Serving The Engine #2: Pancit

Okay, here's an interesting one. One of my visits indicated this search:

Search Engine : search.yahoo.com
Search Words : putting up a panciteria in the philippines

So I guess someone needed help putting up a panciteria (in the Philipines specifically). I've never been in the pancit business. If someone came up to me and asked what would one need to put up a panciteria, I would probably say 'pancit?'. I guess the two most important things is a good location and good pancit. I can't help with the location, but let's talk about all things pancit. Oh yeah, in case you're wondering, I'm into this because mom just called and asked me to bring pancit for our New Year's Eve dinner. Have a Happy New Year everyone!

Pancit (pansit) actually has a Wikipedia entry. Listed there are the following kinds of pancit:

- Pancit Bíhon
- Pancit Cantón
- Pancit estacion
- Pancit Habhab
- Pancit Luglog (or Palabok)
- Pancit Malabón
- Pancit Mólo
- Pancit Míki
- Pancit Moròng
- Pancit Sotanghòn

You can click on each pancit style to get a recipe. So many, I don't think this is a complete list. Benetton should launch a new marketing campaign locally, "United Pancit Noodles of Benetton"(baduy!). Benetton, call me, we'll talk.

Did you know that Pancit Malabon has its own festival? You can go here for some information on the event and its activities.

Here is an excerpt from a PCIJ article, Pancit Republic:

Pancit, borrowed from the Chinese, then innovated and adopted into our cuisine, connects us to our Asian roots. But more importantly, it is a veritable Pinoy comfort food — easier to cook than rice, and more versatile and food combination-friendly. It is the faster fast food. In fact, “pancit” is derived from the Hokkien “pian i sit,” which means “something conveniently cooked fast.” (link to full article)

Here's a link to a Pancit Chart also from PCIJ. It has a list of Pancit noodles by:

- how they are cooked
- thickness
- make
- region

Let's top everything off with a cute blog post from rockersworld.com:

pancit, in terms of a romantic relationship, means that a certain party is under. It’s either the other party is the law while the other party is under the law. A statement from someone like, “Hindi ako pancit, ako ang batas!” would definitely mean that the person is indeed a pancit in denial especially if the person consumes enough alcohol to give him/her hallucinations that he/she is indeed the law. (link to full post)

Pancit is a regular part of my diet. Particularly pancit palabok from Jollibee, instant pancit canton (spicy) from Lucky Me, instant pancit palabok from Quickchow. But of course, my favorite of them all, which I rarely ever get, is my sister-in-law's pancit palabok cause she makes a lot of sauce and I can drown the noodles in them. (Update: Pictured right, me with the sister-in-law's pancit palabok, yum!!)

You know what, there's so many things pancit out there that I just gave up. If you guys have anything pancit to add, leave a comment.

Update (1/2/2008) more things pancit:

Following is a Sine Totoo Documentary on the different pancit in the Philippines. The first one deals with places in the south:

- Pancit Masyang ng San Pedro, Laguna
- Pancit Lukban ng Quezon
- Pancit ng Bato ng Camarines Sur



The second part of the documentary deals with areas north of the Philippines:

- Pancit Batil-Patong ng Tuguegarao
- Pancit Cabagan ng Isabela
- Pancit Luglog ng Orani, Bataan



Here's a video on how to make pancit canton. This one is by a group of Fil-Ams which seem to be a school project for their Filipino class. It must be, their Tagalog is so terrible I can't think of another reason why else they would be speaking in Filipino. It's both intentionally and unintentionally funny:



Here's a short film from Jim Libiran entitled "Pancit Canton". This short film was a predecessor to his full length feature entitled "Tribu", winner of the 2007 Cinemalaya Best Film and composed of a cast of real life Tondo gang members. Here's a link to an interview he did for that feature.