Make Sisig
Sisig is a food native to the Philippines, coming from the cooks of Pampanga. Sisiga consists of chopped pork parts that are boiled, grilled, and fried with pineapple juices, spices, and vegetables. A versatile classic, served either as a main course or an appetizer, Sisig has become popular across the globe in food trucks and restaurants. There are two parts of Sisig, cooking the pork and making the Sisig, or mixture.
Contents
Ingredients
Pork
- 1 1/2 lb pork cheek
- 1 lb pork ears
- 1 lb pork, chicken, or beef liver
- 1 cup pineapple juice
- 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
- 1 large yellow onion, sliced
- 1 head garlic
- 1/2 cup dark soy sauce
- Salt to taste
Sisig
- 2 tablespoons butter or cooking oil (peanut, coconut, vegetable)
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 green bell pepper, chopped
- 1 tablespoon ginger, chopped
- 5 cloves garlic, chopped
- 4 small chili peppers, chopped (less for a less spicy Sisig)
- 1/4 cup Filipino soy sauce
- ½ cup Paombong or coconut vinegar (any white vinegar will do)
- ¼ cup calamansi juice (substitute lemon or lime juice if unavailable)
- 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
- Salt and pepper to taste
Steps
Cooking the Pork
- Combine the meat, pineapple juice, peppercorns, onion, garlic, and soy sauce in a large saucepot. Feel free to adjust the ingredients a bit to your taste. For example, you can add 1/2 cup of white vinegar for a tangier pork, or a 1/2 cup of sugar for a sweeter dish.
- You can also add 1 cup or aromatic herbs like lemongrass.
- Add enough water to cover the pork. You want to make sure there is 3-4 inches of room between the top of the pot and the water, but there is enough water to cover the pork completely.
- Bring the water to a boil before turning down the heat. Heat the pot on high until the water is boiling, then turn the heat down to bring the pot to a simmer.
- You only need to bring the water to a boil briefly.
- A simmer is when bubbles briefly and slowly break the surface of the water.
- Simmer the pork for an 1 - 1.5 hours until it is tender. You don't want the meat to be soft, just tender on the outside. You'll be cooking it again later.
- Remove the meat from the pot and discard everything else. Drain the water from the pot and separate the meat from the onions, garlic, etc. You can throw away the water and remaining ingredients.
- If you know how, you can also save the liquid to make stock.
- Grill the meat on high. Using skewers to hold it together, cook the meat on a high-heat grill until the outside of the meat is browned and crispy.
- Traditionally, sisig is made on a charcoal grill with the meat close to the coals.
- Refrigerate the meat for 24 hours. Once you've taken the meat off the grill, let it cool. Place it in a covered bowl and refrigerate it for 24 hours before continuing.
- While chilling the meat for a day is best, you can chill it for 3-4 hours if you do not have enough time.
Making Sisig
- Chop the meat into small pieces. Remove your meat from the refrigerator and chop it into pieces roughly 1-2 centimeters across.
- For smaller, finer sisig you can use a food processor, pulsing the meat for 2-3 seconds at a time.
- Melt the butter in a large skillet and add the chopped onions and garlic. Cook these together for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the chopped bell peppers, chili peppers and ginger. Stir the mixture to coat everything in butter, then cook for another 1-2 minutes.
- Add the meat to the skillet and stir. While the meat is already cooked, this marinates the meat in the sisig and brings the whole dish together.
- Add the calamansi, vinegar, and soy sauce. Add the liquid ingredients and stir them in to coat the rest of the ingredients.
- Remember, if you don't have calamansi you can substitute the juice from a lemon or lime.
- Cook everything together for 4 minutes. Since the meat is already cooked, this is just to mix the flavors together and reheat the pork.
- Serve hot with an egg or sliced green onions for garnish. Sisig is often served with an egg on top, or alongside a side of rice. Enjoy your dish!
Variations
- Try different cuts of meat. Pork belly, which is rich in fat, cooks particularly well on the grill and can make decadent sisig. Traditional sisig also mixes in snout, tongue, and liver meat as well, using every part of the pig. But even those that don't enjoy pork can still enjoy sisig.
- Squid Sisig: Substitute the squid for the boiled pork. Simply grill the squid for 4-5 minutes, chop it, then add it to the skillet full of sisig mixture.
- Monkfish Sisig: Fry and debone a white, mild fish, then add it to the sisig mixture as it cooks.
- Add mayo with the wet ingredients for a richer, thicker sisig. Many recipes in the Philippines use mayo as a binding agent, holding the ingredients together in a light sauce.
- The traditional binding agent of sisig is actually pork brains, but this variation is for more adventurous eaters.
- Spice up your sisig with a custom spice mixture. There are a lot of different spices to throw in the sisig along with your vegetables and pork. Try tossing these ingredients for the last 4-5 minutes of cooking:
- 1 cube vegetable, chicken, or beef bouillon.
- 1 tablespoon Chinese 5 spice seasoning.
- 1-2 crushed bay leaves.
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro.
- 1 teaspoon orange or lemon zest.
- Marinade the pork a day in advance and bake it if you don't have a grill. This recipe, while different, will still make a tender, delicious sisig. To adapt the classic sisig recipe for the oven:
- Mix the pork with the garlic, ginger, soy sauce, onions, chili powder, and 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil.
- Refrigerate this mixture overnight.
- Preheat an oven at 350 degrees and cook the pork for 3 hours in a roasting pan.
- Cool the pork and chop it into small bits, then continue the recipe as if you had finished grilling it.
Tips
- Take your time while you are cooking-- slow, methodical cooking locks in the juice for tasty, tender pork.
Warnings
- Always be careful moving the hot meat from one heat source (boiling water, grill) to the other.
Note
Paombong is a town in Bulacan where vinegars are made distinctively tangy.
