Garlicky, slightly sweet ground pork patties, cured overnight and pan-fried until browned in their own rendered fat. The centerpiece of longsilog — longganisa, garlic fried rice, and a fried egg — the Filipino breakfast plate.
Every region in the Philippines has its own longganisa — Vigan's is coarse and heavy on garlic, Lucban's is spiked with oregano and vinegar-tang, and this version leans toward the sweeter, more widely familiar style sold in most groceries. It's less a strict recipe than a cure ratio: garlic, sugar, soy, vinegar, and pork, adjusted to your own household's taste.
Store-bought longganisa is convenient, but it's also often heavily processed and inconsistently seasoned. Making it at home means you control the garlic-to-sugar balance exactly, and you can skip the casings entirely — shaping the cured pork into simple patties fries up with the same flavor and a lot less hassle.
Ask for ground pork with roughly a 70/30 lean-to-fat ratio — too lean, and the patties turn dry once fried.
No — most home cooks skip casings entirely and simply shape the seasoned pork into small logs or patties by hand, which fry up just as well.
Many styles include brown sugar in the cure, giving the sausage a mild sweetness that balances its garlic and salt. Some regional versions, like Vigan longganisa, skip the sugar and lean garlicky and tart instead.
Longsilog is shorthand for longganisa, sinangag (garlic fried rice), and itlog (fried egg) — the classic combination that makes up a full Filipino breakfast plate.
