I am going to ask my wife to ask her mom if she uses Lye Water. She has been and still is a cook for a very wealthy Pinoy family, virtually most of her working life. The chap she cooks for is one of your top Pinoy scientists. I will be interested to see if she splashes in the Lye Water into their food.
Wherever they go, she goes with them, such is the quality of her cooking. She is off to Cebu on monday with them.....they rarely leave her behind when they go on vacation.