The Best Longganisa in the Philippines?

Today we want to cook up some longanisa. So first we're going to head out to the Imus Public Market in Cavite to learn how they make their much-loved imus longanisa. Then we're going to learn how chef Luigi Mulac is putting some interesting flavors in this much-loved sausage. Yum. Then we're going to head back to the studio and show you three new ways you can cook with longanisa at home. We're on our way to the Imus Public Market. We're very lucky here in Metro Manila that one of the best longanisas in the whole Philippines is literally just 45 minutes away from us. It's a very special longanisa. I'm not going to get into who makes the best longanisa in this whole episode, and the plan is to just kind of be able to learn a little bit and take all of that, you know, information and bring it back to the studio where we're going to cook up with some friends and come up with different ways to use longanisa that you can serve at home for your The Imus Public Market has gone through a few changes and is still getting renovated in some parts, but it's already looking cleaner and more organized. This longanisa is one of my favorites in the country. It's garlicky, simple, and always well done. When here, I go to Wateng's. She's been it for years, and they've stayed consistent throughout. The longanisa is just like adobo. That's really what Imus does. Imus longanisa, adobo, lots of garlic. Mas maraming taba or mas maraming bawang? Fifty-fifty po. May garlic pa rin, bawang? Opo. And spices pa rin? No po, garlic lang po ang ano namin. So ito yung regular standard? Opo, ito yung pinakamabli sa amin. Pagka anu po nyan, pagka giling, itimplahan po natin bago hahaluin po para imimigsing lahat ng ingredients. Bago, yun po, ilalagin na sa casing. Tapos daming bawang talaga? Opo, po kami po sa daming ng baboy. Sa 10 kilos ng baboy po, 1 kilo ng bawang. The amount of garlic that goes into this is insane. I like the fact that it's a clean 50-50% of fat and protein. And there's about 10% of garlic, and I'm sure there's a percentage in terms of the salt that they add to it as well. So ano po ito? Ano yan, pinakahalo-halo ingredients. Paminta, asin, toyo, konting bechin. So ito yung secret? Walang secret. Kasi ano naman, natural na adobo lang. Di ba naguloto tayo ng adobong baboy? Opo. Kailangan dito, maraming bawang. Pero walang suka? So yung kulay talaga sa toyo? Taka sa achuete. Dapat halong mabuti para na adon lahat yung ingredients, lalasa na sa bako. So what's really interesting here is usually just how much time it's taking to mix it, but keeping it really fluffy. And I think what's really important is having a very kind of consistent grind on the garlic, on the pork, on the fat. And these are all little things that you kind of pick up, but when you see it, that this is how it's been done for generations, and why it's so consistent and so good. Ganda yung branding at Divac. I love it. Gawa nito, mano-mano lang. Tata, ganyan yung galo ng toyo. Ginagupit lang. Tapos ito, dried na? Dried na balak, na casing. Intestine ng pork. Thank you po! Salamat! From Cavite, we take a quick drive to Laguna. Chef Luigi Mulac ran a few restaurants, and his take on Filipino food was always quite playful and focused on highlighting the best we have to offer. In Lumu, the longganisa was one of his best-selling dishes, so during the pandemic, he started selling it from home. I got a few packs myself, and it instantly became a favorite. From Caldereta to Bicol Express, he's always looking to see how we can integrate unique flavors into longganisa. So per batch na ginagawa namin, we make 25 kilos. That makes around 50 packs or more. So you get, this is a shoulder, right? Yeah, pork shoulder. And then you kind of mix in pork fat? Yes. To the ratio that you're happy with? And is there something, technique-wise, that is important that you started doing that gives the longganisa a proper texture? Well, we added more fat. Yung pag-grind ng meat, parang we don't grind it too fine. Kapag hiniiwa mo yung mga vegan longganisa, may bubo-bubo sa loob. You want that pop, right? And casings, you're using what kind of casings? Hog casings. Okay, hog casings, yeah. Fresh. Are those hard to get now? No, they're not. Oh, they're not, okay. And cleaned already, so you don't have to do the cleaning. For the caldereta, the roasted bell peppers and tomatoes are turned into a fresh sauce. All that is blended with other spices and some cheese as well. Nothing is ground too small, so you get a lot of texture from each bite. Before, we opened a restaurant in Nakati. That was like, parang mga eight years ago. Etong longganisa was one of the items on the menu na we had to, you know, create. So nag-isip kami ng iba-iba klaseng playing boards ko yan. But come pandemic, we had to close down. Syempre, we needed to, you know, make money, diba? