Angeles City A Go-Go!
GO TO PICTURES OF THE PIG PREPARATION
WARNING! The pictures show lots of dead, raw pig. Some people might find them very disturbing. View at your own discretion. You've been warned.
OUTTAKES OF THE PIG'S HEAD
WARNING! The pictures show lots of dead, cooked pig. Some people might find them very disturbing. View at your own discretion. You've been warned.
PICTURES FROM THE PARTY
The marinade: lemongrass, garlic, soy sauce, patis (fish sauce), thai chiles, scallions, brown sugar.
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While working on attaching the pig to the spit, we started the coals.
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The coals are almost ready.
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We'll need more coals soon. Color is coming along nice and slowly.
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We didn't baste the skin enough, and as you can see, it's alreay shrinking and pulling within the first hour.
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Just a wide shot of the backyard with out setup table, the pig on the spit roasting and the reflectors ready to mount.
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And another wide shot of the backyard rig.
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Looking to the other side of the yard before guests arrive.
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A view from the DJ booth (next to the smoker and the grill).
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The guests in the afternoon: FRONT LEFT-RIGHT: Leroy, Patrick, Nitish, Richard (hand). In the background, Conrad, Grace & Becky.
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FRONT CLOCKWISE: Leroy (bald spot), Patrick, Raya & Richard. In the background, Becky, Grace & Hongbiao.
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LEFT-TO-RIGHT: Becky, Grace, Patrick, Nitish & Hongbiao
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The pige almost ready, but sadly the skin broke. I wasn't giving it proper attention.
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Almost ready, but looking a little rough. Nextime, I'm just cooking the pig. Others can make other dishes.
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Finally, after 9 hours, the pig's off the fire and ready for carving. LEFT-TO-RIGHT: Derrek, Albert & Inga
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A closeup right after coming off the fire.
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A picture from David Welborn's cell phone.
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Another pic of thepig from David Wellborn's cell phone.
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Dad's taken over. LEFT-TO-RIGHT: Richard, Raya (behind), Albert, Hongbiao, Nitish (back), Derrek
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Dad recruits Hongbaio to help remove the spit. LEFT-TO-RIGHT: Richard (cell phone), Leroy (smoking), Albert, Erik (me), and Hongbiao
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Albert carving up the pig.
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The pork starts to disappear before dad can fill the pan. LEFT-TO-RIGHT: Jorge, Albert, Leroy, Brian, Nitish
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Ah the skin! Too bad I didn't realy get the skin right. Next time.
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Carving ain't the prettiest thing. But that lemongrass made for some great flavor.
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Dad continues to carve.
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Definitely not pretty. Looks like someone got the cheeks and the ears.
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And more carving.
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BACK LEFT-TO-RIGHT: Walker, Jorge, Nicole, Kathy, me (Erik). Leslie and her man up front.
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The deep-frying of the lechon kawali begins. LEFT-TO-RIGHT BACK-TO-FRONT: Nitish, Raya, Damir, Erik (me).
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lechon kawali (pan fried pork). I simmered it in a heavy mix of garlic, bay leaves, salt, pepper, and vinegar for 5 hours. Chopped it into big chunks, then froze it. The final step was to deep fry!
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lechon kawali (pan fried lechon) all ffried up and ready for chopping.
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lechon kawali (pan fried lechon) A little blurry without the flash.
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Damir and I (Erik) pose for a picture while sampling some fine brews and tending the deep fryer.
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Dragan snaps a pic of me lighting the fire to grill some pineapple.
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Keep the flame alive!
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Anuj really wanted to try grilling up pineapple and did a great job providing us with some dessert.
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Night time with the beer geeks: Jeff, Jorge, John, Todd &... I was too drunk to remember his name. Sorry Jeff.
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FRONT: Pops & Damir. BLURRY BACK LEFT-TO-RIGHT: (Brian) Barkas, Barbara, Ginny's & Chris's friend (I'll remember her name some day), Ginny (behind Vanessa), Vanessa, Jerry, Chris & ...(husband of Ginny's friend). Dang it, I'll remember their names someday!
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Inga, Yanira & Dragan. Makes me happy seeing that big sunny smile on Dragain's face.
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Probably on of my favorite pics of the night... Art & Ai.
