Tita Au + Pancit Bihon

Pancit Bihon
prepared by Aurora Madriaga Gagni and Tito Gagni

This recipe comes from the late Aurora Madriaga Gagni to whom The Panlasa Project: Community Cookbook project is dedicated.

Hailing from Tubao, La Union in the northern part of the Philippines, Aurora immigrated to the United States in 1978 after being recruited to work as a nurse in Waukegan, Illinois. Although the man she would marry was also from Tubao, their courtship did not begin until they were both on American soil. However, by the time Tito arrived in Illinois in 1979, Aurora had already moved to California. After countless hours spent on the phone and weekend trips to visit one another, they decided to get married. They made their home in the south suburbs of Chicago, raising two children and surrounded by much of their extended family.

When recounting her food memories from childhood, Tita Au told me about the abundance of fish and vegetables, her mother’s preferred ingredients, and the delight of meat-centric meals prepared by her father on the rare occasion that he would cook. After growing up as a picky eater, she learned to cook out of necessity when she arrived in the US. She credited her best friend, a fellow nurse and her first roommate, for a large chunk of her culinary knowledge. She built upon that initial foundation through observation and a lot of trial and error. She expressed sincere gratitude that her husband shouldered most of the home cooking and marveled at the ways her adult children were able to cook well for themselves.

In her interview, Tita Au repeated many times that she was not a good cook overall, that a majority of her dishes were hit or miss, and that she was contented when her food came out edible. However, she was very proud of her pancit bihon recipe. Since pancit was always her favorite, she diligently improved her recipe over time. In the end, she was confident that her pancit was “a good pancit.”

When asked if she had any advice for her children and grandchildren when it came to cooking, Tita Au said, “My advice for other cooks, especially my kids [is] to watch. If they’re at somebody’s house and they like the auntie’s cooking then be interested and watch them because that’s how you learn. Because that’s what I did.”