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, naisip namin yung concept na ito. Sabi ko, ibalik ko kaya yung mga longganisa. Why not? Parang just try to make. Balikan mo lang ulit. Bento lang natin sa village natin. Ganun lang. Nag-click. Yeah. We started sa bahay lang. So, kasama ko lang yung mga yaya sa bahay, driver. Tawa kami ng longganisa. Tapos, we, you know, we had to call someone from the palengke na magaling magtali. So, pinapatali namin sa kanya. Dinadala namin sa market yun. And then, yun. Nag-grow na nag-grow. So, yeah. Now, we're here. We have sinigang na hubad, Bicol Express, and caldareta and cheese. So, I was thinking lang, parang why not make something local? Paibahin ko kaya yung flavor ng longganisa na ito. Para lang iba lang. So, this is the caldareta, right? Yeah. This is very garlicky also? Yes. And marami rin cheese yun. Mmm. Really nice. Like you said, you get that, those pops of fat. Yes. Which are important. Kaya coarse talagang grind namin eh. Para when you bite into it, daming mga, daming textures na nangyari. How do you try incorporating the flavor into, because it's a very different, a sausage or longganisa is very different, right? Yeah. So, when you say, okay, caldareta, what flavor do you expect to come out that makes you feel like it's caldareta? Um, I guess it's the tomato paste and the, siguro yung liver, no? Yeah. May ganun eh. So, yun yung, and the bell peppers. Mmm. So, that's why we, we, we, we torch yung bell peppers first before we puree it, before we add it to the, ano, para may... Yeah, you get a lot of bell pepper there, which is nice. Yeah. And not crazy garlic. Yeah. Because longganisas tend to have... A lot of garlic. So, here, you don't... No, not that much. Not that much. Pero, you know, enough garlic na to, ano, na parang, yeah, it's longganisa nga. Yeah. So, what would you say right now is your best, what people like the most? Parehas lang eh. Pero yung sinigang, malakas din. Mmm. But now, nagpe-pick up yung Bicol Express kasi may ginawa kami yung adjustments sa recipe. We made it a bit more salty. So, now, yun, it's a lot better with rice talaga kasi daming silin, no? Yeah. Yum. I could eat that for lunch. That's so good. Aw. Thank you. Salamat. Thank you. Thanks, guys. Now that we got our longganisa haul, I'll bring it back to the studio where Seth and Ina from Feature are waiting for me. I got you guys some goodies. Uh-huh. So, we were just at the market, right? Mmm-hmm. So, for the challenge today, we said we'd pair our dishes with some... How do you pronounce it? Lemondo. So, I went to the Imus Public Market in Cavite, and then we also visited Chef Luigi Munak. So, I'm gonna give you the artisan longganisa. And this is, like, smell that. Oh, that's really garlicky. Yeah, it's very garlicky. Wow. The plan today was to try to make longganisa-inspired dishes. Uh-huh. So, what are you thinking? So, I was thinking scotch eggs, kind of take it out of the casing, even though they put a lot of work into it. But then, you know, I just think that, you know, that kind of marinade, all that fat goes well with eggs. I mean, eggs and longganisa. Yeah. Staple. So, let's cook some also just in the casing, because we haven't actually tried that. And then you? I'm thinking of a sandwich, so, like, a banh mi. Because I think you can put anything in a banh mi, any protein. So, I think this will sound good in a banh mi. So, you were thinking of pairing that with what flavor? I'm thinking of honey lemon. You get that sweetness from the honey, tang from the lemon. Okay. So, honey lemon is yours. Yeah. You were thinking what? Devil lemon. Ooh. Because I'm a daredevil. Strong boy. I'm going to go for signature lemon. So, I'm going to be making something for the first time that I've never made before. It's called pasta dell'assassina, because it's a pasta that breaks all rules. But it's considered, quote-unquote, traditional. It's like a hitman's pasta. So, it's pasta that's cooked in a shallow pan, and the pasta's unboiled. It's cooked in the sauce. It's cooked in the sauce, so it gets really burnt. Really burnt, and then I was thinking, okay, let's just make, like, a longganisa hubad to go on top of it to give it some of that crumble. So, cheers, guys. Cheers. Let's get cooking. I'm going to start first. Thank you for preparing my ingredients, by the way. Anything for you. I wouldn't let you down. Oh, thank you so much. Even though Ina was the one that prepared it. Okay, this is actually one of the coolest parts of this recipe. What they do is they grab tomato paste, and then a bit of tomato sauce, and that goes into the water. So, the water in itself already has that red color and a lot of flavor. And that's going to help cook our pasta kind of like a risotto, where you keep adding the water to the pasta as it burns in the shallow pan. So, I'm just going to do some ground pork, lots of garlic, and then your basic salt, chili flakes, nutmeg, dried herbs, a bit of brown sugar. What's your favorite longganisa? Mine's, like, jamonado always. My favorite longganisa is definitely lubad. Mine is vegan because I like it garlicky. Garlicky. Yeah. Okay, so I think you're going to like the imus one because the imus one is, like, proper garlicky. Okay, so my hubad mix is pretty much done. Now, we can actually start on the pasta. So, I'm going to use this pan over here. I love doing things that pisses Italian people off. Should I? Oil first, tomato sauce, tomato paste. Once that starts kind of bubbling away a little bit, that's where I add my pasta. As it gets hot, that steam is going to make it cave in, and then we're