Single Serving: Pork Longanisa

Homemade pork longanisa and dried fish

This recipe I owe to many who have asked after I posted it on my personal Facebook page. Long overdue. Sorry :)
Truth be told, I have so many recipes that I wanted to add in this blog, but I just can't seem to do so because I don't like the look of the website. I really really wanted to update to this website to look more personal. That's one talent I don't have so I can't do on my own. So, if you are interested to see more recipes and you know anyone who can help me design the blog, please do let me know. Nakakatamad kasi talaga magsulat if medyo hindi maganda tignan yung outcome...
Anyways, going back to the longanisa, I've long wanted to try making it, kaso it really overwhelms me, tingin ko ang hirap gawin. Specially when most of the recipes online include salitre or saltpeter --- I don't know what it is, and I don't know where to get it. And, it sounds scary! I mean di ba, yung tunog pa lang sa-lit-re... it's a curing agent I know, but being an untrained cook... Wala lang, parang I want to stay away from it until I know exactly what it's made of. So there, since I don't have a curing agent, the challenge now is what will I use as a binding ingredient. I'm sure hindi egg yun and also hindi flour yun. But then, kelan pa mangyayari yong longanisa di ba if I won't try? We have already bought ground port many times but it never ended up being longanisa. Most of the time menudo ang ending n'ya. LOL! 
This time, since long holiday, I wanted to make sure happy happy ang breakfast namin everyday since we intend to just stay home the entire time. No big plans, just big breakfasts! Well, surprisingly, the longanisa turned out very well. My guess is the 3 days curing helped a lot, making sure that there is no excess water from the meat. When I cured it dry na dry talaga yung ground meat and when you cure it, don't put it in the freezer kasi mag-moisture yon ulit when you thaw. Below are the ingredients I used:

400gms ground pork
3 tbs light soy sauce
1 tbs vinegar
1 tbs brown sugar
1 tsp paprika powder
1 tbs olive oil (optional depending on how fatty your meat is)
minced garlic (amount depends on how garlicky you want it)
pinch of ground black pepper
salt (to taste)

Just mix all the ingredients well before adding in the ground pork (or any other meat you prefer). Mix well and transfer into a container, seal and put in the ref for about 2-3 days. Roll into logs depending on your preferred size and wrap with wax paper. In this case, I used the ice cream scoop as a measure. 

Mommy Tip: It gets smaller after frying, leaner meats don't get too small but tends to get dry and rubbery.  

That's it! Fairly simple really. I don't know why making longanisa had overwhelmed me for a very long time. Although to be honest, I was also quite surprised how it turned out. I was ready to fail! 

Update: I made another batch yesterday using mixed ground pork and chicken in equal amounts. I don't know how it'll turn out. Watch out for it, I'll post it on My Expat Mommy's Instagram and FB Page.

*Shameless plugging: Please follow My Expat Mommy on Instagram and Facebook!

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