Pasuquin Biscocho

Since I was a kid, my cousins have been making biscocho at the Pasuquin Bakery. Their product, to quote a friend, has become "an edible landmark" of the province, as it is known far and wide--reaching the far corners of the world, wherever there are Ilocanos.

Unlike most biscocho which is made using stale leftover bread, Pasuquin biscocho is made using freshly baked bread, specifically made to be toasted. And unlike the usual biscocho, Pasuquin biscocho is not sweet. Rather, it is flavored with anise (the same flavor you taste in absinthe). My cousins tell me the recipe was made by one town old-timer, the late Timot Josue, who was trained in one of the Spanish style panaderias of colonial Manila. His assistants, Sixto and Estefania Salmon, deduced both the ingredients and the process through careful observation and measurements.

Lolo Sixto also served as baker to the American forces temporarily stationed at Victory Road, south of the poblacion, after World War II. From his savings, he put up what is now called the Pasuquin Bakery, currently being managed by his only child, Manang Esperanza Alvarez, better known as Pansing.

Practically every bus, jeepney and private vehicle makes an obligatory stop at the Pasuquin Bakery, with everyone ordering biscocho. Because of its immense popularity, the freshly baked soft bread is now also on sale--perfect with cheese, or condensed milk, or Spanish style sardines. An enterprising neighbor now sells biscocho sandwiches at Shore Stop, right across the Shell gas station immediately south of the poblacion, on the way to Bacarra and Laoag.