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The guys who's names I'm most likely to misspell... Sorry. FROM LEFT: Nitish, Sisko & Raya.
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The amazing and versatile Anuj and humble old me (Erik, in case you forgot). Why must the deep fry splatter spots show up on my chirt in every picture?!?
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Two worlds collide! My beer drinking aerospace engineer, Jorge, pouring a beer for my cousin and partner in deep fry crime, Evan.
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FROM LEFT: Steve and the cousins: Anthony, Lennie, Simon (front), their friend (name?), John. Jorge is holding the Ginder Man glass.
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I guess I was standing a little too close to John. That's whiter than I've ever seen him. John & brother Steve.
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Evan at the Fry-o-lator. Kathy in the background taking a picture.
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Anthony, master of the grill, watches Evan, master of the deep fry. Those savory treats are shrimp balls. Who knew they were that big? (Couldn't resist. If you were there, you had to put up with those jokes for almost 2 hours).
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Cousins Evan, me, and Cousin Simon .
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Things start to slow down well past midnight. Angela & David.
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Ah, what would a party be without dedicated, hard-working Ai to save me from the mountain of dishes. God bless you, Ai!
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Todd controls iTunes inside. It's hours of Pizicato Five (Alternative J-Pop, if there is such a thing) and Viking metal.
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Expecting mommy, Angela with a very drunk Ed. He deserves it. He busted his ass to help me get the pig ready, arriving at 7am.
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David & Jorge wind down watching Todd scroll through iTunes on the big screen.
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A lonely pic of the ion drum rocker kick, after a long workout from Derrek. Everyone had gone home by this time (1am). Kind of an early night for us. I was beat and couldn't walk the next day. Until the next one...
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NEXT, PICTURES FROM DRAGAN, DAVID, KATHY AND OTHERS... Check back soon!
MUSIC FROM THE PARTY:
*Filipino music
1. Garbage - Stupid Girl
2. Echobelly - King of the Kerb
3. New Young Pony Club - Tight Fit^
4. Curve - Joy^
5. Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart^
6. Rivermaya - Posible*
7. The Smiths - There Is A light That Never Goes Out^
8. New Young Pony Club - Descend^
9. Elastica - Car Song
10. The Rapture - First Gear
11. Joy Division - Warsaw^
12. New Young Pony Club - Ice Cream
13. Le Tigre - This Island^
14. Pupil - Dulo Ng Dila*
15. Rivermaya - Sunday Driving*
16. Morrissey - Every Day Is Like Sunday^
17. Suede - My Dark Star^
18. Juana - Connected^
19. Teeth - Darating*
20. Pupil - All This Time
21. Orange & Lemons - Caught In A Line*
22. The Smiths - Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others
23. Love & Rockets - No New Tale To Tell
24. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Rifles
25. Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun
26. Teeth - Shooting Star*
27. Kitchens of Distiction - Railwayed
28. Orange & Lemons - Lihim*
29. Morrissey - The Last Of The Famous International Playboys
30. Bauhaus - Kick In The Eye
31. The Smiths - Barbarism Begins At Home
32. Suede - My Insatiable One
33. Teeth - Laklak*
34. Pupil - Different Worlds*
35. Rivermaya - Alab Ng Puso (Tagumpay)*^
36. Smashing Pumkins - Cherub Rock
37. Teeth - Dog's Can Fly*
38. Smashing Pumpkins - Today
39. 6cyclemind - Sandalan*
40. Kula Shaker - Hey Dude
41. Teeth - Prinsesa*
42. 6cyclemind - Collide*
43. Teeth - Time Machine*
44. Suede - He's Dead
45. Teeth - Tampo*
46. Inspiral Carpets - Two Worlds Collide^
47. Pupil - False Alarm*
48. Teeth - Unleashed*
49. Bis - Kill Yr Boyfriend
50. Garbage - Supervixen
51. Eraserheads - Minsan*
52. Orange & Lemons - Heaven Knows (This Angel Has Flown)*
53. Teeth - Sorry*
54. Fischerspooner - A Kick In The Teeth^
