Longanisa (Filipino breakfast sausage)
I remember helping Dad make Longanisa as a kid. My memories are of helping him stuff the meat into the casings with a funnel and then hanging them up to cure in the basement. There are a ton of different recipes online that you can find for this delicious Filipino breakfast sausage. This version is closer to the sweet Pampanga style versus the northern Luzon style which is more vinegary and salty. I tried a few different recipes and then ended up tweaking and adjusting until I came up with this version. It isn't necessary to stuff into casings, but I really like doing it for the authenticity and it also loses less fat when frying. You can form them into patties or sausage shape if you don't stuff them. Most sausage recipes call for the addition of pork fat, often called "fatback". It's basically pure fat that has been trimmed off meat. Most butchers will sell it to you and even grind it for you if you ask nicely. It's better if the fat is ground coarser than the meat. If you just use plain ground pork, the sausage will turn out dry, so adding extra fat is mandatory!
Ingredients:
5 lbs ground pork
1 1/2 lbs ground pork fat
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
3 tbsp salt
5 tbsp chopped garlic
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup cider vinegar
*** optional red pepper flakes if you want it spicy!
Cheap ground pork from Costco!
Collagen casings -you can get these at Stuffers in Langley or places like Cabela's. We used 23 mm artificial collagen casings (edible). 26mm works very well too. A lot of the longanisa you buy at the store is in a much larger casing. I like the smaller ones because they cook faster and you can just fry them up as is, like a typical breakfast sausage and don't have to cook it in water first (and let it evaporate -the usual way larger diameter longanisa is cooked)
Mix all the marinade ingredients in a small bowl (everything except the pork and fat) . Add to the meat and fat and mix with your hands. Refrigerate overnight to let flavours meld. Form into patties, sausage shapes or stuff into casings.
The flavour/marinade
***hint - chill or freeze the pork fat before adding to the other ingredients so that it doesn't get mushy and stays in individual pieces
When mixing sausage it's always best to have the ingredients as cold as possible
We used Des's brother Tyson's stuffer. In the past we have used the stuffer attachment to my Kitchenaid but unfortunately it didn't work very well. This low tech Italian made stuffer did the trick!!!
Filling the casings
We just cut it into breakfast sausage sized pieces, then froze them.
Some recipes suggest you put them in the fridge to cure for a couple of days before freezing or eating. I'm not exactly sure what this does, but why not try it! Back in the day, Dad just hung it in the basement, which I'm assuming was cold enough. I don't think he added any preservative though. Anyway, it must have been OK because none of us got food poisoning !
Comments
Post a Comment