Thinly sliced carabao meat, deep fried until the meat is so tender, it falls apart. Stir fry the same meat with white onions and strips of cabbage. Serve while hot, but dip in soy sauce, calamansi and chili before having a mouthful. Gastronomic explosion.

That is basically what pigar-pigar is all about, and we would not miss the chance to try the famous Pangasinan dish.

What started as a street food in Pangasinan is now a source of culinary pride in the province. Pigar–pigar, which literally means to turn over, is a dish of carabao meat, deep fried before being stir fried with onions and cabbages. Often served with rice or simply as drinking side dish or pulutan, pigar-pigar originated from the Dagupan City but made its way through the entire province of Pangasinan.

For our inaugural tasting of pigar-pigar, Clark brought us to the Lingayen Branch of Uson Pigar–Pigar, located along Artacho St.

We arrived in the restaurant past 08:00 PM already, which was rather a little late for dinner already. Despite that, the restaurant was still busy with customers. We got seated and ordered what we came there for, which was sold by the kilo. We had half a kilo of pigar-pigar with some servings of rice and kaleskes soup which is made of carabao innards.

Pangasinan’s famous pigar-pigar as it was being prepared.

Kaleskes soup and the star of the night, pigar-pigar.

Despite the seeming simplicity in the preparation and cooking method of pigar-pigar, we finally understood why it was such a popular dish in Pangasinan. The earthy flavor that is distinct in carabao meat was enhanced in pigar-pigar. It was tasty, and the manner by which it was prepared and cooked made it less gamy as one would usually expect of carabao meat. The onions provided a balancing sharpness to the dish while the cabbage gave another layer of texture. I should say, it was a delightful first time. The kaleskes soup, which is usually served together with pigar-pigar, gave off a strong flavor typical of carabao innards, which reminded us of the sinanglaw we first tried in Abra. Over all, it was a wonderful dinner that provided a fitting close to our day in Pangasinan.

After our dinner, we headed back to our accommodation in Estanza. While we just arrived in Pangasinan earlier that afternoon, we were already moving towards the end of our year end Ilocandia journey. We still intended to make the most out of our last day in Pangasinan though. While our touchdown day in the province was relatively short, we were able to extend it nonetheless through good sights, good food and good company. After all, we could always return to places, and we can always repeat experiences.