Sisig

Sisig is a very popular dish in Philippines but not for dinner neither lunch, it’s a dish served when you’re enjoying an ice-cold beer after a long day’s work. Yes it is a beer snack, most of the gatherings in Philippines that involves beer or any alcohol would definitely have this dish.

Sisig is a very popular dish in Philippines but not for dinner neither lunch, it’s a dish served when you’re enjoying an ice-cold beer after a long day’s work. Yes it is a beer snack, most of the gatherings in Philippines that involves beer or any alcohol would definitely have this dish. When I was still residing in Philippines I never have to cook this dish as every good Filipino restaurant and bars would have this on their menu. To add to that it is also tiresome to make as you have to boil, broil, chop it into small pieces and fry the pig’s head or pork ear.

So where did this dish originated? I looks like it’s a Kapampangan dish (Pamapanga, province in Philippines) as “Sisig” means “to snack on something sour” but it usually refers to fruits like unripe mangoes dipped in salt or vinegar. Later it was used for savoury dishes like this one. Sisig or Sizzling Sisig (when served in a sizzling plate) is a dish made out of roasted and chopped pig’s head, liver and other offal seasoned with calamansi, soy sauce and chili peppers.

This dish was invented when there were a surplus pigs head and offal available in Angeles when the Americans still operate their Air Base back then, they don’t use these parts and ended up throwing or selling it at a really cheap price. Knowing Filipinos to be ingenious, this unwanted pig parts were then used and created great dishes such as this one. It was officially credited to Lucia Cunanan of Angeles City who is known as the Sisig Queen.

Anyways, it is a good time to post this dish at its Independence Day in the Philippines and I know a lot of people are celebrating now and having that ice cold beer.

Happy Independence Day Philippines!

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Sisig 4

Sisig

  • Author: Raymund
  • Prep Time: 15 mins
  • Cook Time: 1 hour
  • Total Time: 1 hour 15 mins
  • Yield: 6 1x
  • Category: Main Course
  • Cuisine: Filipino

Description

Sisig is a very popular dish in Philippines but not for dinner neither lunch, it’s a dish served when you’re enjoying an ice-cold beer after a long day’s work. Yes it is a beer snack, most of the gatherings in Philippines that involves beer or any alcohol would definitely have this dish.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 8 pcs pork’s ear or similar weight in pork cheeks or combination
  • 200 g pork belly
  • 100 g pork liver
  • 2 cups pork crackling, chopped
  • 1 1/4 cups vinegar
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 3 tbsp mayonnaise
  • 3 pcs birds eye chillies
  • 3 pcs bay leaves
  • 12 pcs lemon
  • 2 onions, chopped
  • 1 thumb sized ginger, minced
  • 6 cloves garlic
  • eggs
  • salt
  • freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

  1. Boil pork cheeks/ears and belly in water with 1 cup vinegar, bay leaf, salt and pepper for 20 minutes
  2. Drain liquid, set aside and let it cool.
  3. Grill the pork cheeks/ears and belly for 15-20 minutes, around 10 minutes on each side.
  4. Remove the pork cheeks/ears and belly from the grill then finely dice them.
  5. Using a food processor puree pork liver.
  6. In a bowl mix thoroughly together chopped meat, pureed liver, soy sauce, remaining vinegar, 2 tsp freshly ground black pepper and chopped chillies.
  7. In a pan add oil, sauté garlic and ginger.
  8. Add the meat mixture and cook until you can see some toasted meat. Add mayonnaise and toss meat then season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
  9. Heat up a hot plate and when it’s hot enough place the meat mixture, top it with pork crackling and 1 raw egg per hot plate, chopped onions and squeeze lemon on top.

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18 Responses

  1. elizz says:

    my favorite.. love this dish.. it is the first one that i will order in a new restaurant then i would compare the taste since i’ve already sampled a lot.. but you know, i haven’t tasted yet the original sisig from the popular sisig queen in pampanga..

  2. genesissjsantos says:

    Reblogged this on The Blog.

  3. Sisig? I have never heard of this before but it looks and sounds delicious- I will certainly be giving this dish a go. Anything designed to be a meal in between other meals, enjoyed with an ice cold beer has won me over. Thanks for the inspiration

  4. nusrat2010 says:

    Interesting indeed 🙂
    Don’t know for some reason, I love saying the name of the dish repeatedly, “Sisig …Sisig….Sisig…” 🙂

  5. This one of the best pulutan. Looks delicious, Raymund!

  6. We had a similiar dish for rice wine in Bataknese Descent in Indonesia,
    we used to add some blood to the dish with tons of chopped chillies,
    btw, the sisig is just perfect for sandwich filling for my brunch!

  7. jessy says:

    i am from Pampanga but your version of sisig is not our version, it has no mayonnaise and ginger…

  8. Love the look of the egg yolk! Fun dish – not one I’ve ever heard of. But I’ll bet the flavor is wonderful!

  9. mjskit says:

    In the states they serve pretzels and salted nuts with beer – nothing like this! The recipe really got my attention with the 2 cups of cracklings. I love cracklings and don’t see them used much. What a very interesting and delicious looking dish!

  10. I hope you had a great independence day! I love how this dish looks with the egg on top!

  11. Charles says:

    Well, I never actually tried pork liver or ear (maybe I did try liver before actually, not sure) so I can’t really comment on those parts, but it’s got crackling? I’d definitely give it a go. Love that stuff and that alone makes a fantastic beer snack! Perhaps without the egg on top though… they dump egg on pizzas in France and the white never cooks through. Always seems a bit slimy for my taste 🙁

  12. Any recipe that calls for 2 cups of pork crackling is a winner in my books !

  13. jlaceda says:

    My mom is from Pampanga and I remember going by the railroad tracks to tiny “restaurant huts” for a delicious plate of sizzling sisig! YUMMY!

    By the way, got some news…I just recently decided to take an exit package at work, so I am officially out of a job and on the hunt for new opportunities! So, I apologize if my blog visits are few and far in between. I’ll be checking in as much as I can, though. Like today. Just needed to see some inspiration as I am feeling quite down for leaving a job that I’ve been at for the last 13 years!

  14. H says:

    jus got back from my 10th visit to the Phil. Tried Sisig at a Buddy’s restaurant in Makati. It was Fantastic. Tried it everywhere I went after that, but not as good as the one in Manila! Going to try this myself!!

  15. regis says:

    “Sisig Rada” in Salcedo Village Mkti
    They say its the fried version of a love-potion

  16. Just looking on the pictures makes me want to go back to pampanga and ate sisig. By the way thanks for the information about the history of sisig. :))

  17. Jearlene Thompson says:

    Great article on sisig! Thanks also for sharing the recipe for it. Been wanting to visit Pampanga for what people claim to be the best sisig and I gotta say I’m excited to try it when we visit there.

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