just going to move it around with the liquid that we keep adding later. And I'm going to be cooking this longganisa mix separately, and then once it's cooked, we'll add it to this sauce. So, it'll really come together really nicely in that with our signature lemon, which is kind of, like, really fresh, acidic, a little bit of sweetness in there. It'll be perfect. I'm going to be using Bicol Express from Chef Bulak. So, your idea was to make a banh mi? Yes. Okay. So, I guess you can put anything in a banh mi. Without people getting too angry. Yeah, that's true. Hopefully. Now, so banh mis, you have some sort of spread or pate, right? Yep. So, you're going to be using liver pate. You've got some pickles done? Yep, I already did. A quick pickle of carrots and cucumbers. Okay, nice. So, in a pan, I have here water. I'm going to cook my Bicol Express longganisa and wait for it to boil. So, over here, I have the longganisa, some flat-leaf parsley, and some lemon zest. I don't want to do too much. I don't want to season my meat because the longganisa is already seasoned. So, I just want to add freshness because there's already garlic in there, a lot of seasoning. Alright, so I'm just going to add some breadcrumbs as a little binder. I'm going to add a little egg in there, make sure everything is nice and binded. I want to make sure that when I'm molding it, it stays around the egg rather than separates. So, from what you've read, what is the most critical part of a scotch egg? The egg should be cold and really fresh. You want to have it pre-cooked, five minutes to six minutes, and in the fridge right away. But that also depends if your egg is big or not. So, you know, you've got to kind of adapt it to the Filipino eggs. So, we're talking about something else. It's already bound already, so I have my mixture over here. I'm just going to start setting this aside. Let it chill a little bit because it has a lot of fat. And, of course, my hand heat has melted a lot. I'm going to grab my eggs, start peeling them, and make a sauce. Okay, I think my longganisa is cooked already. I'm going to take it out of the pan. There you go, brown and juicy. And then, Ina, you're making a soy glaze to go inside your banh mi, right? Yeah, a quick lemon soy glaze. And then I'm going to toss in my longganisa here. So, lemon juice, soy, and sugar. Yep. So, I haven't tried this one. We tried Luigi's. So, Luigi's was nice because it's not too, what's it called? Yeah. Garlicky. I like that you have chunks. I like that you have a bit of cartilage in there, some pop, right? Okay, I think this is ready. So, the idea of this pasta is to have some burnt bits in the bottom. Whoa, look at that. So, I got my oil here. Just waiting on Seth. That's all we're doing. Cause I'm just waiting, waiting, waiting for Seth to cook. You know that song? No. Oh, I'm waiting for the world to change. And changes keep on waiting. I can't do it. Actually, while I'm frying this, while this is going, I'm going to start making a quick mustard sauce. This is mayonnaise, some onion powder, Dijon mustard. Now, it's time to assemble our banh mi. I'm going to spread some liver pate over here. Some mayonnaise, like that. Generous amount. And now, with our longganisa, I tossed it in some soy lemon glaze for it to have some tang and brightness to it. I did some quick pickles a while ago. Some cucumbers and carrots. I just place it on top like that. Last will be our lemon aioli for some freshness. And last is cilantro. Good job, guys. How do you think I did? So, Seth, honestly, this is the toughest one. I knew it was going to be a challenge, but you... That's why I gave it to you. We all know the yolk is not where Ina wanted it to be because her expectations and her standards are so freaking high. Yeah. But I think you do it a couple of times, I think you'll master it. Yeah. You guys want to open yours? This is yours. For sure. Oh, of course. Okay, let's try this. Gross. I want to eat the one you touched the most. Your third Wheatly. Yeah, I know. Every single time. How's the touch of fresh herb in there? Good. Helps a lot. Yeah? Yeah. The parsley and the zest really helps kind of just bring a bit of brightness to it. I like the sauce. Man, it's good. I just wish I had a runny yolk. Damn. Yeah. You know what? It's okay. Now it fell into the sauce. Beautiful. Right? And then this lemon dill to kind of wash it down. Next, we have pasta a la sassina. A la sassina. Man, I got a big one. Mmm. I love that part. The tostado part. Smoky. A bit spicy. Mmm. Yeah, that burnt part brings it together. That burnt passata with the tomato paste. Yeah. And what I like about this one is that you cook off a lot of the acid, so you get the sweetness from the tomato. Tomatoes, yeah. And the acid really comes from the, you can really push it through with the lemon dill. A chonky sandwich. Chonky. Chonky like me. Wow. That's really good. That's nice. Nice balance. The Bicol Express Longanisa really has a lot. You don't really. I like the kick. You don't really need to do much. There's a kick. Cool. Thanks guys. Thanks for joining me. Cheers. Thank you for having us. Man, that yolk would have been perfect. Next shot. I'm trying to sh** on him, but I can't because it's good!