Philcuisine3

• Ilocos is located at the northern most part of the Philippines. The area is very mountainous and prone to typhoons. In the past it took very long travels to get grocery supplies from the main cities. Today even with better road conditions it still takes around 10 hours to get to Ilocos from Manila via land. So Ilocanos are known to be the thriftiest race in the country.
• Ilocano cuisine


  • Not heavy on thick sauces or rich in condiments
  • Uses ingredients that are abundant in their surroundings
  • Keeps food simple
  • Reflective of the four foundation cooking methods of Filipino cuisine: boiling, grilling, roasting and steaming
• Bagoong aramang


  Fish/shrimp sauce or paste
• Ilocos vinegar


  Has a higher concentration of acidity compared to commercially produced palm vinegar
• Bitterness


  Attributed to Ilocanos' love for ampalaya (bitter gourd or bitter melon) and the sparing use of bile (bitter-tasting fluid found in the gallbladder of goat or cattle) on their dishes
• Common vegetables in Ilocos region

  • Eggplants
  • Tomatoes
  • Upo
  • Ampalaya
  • Okra
  • Malunggay
  • Saluyot
  • Various varieties of beans
• Pinakbet


  Filipino version of ratatouille, a vegetable stew of eggplants, string beans, bitter gourd (amplaya), and okra. The real Ilocano version uses small round eggplants and baby ampalaya, and is seasoned with bagoong isda (fish sauce)

  
• Longganisa


  Salty & garlicky sausage of ground pork fat stuffed in pork intestine wrap, a star on any Ilocano breakfast table

  
• Bagnet


  Slabs of pork belly deep-fried in lard or literally in its own fat, air-dried a few times over to drain the oil & to bring it to its maximum crispiness
• Dinakdakan or Warek-Warek


  Dish made of motley of pig parts (usually the mascara) & brain, boiled, cooked in vinegar & seasoned with lots of onion & garlic

  
• Ilocano empanada


  Fried turnover stuffed with grated green papaya, monggo sprouts, longganisa & egg

  
• Dinardaraan


  Ilocano variation of "dinuguan" or pork blood stew, using crunchy bagnet in a stew of coagulated blood, runs on the dry side compared to the gravy-ish preparations in other regions

  
• Sinanglaoan/Papaita


  Clear soup with wallowing chunks of innards, popular for breakfast or as hangover cure, has a special biting flavor from the mixture of vinegar, ginger & red chilies

  
• Poqui-poqui / Poki-poki


  Simple sauteed eggplant, grilled, seasoned & tossed with onions, bell pepper, egg

  
• Pinakbet


  Ilocano's to-die-for mélange of vegetables stewed & shriveled with shrimp paste, with ampalaya or bitter gourd as the star

  
• Dinengdeng/Inabraw


  Soup dish that throws in all sorts of vegetables, its young leaves, fruit or flower, boiled with fish sauce or sometimes with tucmem or clams & shredded left over fish

  
• Pipian


  Porridge of ground rice & chicken, unique for the use of atchuete & pasotes (an herb originating from southern Mexico) in its stock

  
• Pinakbet Pizza


  Example of Ilocano cuisine being progressive, where traditional ways meet new-age techniques & interpretations without losing the integrity of its food customs
• Igado


  Popular Ilocano dish made from pork tenderloin and pig's innards such as liver, kidney, heart
• The Cagayan Valley region, otherwise known as region II, is located at the northern tip of the Philippines and is composed of five provinces: Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino, and Batanes. Its capital is Tuguegarao City and is located at the northeastern part of the of Luzon. Cagayan, not to be mistaken from the city in Mindanao named Cagayan de Oro, also includes the Babuyan Islands to the north.
• Region II is also known to be the country's tilapia capital (species of cichlid fishes from the tilapine cichlid tribe), as well as the country's rice and corn granary because of its fertile lands.
• Ibanag, Ybanag, Ybanak ,Ibanak or simply the Cagayanos


  People of the Cagayan region, known for their flair for making delicious delicacies

  
• Delicacies mostly served in the Cagayan region

  • Rice cakes
  • Pinakbet
  • Pansit Cabagan
  • Tapang Baka
  • Ginisa Nga Agurong
  • Tuguegarao Longganisa
  • Pancit Batil Patung
  • Guinataang Alimasag (crabs in coconut milk) of Batanes

  
• Guinataan/Ginataan


  Filipino term which refers to food cooked with gata or coconut milk

  
• Guinataang Alimasag


  Dish of crabs cooked in coconut milk, made with just a few basic ingredients like garlic, onions, spinach leaves, crabs and coconut milk. The crabs from Batanes are known for their unusually large size and creamy crab meat with a coconut aftertaste.

  
• Pancit Batil Patung


  Iconic noodle dish from Tuguegarao City, unique for the use of carabao meat or carabeef which has a much distinct gamey flavor

  
• Chicharabao


  Puffy, airy, and crispy snack made out of carabao skin

  
• Carabao milk candy


  Chewy rectangular chips similar to pastillas

  
• Pawa


  Sweet bite-sized snack made from gelatinous rice, filled with sweetened grounded peanuts

  
• Lumot


  Salty seaweed dish, akin to Bicol's Laing

  
• A trip to Baguio can be transformed into a gastronomic adventure
• Gastronomic tourism (culinary tourism) of Cordillera Administrative Region


  Sampling wild ethnic dishes and native wines, one-of-a-kind local restaurants
• Cordillera mountain range supplies 80% of the Philippines' daily vegetable requirements</b>
• Pinikpikan


  Chicken dish rooted in native ritual, native chickens are beaten with a wooden stick and grilled over open fire, etag (salted, cured and aged meat) is added

  
• Etag


  Salted meat, cured and aged underground in an earthen jar, comparable to blue cheese in flavor
• Pinuneg


  Native blood sausage composed of minced pork and innards mixed with cooked rice, salt, vinegar, garlic and other flavors, stuffed into clean animal intestines

  
• Sabusab


  Mixed dish using fermented rice, sliced meat, green onions, ginger and moistened with Tapuey

  
• Tapuey


  Native wine made by fermenting rice with a special yeast in a clay or wooden jar using mountain spring water, resulting in a strong brew
• Benguet coffee


  Arabica variety, favorite beverage of the Cordilleras
• Mountain rice


  Organic, reddish in color, referred to as kintoman, considered a healthy, flavorful alternative to white rice