as hetells me this, then smiles as he reflects onthe dynamics of the family business, thestress and struggles, and good times andhard work along the way, "I say it jokingly tothem - but, yeah, it really is."

Formore information, please contactone of our mortgage loan staff.

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terrehauteliving.com May - June 2010 I Terre Haute Living 29

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