Sisig of Pampanga

Sisig in its older Kapampangan sense meant something sour - a dish of fruit or vegetables dressed in vinegar. The version everyone now means was created in Angeles City in the 1970s by Lucia Cunanan, remembered as Aling Lucing, who took pig's head and ears - cheap offcuts, reportedly surplus from the American airbase at Clark - boiled, grilled and chopped them fine, dressed them with calamansi, onion and chilli, and served the result on a sizzling cast-iron plate. It became the standard drinking food of the country. Variants have proliferated: with egg cracked on top, with mayonnaise, with chicken, tuna, tofu or squid substituted, some of which Kapampangans regard as heresy and most of which sell. The original stalls near the Angeles railway crossing are still the pilgrimage, and Pampanga generally regards itself, with reason, as the culinary province of the Philippines.

What to look for

• The sizzling plate - the dish arriving still cooking.
• The chopped jowl and ear - the texture that defines it.
• The calamansi and chilli - squeezed and stirred at the table.
• The Angeles stalls - where the dish was invented.

When to go

Year-round, and in the evening - it is drinking food as much as a meal. The Angeles stalls run late.

Before you go

The original uses pig's head, ears and often liver - if offal is a problem, the chicken and tofu versions exist for a reason. Versions with mayonnaise are common and divide opinion. It arrives dangerously hot.

Nearby

Betis and San Guillermo churches are in the same province; Clark and the balloon fiesta grounds are close.