THE FEAST (complete story)

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THE FEAST 

Story by Budjette Tan

Script by Alex Arellano and Budjette Tan

Art by Kajo Baldisimo

First appeared in UNO Magazine

This story was inspired by Neil Gaiman's Epicurian Club from the "Sunbird" story, by Luis Katigbak's review of the restaurant called Kagat, and by the many meals I've shared with Alex, Maricel, and Dino (Harrison's Top Foodies).

I actually asked Alex to help me out with the recipes and with the dialogue.

So, in case you do find some fresh manananggal in the market, here's how you can cook it...

Recipe for sisig na mananggal

Prepared by Alex Arellano

Step 1 – boiling
Ingredients
• 1 head ng manananggal.
• 1 kilo - liver of manananggal.
• 250 ml pineapple juice
• 3-4 cups water, should be enough to cover the pork pieces
• 1 tbsp salt
• pepper

Step 2 – grill and mince and mix
Ingredients
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp lemon or kalamansi juice
• ¼ cup vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tbsp knorr seasoning
• optional sili – depends on how hot you like it

equipment needed:
pot
griller, uling
sizzling plate or kawali /wok/pan

Step 1
• remove skull of manananggal, shave off hair.
• To remove remaining facial hair, eyebrows etc, pass a blow torch over the meat.
• Cut meat from head into smaller pieces.
• Put pork, liver, pineapple juice, water, 1 tbsp salt and pepper in pot. Bring to a boil. Let simmer for 1 to 1.5 hours.

Step 2
• Remove liver and meat and drain. discard the stock in the pot.
• Set aside liver.
• Grill meat pieces until skin becomes crispy.
• On a chopping board, using cleavers, mince pork and liver.
• Add onions, vinegar, lemon or kalamansi juice, knorr seasoning, salt and pepper to taste. Mix ingredients well.

Step 3
Get a hot plate and put over stove until plate is sizzling hot.
Add sisig, do not stir or mix. Allow a crispy crust to form. Serve.
(maybe the chef can just roast them while they’re in the skull and then take them out of the skull and serve them on the side with the sisig)