Comments on: Grandpa’s Inn, Vigan, Ilocos Sur

By: Ed Chavez

Ed Chavez — Tue, 05 May 2009 18:51:50 +0000

This is a message for DADD-F who wrote his comment below:

DADD-F says:

Baboy ramo is excellent! Had my first taste of that in Bugsuk Island, Palawan. Will await this Ilocano recipes of yours.

September 14th, 2007

Please send me an email. I wanted to ask some information about your exprience in Bugsuk Island. My name is Ed Chavez

By: Peejay

Peejay — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 05:58:12 +0000

I miss Grandpa’s Inn. Stayed there back in 1998 when me, my dad, my uncle and my aunt did a 4-day road trip.

We went to Vigan, Ilocos Sur; Laoag, Ilocos Norte; Aparri, Cagayan; and Santiago, Isabela.

We covered the route of my uncle who used to work for a food firm and his sales areas were regions 1, 2 and 3. I took a vacation leave from the hotel I used to work for.

It was a great road and food trip.

By: MegaMom

MegaMom — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 13:49:00 +0000

Pilar and Iya, I guess pipian would look a lot like karekare because it is thickened with ground rice flour too. But unlike karekare it does not have ground peanuts (or peanut butter as some substitute nowadays). The color is due to achuete. I guess it would be more similar to lugaw in flavor than karekare, but the kamias as souring agent plus the pasotes imparts a unique taste. It is an herb with a “bite”, very hard to explain but I believe MM wrote about it previously and if you search his archives, I’m sure you will find it. I will not preempt MM further. I think he is intending to post the full recipe of pipian ala MarketMan soon.

By: iya

iya — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 12:26:09 +0000

yep! i thought it’s kare-kare.

i dont think i’ve already eaten skunkweed. is it a bit bitter?

By: pilar

pilar — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 18:51:12 +0000

Everything looks so appetizing! At first glance, the pipian kinda looks like kare-kare, don’t you think? Hehehe!

By: connie

connie — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 00:44:39 +0000

Never tried Pipian, even when I visited Vigan some years back.
The Ilocano Pipian does sound like the Mexican Pipian, except the Mexican version I think uses ground pumpkin seeds to thicken the sauce, and is usually serve with fried tortilla strips like tortilla soup.

Of the dishes above, I miss the adobong saluyot the most. The truth is, I just plainly miss saluyot. It’s one of those leafy veggies like malunggay and bitter melon leaves that I could just not get. I miss the slimy leaves cooked adobo, or sauteed with squash, or cooked with santol. Yes, oddly enough, it tastes really good with santol

By: noemi

noemi — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 18:44:19 +0000

oh my world!. now, that’s what ilocano food should look like. so simple and healthy!.

By: Maria Clara

Maria Clara — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 17:37:24 +0000

Binangonang okra, ampalaya and sili looks very appetizing to me from stovetop to your table.

By: Apicio

Apicio — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 15:04:57 +0000

Your description of Ilocano pipian is as close to Mexican as we can get, down to pasote which I assume is the epasote of the Central Americans.

How do they ever retain that vivid green in their cooked vegetables? I would mention that even the pictures of meals #1 and #2 convey two completely different narratives.

By: elaine

elaine — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 10:34:09 +0000

What is the dish in the first photo? Sorry, I missed a lot of the wonderful dishes when we did Ilocos last year. Anyway it looks good. We had a helper from Ilocos who cooked very good saluyot and dinengdeng, very, very delicious!