Ilocos Bagnet

Bagnet is a whole slab of pork belly boiled with salt and garlic, air-dried, then deep-fried, rested, and fried again - sometimes a third time - until the skin puffs and shatters and the fat below renders down. It is the Ilocano version of a technique found across Southeast Asia, and it is chopped into chunks and served with a dipping sauce of vinegar, garlic and chilli, or with the fermented fish sauce bagoong isda that Ilocos uses in place of the shrimp version. The standard accompaniment is pinakbet, the regional vegetable stew of bitter gourd, eggplant, okra and squash cooked with bagoong, which the fat cuts through. Vigan's market sells it by the slab, and every Ilocos carinderia has it. It is uncompromising food - fat, salt and crackling with no concession made - and it belongs to a region whose cooking is generally the most assertive in the country.

What's there

• The blistered skin - crackling puffed by the repeated frying.
• The whole slabs - sold by weight in the markets.
• The vinegar dip - garlic and chilli in cane vinegar.
• The pinakbet - the bitter vegetable stew served alongside.

When to go

Year-round; markets sell it from morning, and it is best eaten the same day while the skin is still hard.

What to expect

It is pork fat and crackling - rich, salty and not a light meal. Reheated bagnet loses the crackle. Ilocos vinegar and bagoong are strong; try a little before committing.

Nearby

Vigan's heritage streets and Ilocos Sur's churches are close; Laoag and Paoay are north.