Ilocano Regional Cuisine

Ilocano Regional Cuisine

• Ilocos is the northernmost region of the Philippines, characterized by mountainous terrain and typhoon susceptibility.
• Travel times to Ilocos from Manila take roughly 10 hours by land, even with improved road conditions.
• The region's economy relies mainly on agriculture and agro-industrial activities.
• Known for agro-industrial businesses such as milkfish and bagoong processing.
• Other sources of income include rice, tobacco, corn, sugarcane, and fruit cultivation, as well as livestock raising, including pigs, chickens, goats, and carabaos.
• Ilocanos value the concept of being thrifty.
• The cuisine avoids heavy, thick sauces and excessive condiments.
• Utilizes locally sourced ingredients.
• The main cooking approaches are boiling, grilling, steaming, and roasting.
• Unusual ingredients that are used by people are intestines, bile, large amounts of liver, tripe, kidneys, crickets, cow skin, ant eggs, and dog.
• Dishes are typically soupy.
• Minimal thickening agents are used, such as rice flour, flour, or roux.
• Emphasizes the use of local leafy vegetables and vegetable blossoms, which can be easily overcooked if not prepared correctly.
• Bagoong, called aramang, and Ilocos vinegar serves as popular condiments to be used.
• Ilocos vinegar has greater acidity compared to commercially made palm vinegar.
• Bitterness is a characteristic flavor in the region's dishes, often achieved through the use of bitter gourd and bile.

Native Delicacies

• Pinakbet is a traditional Filipino meat stew filled with vegetables and shrimp paste., originating in Ilocos and utilizing available seasonal vegetable products and varieties.
• Commonly made with fatty pork, bitter melon, squash, sweet potatoes, eggplants, okra, and green beans.
• Shrimp paste is the foundation of the recipe.
• Dinengdeng is a vegetable soup comparable in appearance and preparation to Pinakbet.
• Unlike Pinakbet, it uses green/yellow veggies like squash blossoms and malunggay fruits.
• Often has grilled fish or meat.
• Dinakdakan is a sisig-like product made from grilled pieces of pig face, ears, liver, tongue, and brain mixed with calamansi, onions, ginger, and chili peppers.
• Mashed brain is added to give the dish smoothness, however mayonnaise can be used as a modern alternative.
• Pinapaitan has a generally bitter flavor and roughly translates to "make bitter."
• Contains tender beef, ox tripe, intestines, heart, bile, and green chilies.
• Bile, a liquid extracted from animal livers, gives the soup its distinct bitter taste and light yellow hue.
• The addition of calamansi and hot temperature can lessen the bitterness.
• Poqui-Poqui is made from grilled eggplants that are peeled, chopped, and sautéed with garlic, onions or shallots, and tomatoes.
• Beaten eggs are stirred in until the eggplants reach a slightly wet scrambled consistency.
• Called Poqui to cut or mash due to 1980’s Filipino migration to Hawaii.
• Sinanglaw is similar to pinapaitan only without the bitter taste.
• Although bile and ox tripe are used, the bile is diluted, and a larger helping of beef tendons and brisket is used.
• Igado is made from pork tenderloin and innards and has a sweet-and-sour taste because of the pork being soaked in Sukang Iloko, soy sauce, and pepper.
• Insarabsab consists of pork belly or shoulder marinated overnight with Sukang Iloko, calamansi, and garlic.
• The meat is cooked over strong heat to give a smoky flavor and then combined with raw red onions and red chilies.
• Pigar-Pigar is a pulutan consisting of beef strips sautéed in cabbage and onions.
• Usually supplied with a sauce of chili, calamansi juice and soy sauce due to it’s light seasoning.
• Ilocos Longganisa is a native sausage with plenty of garlic and and is spicy, salty, tangy.
• Can mostly be found in Batac, Ilocos Norte.
• Alaminos Longganisa is orange in coloring and has large amounts of pepper and garlic.
• Bukayo is made with strips of young coconut flesh cooked in coconut water and brown sugar.
• Tupig is made from ground glutinous rice incorporating buco strips, coconut milk, sugar and sesame seeds and then wrapped in banana leaves and then grilled.
• Dudol is made of rice flour, coconut milk, sugarcane juice and anise and is sticky because it is continuously stirred.
• Provides energy, which makes it a perfect snack.
• Puto Calasiao is a steamed rice cake and comes in flavors such as Pandan, ube and strawberry.
• Bagnet consists of pork belly which is boiled and fried crispy.
• Also known as “chicharon”
• Cornick are corn kernels that are cooked until they are crunchy.
• Flavors available are cheese, barbeque, garlic, sweet and spicy, and adobo.
• Okoy includes crispy shrimp fritters with other garnishes.

Cuisine of Cagayan Valley

• Cagayan Valley is located at the northern tip of the Philippines, and its capital is Tuguegarao City.
• It is otherwise known as Region II.
• Composed of five provinces: Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino, and Batanes.
• The Cagayan Valley region is known as the Top Corn Producer because it is abundant in crops such as rice, corn, peanut, beans, and fruits.
• Among the priority sectors being promoted for development includes Agribusiness.

Cagayan Valley characteristics

• Uses rice and corn in most delicacies.
• Native animal meat is preserved according to pre-colonial methods, such as smoking and fermentation utilizing animal fat.
• Batanes and Cagayan make liberal use of seafood, and exotic seafood harvested in these areas is also used in Asian cooking.
• Southern provinces use citrus fruits as part of their drink recipes.
• Carabao or water buffalo meat is a common choice for meat.

Dishes & Desserts

• Pancit Cabagan is a thin Miki noodle recipe is garnished with pork lechon carajay, pork or chicken liver, vegetables, and quail eggs.
• Pancit Batil Patung, an iconic noodle dish that started in Tuguegarao City, makes an appearance made utilizing carabao meat or carabeef.
• Sinanta is a noodle dish by the Ybanags usually served as snacks and served during birthdays.
• Served in a soup; a mix of sotanghon, miki noodles, chicken, pork, and clams, in a soup flavored with patis.
• Its is usually taken with pinakufu a sweet rice cake, and hot choco.
• Lumot contains a host of seafood, lumot being lato’s lesser known cousin, having a similar but saltier more algae-ish consistency.
• Uved is made of finely-grated corm, ground meat, and seasoned with onion, garlic, salt, and pepper, then rolled into balls or served as is.
• Vunes has stewed gabi stalks first soaked in water, then minced and then cooked together with pork and patola
• Luñis is a rather served different version of the popular Filipino dish, adobo, but lasting longer when tradionally preserved in its own lard due to being completely dried.
• Supas, also called balencyana, is made is rice cooked in turmeric pulp and mixed with garlic and pork.
• Ybanag Longganisa is a pinoy breakfast favorite and is made from carabeef, being garlicky with bits of fat and very flavorful when slowly fried to a crisp.
• Aling Belen’s Longganisa is a household name her personal recipe first made in 1970.
• Putoflan contains soft rice cakes made from flour and egg yolks, but with sweet leche flan bottom.
• Pawa features bite-sized snack is made from steamed glutinous rice filled with sweetened grounded peanuts.
• Chicharrabao, version of the chicharon (pork rind), dubbed uniquely Cagayan where strange enough, made not from pork, but from carabeef.