I am Ilocano, hence the attraction of the headline shared by Jennifer Valcobero on Facebook 06 July 2021: “50 Midsayap Farmers Receive Pinakbet Seeds From SAAD[1].” Pinakbet, short for pinakebbet or cooked until shriveled, is a favorite dish of mine – and my father Lakay Disiong (bless his soul) always cooked it perfect.
Ms Jennifer omits the list of pinakbet vegetables. Panlasang Pinoy says[2] (undated, “Pinakbet Ilocano Recipe,” Panlasangpinoy.com, with editing):
Pakbet or pinakbet is a popular vegetable dish… The vegetables used on this dish are usually grown in the back yard of every villager and are available almost all-year long. Bitter melon, eggplant, okra, and string beans are just some of the vegetables that make up this delightful dish. Pakbet is cooked in a clay pot called “palayok” and anchovy sauce (bagoong isda) is used to add flavor.
Yes, this is an Ilocano dish. Yes, mostly the vegetables that go into the pinakbet are available throughout the year – whether you are Ilocano or not, that makes pinakbet a perfect dish!
No, the dishes shown above do not reflect a true pinakbet. I googled for “pinakbet” (including the double quotes), and looked at each of the 484 images displayed by Google.com – and not a single one implied the correct way of cooking pinakbet!
So, I’m challenging all the would-be-ethnic cooks in the world. I repeat: pinakbet, short for pinakebbet – caused to shrivel by cooking. All pinakbet vegetables should show little lines of mountains and valleys.
Here’s how to cook an authentic pinakbet:
(1) Don’t slice! Never ever. No quartering, no cubing!
(2) Cut off the ends of the eggplant, bitter melon and string beans, but only a little, so that the cut will help drain out the water inside the vegetables while cooking. This preserves the natural flavors.
(3) It’s the method, not the attractive color. Adding squash makes it more eye-catching, but it makes it less pinakbet.
(4) Palayok is perfect. But it must be emphasized that you cook the pinakbet slowly, and never ever open the covered pot – except once towards the end just to be sure.
(5) Pork in first. That’s how my father did it, and his pinakbet was always perfect!
You don’t quarrel with perfect! What happens when your pinakbet is perfect? Out comes the real taste of each of the vegetables – that is the magic of pinakbet.
Back to the news. Ms Jennifer says:
The inputs include 100 bags of complete fertilizer, 100 bags of urea, 250 packs of pinakbet seeds, 50 hand trowels, and 50 shovels. The farmers are now preparing their 2,500 square meters for this purpose.
Well, if I were the pinakbet farmer, I will use instead organic fertilizer. Thereby, each of my pinakbet vegetables will sell as health food, and each time I will have a healthier pocket!@517
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