Pulutan has always been the food taken when drinking beer and other alcoholic beverages. It is said that the word is derived from the Tagalog verb pulutin or to to picked up or food eaten directly with the hands. Although in my country there is a tradition to eat food by hand, clean hands, called kamayan. It is a practical way of eating food and fun. And perhaps because of this pulutan, at least for me, seems to have veered off its original definition and more solidly rests with definition with usually eaten while drinking beer or any other alcoholic drink. During such occasions though not everyone on the table needs to drink and sometimes some diners even eat rice .
Pulutan can be taken in with beer or without. Beer served per bottle, per mug, or even per beer tower or with an imbudo or even via helicopter. It can be served with drinks served straight up, on the rocks or with friends sharing the rum, vodka or lambanong by passing a single cup to each member of the drinking party in a clockwise or counter-clockwise manner.
Pulutan though comes in many forms often depending on the culture and economic status of the drinkers. A person as he ages will notice that pulutan he or she encounters through the years changes.
The Least Expensive Pulutan then:
This was a time when you wanted to drink and had the money to drink but not enough money for pulutan. The joke back then was when you did not have no money at all you just had to drink and whistle. If You had more money then you could buy an array of not-so expensive food like legumes. crackers, chicharon (pork cracklings), besuto crackers ( which you had to cook) and reno liver spread.
The Healthy and Not-So Healthy Pulutan:
Healthy Pulutans included vegetable sticks and fish dishes like Tuna (grilled, baked, sushi, sashimi or kilawin). The happy but more deadly ones included the popular sisig, chicken wings, lechon manok, crispy pata, bical express, beef salpicao, bopis chicharon bulaklak, hungarian sausages, and binagkis = a dried from dinuguan from the Northern Philippines.
Most of these could be ordered from the food shops or restaurants or they could be cooked at home. Hungarian sausages bought by the kilo were cooked at home and served while drinking. Other dishes like crispy pata would require some more time in the kitchen to cook.
Beef Salad is a Thai dish that also makes good pulutan dish. The dish is composed of rump steak (any beef would actually do), green and red bell peppers, cucumber, coriander, onion, red chili, mint, basil and coriander. The beef is fried and mixed with the ingredients and seasoned with lime juice (dalanghita or calamani will do). sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil and liquamen – fish sauce (patis).
The memorable Pulutan:
I encountered this one while spending a week in Rizal Province. It was drunk with lambanog coconut wine. This particular one was flavored with vicks vapodrops (normally it would langka or jackfruit, raisins or even chicklets) giving it an emerald color.
And the pulutan was boiled Ipomoea batatas or kamoteng kahoy pounded on a wooden pesltle which was mixed with butter would be pummeled and pemmeled inside the big wooden pestle. The macerated dish would then be served as pulutan to the emerald colored lambanog.
The Lambanog itself was served helicopter style.