55. Ivy - Edge Of the Ocean^
56. Pupil - Beautiful Machines^
57. Kitchens of Distinction - Drive That Fast^
58. 6cyclemind - Naghihintay*^
59. Echobelly - Dark Therapy^
60. N.E.R.D - Provider (Zero 7 remix)^
61. The Egg feat. Sophie Barker - Walking Away^
62. Rivermaya - A Love To Share*
63. LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great^
64. The Smiths - How Soon is Now^
65. Rivermaya - Ipo Ipo*
66. Soundgarden - Fell On Black Days
67. Orange & Lemons - Pabango Ng 'Yong Mata*
68. Rivermaya - Basketbol*
69. Beck - Girl^
70. Orange & Lemons - Pinoy Ako*
71. The Dandy Warhols - (This Song Is Called ) Lou Weed
72. The Presets - Girl And The Sea^
73. Gang of Four - Natural's Not In It
74. LCD Soundsystem - Give It Up^
75. Nine Inch Nails - 1,000,000^
76. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Spread Your Love
77. Le Tigre - Deceptacon (DFA remix)^
78. Soundgarden - Spoonman
79. LCD Soundsystem - Watch The Tapes^
80. The Ramones - Teenage Lobotomy^
81. Pizzicato Five - Mini Cooper
82. LCD Soundsystem - Yr City's A Sucker (Full Version)
83. The Rapture - Pieces Of The People Love
84. The Rapture - Get Myself Into It
85. New Young Pony Club - Hiding On The Staircase
86. New Young Pony Club - Get Lucky
87. Adult - Contagious^
88. Fischerspooner - Happy
89. The Dandy Warhols - Ride
90. The Cure - Primary^
91. Bloc Party - Positive Tension
92. Ladytron - Destroy Everything You Touch^
93. The Juan Maclean - Tito's Way^
94. Bloc party - Helicopter (Sheroff Whitey mix)^
95. The Gossip - Listen Up! (MSTRKRFT mix)
96. Ladytron - Weekend
97. Siouxsie & The Banshees - Peek-A-Boo^
98. The Ramones - I Wanna Be Sedated^
99. Gang of Four - Ether
100. Flying Saucer Attack - Outdoor Miner^
101. Franz Ferdinand - What You Meant
102. Orange & Lemons - Tomorrow*
103. Juan De La Cruz - Take You Home*^
The stuff marked ^ is a personal classic to me. Five star material to me personal. That means I could hear the song 25 times in a row and not get tired of it. It's music I love now and will love decades from now. Of course I really like a lot of the music I played (some more than others). But I just though I'd mark some of my favorites.
Of course, I also played some records, and Eric brought that wonderful Phoenix CD. The first 65 or so songs were planned as a playlist. The rest was stuff I wanted to hear, but had no time to put into order. The Teeth didn't hold up so well. Actually, for me, there were only a handful of really great Filipino Songs. But I have over 6000 CDs and 2000 records. I only have maybe 30 Filipino albums. So to be fair, we didn't do too badly. But when the Filipino songs were good, they were as good as any of my all-time classics. Some of them are in my all-time classics list. Seek out this music if you enjoyed it. If you want to hear more of it from me, come hang out with me. We'll listen to music, eat some food, maybe drink a beer. Please don't ask me to copy the music for you unless you can't find it (in which case i will help you find it). I believe in helping the artist I love make a living. Buy thier music. Even if it's just one song on iTunes. i know you don't have to, but think of the day when I release my music.
Tha Menu!
LECHON KAWALI - I can't promise that mine will look this good, but we test fried a portion of the 17lbs I'm making for the party. You heard me... 17lbs! Are you hungry yet?
SISIG - Again, I can't promise my sisig will look this good. But with Mike's help and gobs of youtube videos, I think I'm ready to throw down some sisig!
PANCIT PALABOK - We'll see if I have time for this one. If we can get some help, it just might happen. It's a bit of an acquired tastes, but if we can come close to Caloocan style, we'll be in awesome shape.
LUMPIA SHANGHAI - OK, I'm cheating. We'll probably order a tray of it. My Auntie Leila & her kids make the best lumpia Shanghai on the planet. But you'll just have to suck up to them at my party to get invited to a party where they make it. Sorry to tease...
TOKWA - For our vegetarian friends, I plan to fry up some tokwa. It's fried medium tofu served with a sauce of vinegar, soy sauce & fried fiery garlic. It's awesome with beer, and you'll have to fight off the carnivores (myself included) to eat it. No whining about tofu allowed. No one's making you eat it. It's your fault if you miss out.
