Medha Imam: This sizzling, crispy dish
made up of leftover pig parts
is one of the Philippines' most beloved dishes.
It's called sisig.
OK, let's do it, all right.
My name is Medha, and we're heading out to
Maharlika in the East Village to learn a bit more
about Filipino cuisine.
Today, we're going to try out what Anthony Bourdain
claims to be the gateway of Filipino food.
Raf Ignacio: In the Philippines, whenever we hear
that sizzling plate of sisig coming to the table,
everybody's faces light up.
Medha: That's Raf Ignacio,
the host of New York City's Filipino Food Crawl.
Hey, Raf, how you doing? Raf: Hey, Medha.
Medha: He was kind enough to join me at Maharlika,
where I'm going to try sisig for the first time.
Nicole Ponseca: If we trace back to the origin of sisig,
we'd be surprised to know it's probably even vegan
and didn't have anything to do with pork.
Medha: In its original form, sisig was actually a salad
made up of various vegetables and fruits
that were tossed together with a vinegar paste
and was made to be very sour.
Nicole: It included souring fruits,
like mango or pineapple, and the most sour version.
Medha: There are many theories as to how
and why sisig came to be.
But the most popular notion was that under the US occupation
of the Philippines in the late 1800s,
American naval forces would throw out leftover pig parts
and the Filipinos would save the discarded heads
and eventually made a dish out of it.
Nicole: Filipinos, we're very resourceful,
and we're not wasteful.
So the idea of throwing away pig heads
just seemed completely, probably absurd to my ancestors,
or the cocineras, of yesteryears.
Medha: Up until the late 1960s,
the pig parts in sisig were simply boiled
and soaked in vinegar.
Then came Aling Lucing.
A Filipino barbecue owner from Pampanga,
Lucing invented the modern sisig:
a thrice-cooked dish that is boiled, grilled, and fried.
Nicole: The best version I've ever had
is at Aling Lucing in Pampanga,
and we try to mimic that version.
Raf: Some restaurants serve it with chicken,
some serve it with tofu, some serve it with squid,
but what remains the same is the style of cooking.
So, you boil it, you grill it, and then you fry it.
Medha: Now you can get sisig anywhere, even in canned form.
To see just how Maharlika makes the signature Filipino dish,
I'm meeting up with Raf, who has a wealth of knowledge
about the cuisine and the Filipino staple.
Raf: Filipinos tend to be very private with their cooking.
Because these recipes remained at home,
each recipe is also very specialized,
and there's no one way to cook adobo,
or there's no one way to cook sisig,
and I think that's what makes
Filipino cuisine very exciting.
So, today we're going to try sisig.
It's one of my favorite dishes.
I grew up eating it,
and I'm so excited for you to try it out.
Medha: I'm super excited.
Raf: Let's go see how it's made.
Medha: Let's do it!
Nicole: So, sisig begins with your pig head.
You have your pig ears, your snout,
your cheek, and belly, and you want to boil that.
You wanna do a slow boil over a long period of time.
After you boil it, you're gonna put it on the grill,
and then you're gonna get a char mark,
you're gonna get some color,
and then you're gonna infuse that with that smokiness
that only a grill can do.
Medha: Once cooled down, the pig parts are sliced
and diced and placed into a deep fryer.
They're sautéed with garlic,
onions, vinegar, and chicken liver.
Nicole: I want you guys to taste it in this form.
Raf: OK.
Nicole: So, this already has the liver,
this has already been cooked three times.
Raf: It's so delicious.
Nicole: Yeah.
And what do you think about the texture?
Raf: Oh, definitely lots of cartilage.
Nicole: Yeah.
Raf: You can taste some chewiness.
Nicole: Yeah.
Raf: There's chewiness in it.
Nicole: Yeah, so it's actually really fun to eat,
especially with beer.
Sisig is a beer drinker's food.
Medha: The dish is served on a sizzling plate
and finished off with one final topping:
a freshly cracked egg.
[sizzling]
So, I'm gonna eat the fish sisig,
and you're eating the traditional pork sisig?
Raf: Pork sisig, yes.
Medha: Awesome, let's go ahead and get started.
Raf: When the sizzling plate comes,
you get your spoon and mash the egg
and make sure to mix everything together.
Medha: Yeah?
Raf: And, yeah, let's go.
Medha: OK, let's do it.
All right.
Wow, it smells so good.
Raf: How is it?
Medha: It's so good.
It's so flavorful.
And you can taste, like, that sourness
that Nicole was speaking of as well.
And it's still sizzling hot
'cause it just came out of the pan.
Raf: So delicious.
Medha: If you've never had sisig before,
I would explain it as,
it has a tangy taste, like, very tangy.
But it's good, and it's paired well with the spices.
Nicole: What I want people to know is sisig is
a great example of the layers of flavors in Filipino food.
It's not inherently sweet and it's not inherently spicy,
but it is filled with layers of umami.
Doesn't matter where you go,
the thread that pulls all Filipino food together
is sourness.
Medha: This was my first taste of Filipino cuisine
in general, and just after tasting the sisig,
I am so much more interested
in just learning more about Filipino food,
especially because I'm a lover of garlic rice,
I'm a lover of tangy, acidic type of foods,
and this literally filled my belly, and it's so good.
Raf: For me, it brings me home,
and it's a great dish to share with a friend.
It's a great dish to bring people together.
Nicole: I just did a sisig body roll.