It’s the dish that the late Anthony Bourdain said, would win the hearts and minds of America”. the most generally desired and highly sought-after street food in the Philippines and for good reason. Filipino Sisig is a stellar dish, unmatched in richness and taste. As Anthony also said, “It is everything I love about food”.
When it comes to debates about which Filipino dish best deserves the right to be called the National dish, it comes down to two factions: Team Sinigang and Team Adobo. But while these two go head to head in defending the right to be named as the country’s most iconic dish, another has been making strides, appearing as, fast food chips, and even as canned goods, Sisig. Its latest reincarnation may be young compared to its seasoned contemporaries, but it’s no less worthy of the praise its garnered from no other than Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern.
The term"sisig" refers to the spicy and fatty, but oh-so popular, meat dish served all over the Philippines. It is considered a specialty food because its long and taxing preparation is really a "labor of love." But after hours of cooking, the aroma alone can make anyone water at the mouth.
The late Lucia Cunanan, a Papangeno chef also known as the Sisig Queen, was the one who invented the recipe. The taste just clicked and it became so popular across the archipelago that majority of Filipino bars and restaurants in the country have a pork sisig on their menu.
Sisig is best served with a mug of ice-cold beer. It is the unofficial national dish for Filipino beer-drinkers because of its unique blend of chili-pepper spice, sour vinegar and calamansi juice, as well as the saltiness of salt and soy sauce. Other herbs like garlic, red onion, white onion, ginger, black pepper, green bell pepper, celery, green onion leaves, kinchai, and kuchai also add to the rich bouquet of aromatic flavor.
