MANILA, Philippines ? Chef Peter Nic Rodriguez grows his own rice. He raises his own fish. He makes his own ?bagoong? (shrimp paste). He even has his own herd of cows. And he runs his own restaurant, Bistro Candon, in his old hometown of Candon, Ilocos Sur. After years of studying in Les Roches in Switzerland and the Culinary Institute of America in New York, he has chosen to return to his roots to set up shop.

A perfectionist to the core, chef Nic says he wants to work only with ingredients he knows are the best and the freshest, even if he?s cooking just a simple dish of ?dinengdeng? (stewed vegetables) or ?sinanglao? (a soup dish made with beef and bone marrow).

Thus, his ventures into planting and harvesting, aquaculture and pasturelands, and fermentation of a silvery gray variety of ?dilis? (dried anchovies) that magically transforms into possibly the best fish ?bagoong? one has ever tasted. This ?bagoong? has no pungent odor, tastes clean and is so concentrated that just a few drops will do.

?The kind of dilis I use for the ?bagoong? is available only from September to December,? he says. ?When the boat comes to shore, I go there myself to buy from the fishermen.? Because the tiny fish are so delicate, he allows only one person to handle them.

In processing the ?bagoong?, chef Nic makes it a point not to wash the fish so as not to remove the freshness and flavor that they?ve imbibed from the sea. In fact, not a single drop of fresh water, not even rain water, is allowed to touch them. ?The minute one drop of water touches the fish, the flavor of the bagoong will be off,? he says.

To ferment the fish, he uses Ilocos salt, which has no additives. Fermentation can take as long as six months, he says, to attain consistency in flavor. Thus carefully and lovingly handled, a bottle of this special ?bagoong? has a shelf life of up to four years.

This meticulousness over a single ingredient is understandable when one considers that ?bagoong? is the foundation for many Ilocano dishes. ?Dinengdeng? and ?pinakbet? (vegetables), for instance, two classic Ilocano vegetable stews, rely heavily on ?bagoong? for flavor.

At the InterContinental Hotel, where chef Nic is guest chef for the Ilocano Food Festival, the ?bagnet,? twice-fried crisp pork belly, is served not just with the traditional sukang Iloco but also with a piquant relish, made of sautéed onions, garlic and tomatoes flavored with chef Nic?s ?bagoong? mixed with calamansi. Other dishes on the menu include lechon manok stuffed with carimbuwaya (an edible native cactus), Vigan empanada, radish pod salad, pipian (chicken dish of Mexican origin), lomo-lomo (dish of pork tenderloin, heart and liver) and imbaliktad, an a la minute dish of beef tenderloin, marrow, liver and tripe.

For the first day of the festival, chef Nic even slaughtered one of his own cows to make ?sinanglao,? which is similar to bulalo. He also brought several bottles of his very special ?bagoong?, which is on sale at Café Jeepney during the festival. (The Ilocano food festival runs until May 31. Call 7937000.)

Here?s a recipe for ?bagnet? as well as for the ?bagoong? relish.

?Bagnet? with ?Bagoong? Relish

1 whole boneless pork belly with skin on (about 1 kilo), cut into two large pieces

12-16 cups water

4-6 cups cooking oil

For the bagoong relish

2 tablespoons cooking oil

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic

2 tomatoes, sliced

2 tablespoons bagoong isda

Calamansi juice, to taste

Put pork belly in a large, deep stockpot and pour in enough water to completely cover the pork. Bring to a boil then lower heat to simmer. Let simmer until pork is tender.

Remove pork from water and hang or let rest on a rack until completely dry. In a wok, heat oil to medium heat then, using long kitchen tongs, fry the pork belly, skin side down. Immediately cover the pan because the oil will splatter.

When pork browns, remove from heat then transfer to a rack to drain. Let cool completely.

Fry the pork a second time. Reheat cooking oil then fry the pork until the skin blisters and small bubbles appear on the skin?s surface. Remove from wok then let cool slightly before slicing into serving pieces.

Prepare the bagoong relish.

Heat oil and sauté onion for one to two minutes. Add garlic and tomatoes and continue sautéing until tender. Combine bagoong isda with calamansi. Pour into tomato mixture. Serve with ?bagnet.?

What to do with leftover ?bagnet?

?Bagnet? is too good to be relegated to the leftover bin after the first eating. While admittedly it is fatty (not only is it pork, it?s also fried twice), it?s all right to have it if eaten in moderation and only as an occasional treat. Here are other ways you can use leftover ?bagnet.?

Chop ?bagnet? into smaller pieces and use as ?sahog? (meat ingredient) for ?pinakbet.?

You can also add chopped ?bagnet? to adobong kangkong.

Top ?lugaw? (rice porridge) or congee with finely sliced ?bagnet.?

Add chopped ?bagnet? to tomato and salted egg salad. Combine two medium-size chopped tomatoes with one to two diced red eggs. Toss with chopped bagnet.

Use chopped ?bagnet? as topping for mongo soup.

Include bite-size pieces of ?bagnet? in the filling for fresh ?lumpia? (spring roll).

Tips

To make sure the boiled pork is completely dry, pat with paper towels before frying.

The oil should be very hot when you put the pork in. Use long tongs so you?re not too near the pan because the oil will splatter. Have a cover for the pan ready and cover the pan immediately to protect yourself from the oil.

If desired, you can serve the ?bagnet? with vinegar dip. For those who want a sweet dip, serve with lechon sauce.