About this recipe
Pig's face — jowl, ear and snout — simmered until tender, grilled over charcoal until the edges char, then chopped fine and tossed with onion, chilli and calamansi, and brought to the table on a cast-iron plate hot enough to keep crackling. The three-stage cooking is what makes it sisig rather than chopped grilled pork: boiling for tenderness, grilling for smoke and char, chopping for texture. The result is meant to be chewy, crunchy and soft in the same mouthful. It is closely associated with Pampanga, and the version served on a sizzling plate with an egg cracked over it is a later development that is now widespread.
Recipe facts
- Yield
- 6 servings as a shared dish
- Prep
- 30 minutes
- Cook
- 1 hour 45 minutes
- Total
- 135 minutes
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Spice
- Medium (adjust the chillies)
Allergens Contains egg if served with one. Contains soy in the optional seasoning.
Development draft. This is an untested development recipe from the cookbook project. It has not been kitchen-tested, and the quantities and timings are the author’s working draft rather than a verified result.
Ingredients
The pork
- 2 lb (900 g) pig's face (maskara) — jowl, ears and snout — or 2 lb (900 g) pork jowl and 8 oz (225 g) pig's ears
- 8 cups (1.9 L) water
- 1 onion, quartered
- 6 cloves garlic, crushed
- 3 dried bay leaves
- 1 tbsp (7 g) whole black peppercorns
- 1 tbsp (18 g) salt
The seasoning
- 1 large red onion, chopped very fine
- 4-6 red bird's eye chillies (siling labuyo), chopped fine, or 2 long red chillies for less heat
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) calamansi juice, from about 10 calamansi, or 3 tbsp (45 ml) lime juice
- 3 tbsp (45 ml) cane vinegar
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) soy sauce (optional)
- 1 tsp (2 g) ground black pepper
- Salt to taste
To finish and serve
- 2 tbsp (28 g) butter, for the sizzling plate
- 8 oz (225 g) chicken liver, boiled and mashed fine (optional, traditional in some versions)
- 1 large egg (optional, cracked over the hot plate)
- Steamed rice
- Extra calamansi halves and chillies at the table
Equipment
- Large pot, 6 qt (5.7 L)
- Charcoal grill or heavy ridged grill pan
- Heavy cleaver or large knife
- Cast-iron sizzling plate or small cast-iron skillet
Method
- Put the pork, water, quartered onion, crushed garlic, bay leaves, peppercorns and salt in the pot. Bring to a boil and skim off the foam.
- Lower to a gentle simmer, cover partly, and cook 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes, until a skewer passes through the thickest part with no resistance and the ears are translucent and yielding.
- Lift the pork out and let it cool until you can handle it, about 20 minutes. Discard the poaching liquid or save it for another use. Pat every piece completely dry.
- Grill over hot charcoal or on the ridged pan over high heat, 8-10 minutes, turning, until the surfaces are charred in patches and the skin has blistered. The char is a flavour, not a mistake — take it further than looks comfortable.
- Chop the grilled pork with a cleaver into pieces about 1/4 in (5 mm) across. Chop by hand; a food processor turns it to paste and destroys the texture the dish exists for.
- Tip the chopped pork into a bowl. Add the red onion, chillies, calamansi juice, cane vinegar, the soy sauce if using, black pepper and salt, and the mashed chicken liver if using. Toss thoroughly.
- Taste and adjust. It should be sharp, salty and hot, with the acidity pronounced enough to cut the fat.
- Heat the cast-iron plate over high heat until it is smoking. Add the butter, let it foam, then tip in the sisig and press it flat. Leave it undisturbed 2 minutes so the underside crisps.
- If using the egg, crack it over the centre of the hot plate and carry the dish to the table immediately, still sizzling, for the egg to be stirred through by whoever is eating.
- Serve with rice, and with extra calamansi and chillies for people to sharpen their own portion.
From the foundations
The book pairs this recipe with the following, from the sauces, sambals and pastes that open the collection.
The Complete Edition
Sisig sits in the Philippines chapter
The book carries this recipe in full alongside the rest of the Philippines chapter, the pastes and dips it is built on, and the twenty-seven pantry studies that open the collection.
In review with Amazon KDP
Both editions have been submitted to Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing and are currently in review. Submitted prices are $9.99 for the kindle edition and $49.99 for the paperback. Neither is on sale yet, and prices are as submitted rather than final.