PINOY beer and liquor drinkers never fail to have a plate of the most popular and well loved sisig on their table. The taste moves mountains and one simply can’t stop forking in this sumptuous “pulutan” to complement the taste of the booze.

Thanks to its popularity, almost all of the bars and restaurants in Manila serve their own version of sisig. In fact, it is not only served and classified as “pulutan” in bars, but is a recognized “ulam,” especially because the sourish-spicy blend lends itself well to generous portions of hot steamed rice.

Once available only when one ate out or when one attended fiestas, sisig has become an everyday affair. The local meat company Monterey sells frozen pre-cooked sisig. Recently, it introduced a smaller “solo” pack.

Nobody really knows where and when sisig was first made. But stories passed on from generation to generation rival The Da Vinci Code because one certainly reserves the right to reject, accept, and maybe, embellish the story of its origin.

It’s been said that the recipe was actually formulated inside a Pampanga kitchen after a family had hosted a fiesta or salo – salo and had leftover pork meat. Unable to throw out the tira, our unknown cook then gathered the excess meats, especially the pig’s head, grilled them over, poured in some vinegar (presumably to stop the meat from going bad), threw in a generous handful of spices, fried the meats in oil and sisig was born.

Also known as a heart attack waiting to happen (because a few recipes called for additions of egg or cream or mayonnaise to top of the whole glorious, lard-filled dish), sisig has undergone a few recent variations to cut the killer cholesterol. So, in lieu of pork, restaurants in Manila have begun serving tuna, chicken or tofu sisig.