I have no doubt that one of the culinary pride of the Kapampangan legion of Pampanga, part of Bataan and some part of Tarlac, is the amazing “sisig” – an ingenious and relatively low-cost (but hardly low-fat, lol) tasty food creation made of “inihaw” or grilled pork jowl and liver, fresh onion, calamansi extract and bird’s eye chili mixed altogether on the chopping board while …… hear this out …… while the cook’s knife (usually the wide cleaver-like type) is in “continuous up and down” motion.
Please be careful interpreting much more replicating the last phrase above. Although “sisig” was said to have been invented by accident, we do not want a kitchen accident occurring while preparing the dish. :-) The phrase simply means continuously chopping all the ingredients together (as oppose to individual dicing or mincing), until everything is properly mixed to desired sizes and consistency slightly bonded together by the paste-like substance that will eventually developed from the repeated chopping where minced bits of meat, onion, mashed liver, meat juice and calamansi delicately combine.
This may not be true or acceptable to everyone, but I personally believe that this process, which I observed, sneak peeked and spied on in restaurants, “turo-turo”, canteen, cafeteria, friends’ houses and most especially in roadside eateries (the same place where the dish was said to have originated), is a commonality among the tastiest Kapampangan “sisig” that I have eaten and is for me an important part of the “sisig” preparation technique where all flavors magically blend into pure sumptuousness.