Advertising Feature
Sisig fries, eh! by Claire Dela Gana
L
ast summer, wellloved Filipino recipe mixes hit retailers in Toronto and Vancouver as Filipino food continues to emerge as an internationally recognized cuisine. Being one of the top food trends in 2012, North American bloggers are boldly declaring that Filipino food will be the next big ethnic food to hit the mainstream palate. Kanto, one of the food vendors housed in retrofitted shipping containers at the corner of Dundas Street and Bathurst Avenue (Toronto), is owned by Diona Joyce, or Tita Flips as many fondly calls her. Tita Flips would not just sit in a corner and let this opportunity pass right before her eyes. Born to a family of cooks, she acquired her culinary skills at a very young age – from watching her mother make the best garlic peanuts and peanut brittle in town, to hanging around and watching the cooks work in the kitchen of her aunt’s banquet hall. She never knew that her innate culinary skills will crawl back into her life when her mother joined her from the Philippines 5 years ago. Friends loved their cooking and started ordering party trays. Eventually, people started requesting for catering
services until it became a full catering service named Tita Flips Events and Catering. And from this, Kanto was born. Kensington shoppers and nurses and residents of the nearby Western Toronto General Hospital line up for an international selection of lunch from shipping containers converted into food vendors. People line up for a choice of a variety of international dishes–caramel burgers, Korean dishes, Indian street food, roti and more. But the most buzz is around Kanto for her exotic offerings of dinuguan (blood pudding), balut and the now famous, sisig fries.
The birth of the sisig fries was no accident. It started when Tita Flips joined an Asian night market a few years ago. At first, she was the only Filipino food vendor and she offered the regular Filipino cuisines like lumpiang shanghai. Eventually
more Filipino vendors joined and they were all offering the same dishes. She told herself that she had to do something different. Something people would love and something worth talking about. Sisig came to mind. An exotic dish made of pig’s snout and ears but it had to be tweaked to make it more acceptable for the North American taste. So Tita Flips decided to put it on fries and turn it into a poutine. Voila, a Filipino poutine! As the perfect match of a Filipino exotic dish and a Canadian favourite puts the Filipino cuisine into the multicultural culinary landscape of Toronto, eventually McCormick found Tita Flips to be its brand ambassador in Toronto for its flavor mixes. Another perfect match! “It’s great working with McCormick. The flavour mixes bring the traditional and authentic Filipino dish, keeping the integrity of the dish. With
the McCormick seasoning, you can make very innovative dishes, still traditional, but with a new take on every dish.” says Tita Flips.
Sisig Fries Ingredients: • 4 tsp (20 ml) McCormick Sinigang Rosemary and Chili Seasoning Mix • 1 lb (500 g) pork snouts and ears, boiled, cleaned and dices into very small pieces • 3 tbsp (45 ml) mayonnaise • Pinch Club House Ground Black Pepper, to taste • Spring onions, finely chopped for garnish • Green or red chili for garnish • Chicharon (pork cracklings) crushed for garnish (optional) Procedure: 1. Chop boiled pork into small cubes 2. Pour 4 tsp of Sinigang Mix into a big bowl with chopped boiled pork. 3. Add 3 tbsp of mayonnaise. Use black pepper to season. 4. Mix until thoroughly combined. 5. Garnish with chopped spring onions, chicharon and chili.
Kubo Magazine 27