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San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte is famous for its Damili or Pottery
industry. But if you are planning for a trip up north you'd probably
want to drop by the town and take home some of its tasty and mouth
watering food products.

Bagnet and ilocos longganisa are famous in the entire provinces of
Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur. It is available in almost every market in
these  provinces.


Bagnet is a classic way of cooking pork, wherein large pork chops are
deep fried until it turns deep brown in color and becomes crispy. Then
chopped into bite size and served along with different sauces. It can
be chopped tomatoes and shallot(sibuyas) with fish paste(bagoong na
isda), chili flavored vinegar (sukang iloko na may sili), soy sauce
with lemon(calamansi) chili and vinegar, or simply ketchup.

Ilocos Longganisa is the garlic flavored sausage. The pork intestines
are stuffed with ground pork, seasoned with garlic, salt, vinegar and
pepper. It is an old way of preserving meat. The secret to a better
longganisa is that it is sun dried for a few hours, letting the extra
fat drip out.


San Nicolas meat vendors are proud of their bagnet and longganisa
because it is known to be real tasty. They are available in the town's
public market everyday. And along with them are araet, adobo and
dinardaraan.


Araet is more commonly known as igado. It is made from pork tenderloin
and innards like liver, kidney and heart. It is sauteed with soy sauce
and vinegar, garlic and onions, seasoned with pepper. Other igado
recipes includes bell pepper, peas and others add carrots. But this
araet doesn't include any other vegetable but it provides delicious
and tasty flavor better than those with vegetables.

The best igado in town is found at the Dawang's Place, an eatery
located just about 500 meters away from the Robinson's Department
Store. And some of its specialties are: chocolate meat (dinuguan or
dinardaraan) which has deep fried meat bits; grilled pork (tinuno)
served with fresh tomatoes; kilawen or raw beef slices dressed with
bile(papait); and paksiw or beef soup.

Adobo is a very popular Filipino dish. But the adobo being sold in the
San Nicolas public market is different. It is made of pork innards
such as intestines, liver, kidney and interestingly the ears and
tongue. And they cook it as a whole part not chopped into smaller
pieces. The reason why is, for customers to choose which part are they
going to buy. And then you may slice it into bite size. It's very
delicious especially the ears and the innards. Season it with a little
chili flavored vinegar and there you go. You won't really expect those
parts to be yummy but they sure will ruin your diet.


So if you have plans in visiting Ilocos Norte, drop by San Nicolas
with an empty tummy and you will give a big burp as a thank you.