The Atmosphere...
In the front seat of a packed minivan in January '06, I put down my camcorder as we slowly rolled past the gaudy golden casinos and packed streets of Angeles City. My head was swirling the way it does on the cab ride home after a night of club-hopping, sweaty dancing and round after round of shots. This was nothing like the Pampanga I had seen so far. Not the semi-rural family compounds and local farmers markets. It was something like trying to drive down 6th in Austin on a Saturday night. Except, instead of drunken college students, sidewalks spilled over with schools of shoppers, gamblers, pub-crawlers and hookers weaving between cars trapped in the gridlock.
Amidst the chaos, my cousins just grinned at me as they caught my eyes tracking a streetwalker in golden hot pants. They teased me, stopping the van when a good looking hooker walked by, asking my mom (sitting just behind me) if she thought the girl would make a nice wife and daughter-in-law. Imagine the feeling of being drunk in Vegas, but with your parents, aunts and uncles watching you ruin your reputation. But tonight’s goal wasn’t to let me embarrass myself (like so many times before) while getting drunk. We were on a mission to reach one of the meccas of South East Asian dining. In a region where it’s accepted that you could eat a different dish for each day of the year, and never repeat, we were approaching ground zero. The birthplace of sisig. The sprawling food streets of Angeles City, lined with what seemed like miles of food stalls. The air was thick with the aromas of sizzling meats.
The Party...
It is in tribute to my uncles, who roasted so many pigs for us on our birthdays and to Mike, badass chef and my gastronomic tour guide through the streets of Manila and all things Kapampangan that I invite you to my first BBQ of 2009. I will pay homage to the traditional Filipino feasts of my youth as well as the culinary eye-opening that occurred on my trip to the Philippines.
mike... tour guide, chef and all around amazing guy! thanks bro...
Essentials:
What: Filipino BBQ (pig roast) with lots of beer
When: Saturday, May 30, 2009 3pm until midnight.
Where: My House
Why: To roast a pig, celebrate the arrival of summer, etc.
The party will start around 3pm. The pig will NOT be ready by then. Although we’re known for feeding our guests to within an inch of their lives, you might not want to show up too hungry. We’ll try to have some foods ready early. We usually go until midnight, sometimes winding down sooner. A few usually stay until 2 to sober up or help me clean up.
Details:
The Food:
Of course, there will be litson (aka lechon). That’s whole roasted pig lined with lemongrass, garlic, pandan or tamarind leaves. Given the short lead time, we will do our best to prepare other dishes. My goal, if we have time, is to also make sisig, a sizzling plate or chopped up pig’s head and parts, chilis and aromatics. When it’s done right, the sauce can be tart with kalamansi, sharp with chunks of uncooked ginger or garlic, or creamy and rich with a mayo sauce not unlike Chinese walnut fried shrimp. In sisig, there’s always a little bite of chili peppers. The meat is chewy and rich with fat, and the bottom is always crunchy as it sticks to the sizzle platter. It is the quintessential Kapampangan flavor explosion!
Guests...
I'm still counting, but we had somewhere close to 60 people at the party.
Music:
The sound system will be cranking a mix of OPM (Original Pilipino Music) and funk, rock, blues, house and soul gems from my record collection.
Some pics from my previous BBQs...
the tables are set
dragan hard at work
almost there...
maybe some nice tropical jackfruit while we wait...
john's got it all...
for those turned off by pig, there's always...
the lamb roast next time...
no, i'm not in this one. but you could meet people at the BBQ who posed for this pic a very long time ago...
the uncles kickin' it old school. is that san miguel in a bottle?
Very dramatic location on the rim of a volcano (Tagatay)
seems like the lochness monster should be paeking through any second now. but it's actually volcano peaking through a lake inside a volcano. again, Tagytay.
ah, Manila... dense, dingy, smelling of urine. like the New York of my childhood...
almost a pretty picture of Manila Bay
they do love malls over there. i'd probably love the mall a lot more if i didn't have AC at home...
oh, but the food courts are kick ass! i miss those chicharron stands!
me, ameed, tareq & rishi
brian & scot
jeff, cameron & mimi
jeff, scott & the wonderful homebrew!
vanessa
asim, john, sarah & nadia
brian checks the octopus
nothing like mediterranean sardines on the grill!
the aftermath