Beng-beng, Pigar-Pigar and Imbaliktad
EACH dish has a story… Eating outside a public market stall in Mangaldan led me to a delicious meal and a local cuisine history lesson about “beng-beng”. Beng-beng is Mangaldan’s version and the precursor of the more popular street food Dagupan Pigar Pigar, which is deep fried carabao meat seasoned with salt and pepper and garnished with onions. The stall owner and cook who prepared my meal turned out to be the originator of beng-beng, Belen Aquino of JR Bengbengan. According to her, beng-beng is a Pangasinan word for the meat in the abdomen near the ribs of the cow or carabao. The meat trimmings were once given “free” to the matadors/ butchers of Mangaldan who had them cooked by her wayback in the 80’s even before “Isaw” of Dagupan became famous for cooking “pigar pigar” as concocted by Councilor Chito Samson and the late Manny Vent Cornel. Fast forward to more than 30 years, she now maintains a stall outside Farmacia Petilla in the Mangaldan Public market where you can en