Sizzling Pork Sisig (Sisig)
Sisig Say it: see-SIG
Sisig is the great Pampanga bar food: chopped pork face and ears, boiled soft then grilled over coals until the skin blisters, tossed with vinegar, calamansi, raw onion and fiery siling labuyo, and finished with chicken liver for creaminess. It arrives on a screaming-hot cast-iron plate, still crackling, often with a raw egg stirred in at the table. The taste is sour, smoky, salty and rich all at once, with crunch from the ear cartilage and a whiff of char.
Sizzling Pork Sisig (Sisig)
Sisig
Pronounced see-SIG
- Serves
- 4
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 1 hr 15 min
- Total
- 1 hr 35 min
- Level
- Medium
Ingredients
Amounts are scaled. Cooking times and pan sizes stay the same.
Pork
Dressing
To sizzle and serve
Method
Put the pork jowl and ears in a pot, cover with water by 2 inches (5 cm), and add the salt, bay leaf and peppercorns. Bring to a boil, skim the foam, then simmer 45-60 minutes until the meat is tender and a knife slides through the skin easily. Drain well and let cool and dry for 10 minutes.
Grill the drained pork over hot charcoal or under a broiler set 4 inches (10 cm) from the heat, turning often, for 10-15 minutes until the skin is blistered, deep golden and crisp in patches and the meat smells smoky. Set aside to rest.
While the pork grills, pan-fry the chicken liver in a dry non-stick pan over medium heat for 4-5 minutes per side, until no longer pink inside and browned at the edges. Mash it with a fork on a board into a coarse paste.
Chop the grilled pork into small dice, about 1/4 inch (6 mm), cutting the ears finer so they do not overpower the bite. Scrape everything, including the crusty bits, into a large bowl.
Add the mashed liver, onion, chiles, vinegar, calamansi juice, salt and pepper to the pork. Toss with a spoon for 30 seconds, then taste and adjust the sourness and heat. The mixture should look glossy, not wet.
Heat a cast-iron sizzling plate over high heat until a drop of water dances and vanishes, about 4-5 minutes. Pour in 1/2 tablespoon (7 ml) of the oil and swirl it around.
Spoon a quarter of the sisig onto the plate — it should hiss loudly immediately. Crack an egg over the centre if using, and carry it to the table while it still sizzles.
Repeat with the remaining plates and serve right away with calamansi wedges, stirring the egg into the hot pork at the table as it sets.
To serve without sizzling plates, heat the whole mixture in a wide skillet over high heat for 3-4 minutes until it sizzles and the edges brown, then top with fried eggs.
Regional variant: Sisig na Bangus (milkfish sisig)
Replace the pork and liver with a 2 lb (900 g) whole milkfish or 1 lb (450 g) boneless milkfish belly, rubbed with salt and grilled skin-side down over coals until the skin chars and the flesh flakes, about 10 minutes per side. Flake the flesh, discarding every bone and the dark belly fat if you prefer a milder taste, and dress it with the same onion, chile, vinegar and calamansi mixture. It is lighter and needs no boiling step; sizzle it the same way with oil and an egg.
Cook's notes
- Dry the boiled pork well before grilling; wet skin steams instead of crisping, and the char is what gives sisig its flavour.
- Add the vinegar and calamansi just before serving so the onion stays sharp and the pork keeps its crunch.
- Ask the butcher to split and clean the ears, or simmer them 15 minutes longer than the jowl if they are tough.
Serve with
Cold beer or San Miguel, steamed rice, and extra calamansi and soy sauce on the side.
Make ahead and storage
The boiled and grilled pork can be chopped and refrigerated up to 2 days ahead; dress and sizzle just before eating, as leftovers soften quickly.
