lovebird longganisa (filipino sausage!)
By: lovebirdfoodies
Published: Tuesday, July 12, 2011 - 4:18pm

Ingredients




1 lb. ground pork
1 lb. ground turkey
3/4 cup pineapple juice
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp sea salt
1 Tbsp paprika
2 tsps onion powder
1 1/2 tsps crushed red pepper
1 tsp ground peppercorns
1 tsp ground sumac

Preparation

1 combine all of these ingredients in a large bowl; mix well with hands. 2 cover with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator to marinate for at least one hour. 3 lightly mist your hands with cooking spray. scoop some of the mixture and form it into patties, about 2.5-3 inches wide. 4 if cooking, pan fry over medium heat with a light mist of cooking spray. as they cook, the sugar will begin to carmelize. flip halfway through to cook both sides evenly. a glaze will form naturally from the pineapple juice and brown sugar. 5 if freezing instead, keep formed patties on the wax paper until they are frozen. keep separated by wax paper to prevent them from sticking together. thaw completely before cooking. 6 serve hot with freshly made rice.

About


f you've read any of our previous posts, you know how much we love longganisa. every region of the philippines has its own variety... this is the one that dominates our home. it's sweet and has a just a little bit of spice, and is--to date--the recipe i am most proud of.
it's also a lot healthier than a processed, packaged sausage, which is full of preservatives, fillers, sodium, artificial coloring, "questionable" meats, and other unpronounceable chemicals--i mean, ingredients. like you, i prefer not to feed these to my family when i can help it. plus, you can taste the difference.
another bonus: since this particular recipe isn't cured, prep and cooking can be done the same day. so no planning ahead required... but you'll probably want to freeze some for later :-)
longganisa are traditionally made with pork, but since my goal, as usual, is to make a healthier version of an original, i chose to use a blend of pork and turkey. i don't use too lean of either meat; a sausage needs a little fat so it doesn't dry out; i find that an 85/15 blend works really well.
longganisa are traditionally a breakfast meat in the philippines, served with steamed or fried rice and over-easy eggs, but we love it any time of day... and i hope you do, too ^_^;