Midnight Express: Taking a ‘Big Bite’ of balut and empanada dishes at the Northern Food Fest

North Luzon consists of Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Region I, and Region II—home to various "naimas" Filipino dishes. This week, Midnight Express on GMA 7's Saksi featured the northern dishes that took the spotlight at Big Bite! The Northern Food Festival in Pampanga City.

Dressing up street food fave balut



Balut, which is a boiled duck embryo, is a favorite Pinoy street delicacy. Usually sold by hawkers, balut is eaten straight from its shell with salt or vinegar to enhance its flavor.

At the Northern Food Festival, six schools had a cook-out to dress up balut and give it a new twist fit for fine dining restaurants.

Some of the recreations were balut salpicao, spicy balut laing, crispy-coated balut, and balut mousse.

To these, host Mikael Daez exclaimed, "Naingat nila ang flavor ng balut at ginawan nila ng dish na kakaiba, so, good job!"

Learning Ilocos empanada's secrets



Empanada came from the Spanish word "empanar," which means "to wrap in bread." Its usually filled with meat, carrots, and potatoes.

The Ilocos empanada goes the extra mile. It is filled with papaya, monggo beans, Vigan longganisa, and egg!

And do you know why Ilocos empanada is orange in color? It's because they add atsuete to the dough.

Here's a tip: Daez opened a small portion on the side of the empanada to add vinegar to the filling. — Trisha Macas/BM, GMA News