Taste Buds: Vigan Longganisa

Nope. It’s not Kam. It’s just Ms C. Don’t hold your breaths. I’m not here to present a kitchen masterpiece I think I’ve mentioned more than once that I don’t cook. I have been trying stuff out, but until I perfect them, I won’t be posting any of my experiments.

I’ve been thinking about my grandparents (better known as Mom and Dad) too much lately that I found myself reminiscing more often than ever about my lovely summers in Ilocos. Their home is not exactly in Vigan, but close enough (a town apart, actually). I remember all the sweets that Mom used to give me; the walks to the little cottage with the super mini-vineyard and to the beach with Dad; and then, there’s the food – bagnet, empanada, bibingka, tinubong, longganisa and more!

Oh, what I would give to have Vigan longganisa right now!

photo credit: Philippine Travel Journal | Ivan About Town

My aunt, who basically grew up here says she’s heard a lot of positive “reviews” on Vigan longganisa, but they are mostly from Ilocanos. So, to avoid being branded as biased, here’s an article of [almost] the same title by THE Marketman, himself, published in his website.

There is nothing in the world like a longganisa burp. Heehee. I kid you not. Not even the most expensive mouthwash can prevent those frequent, pungent mouth toots filled with the potent mix of garlic, vinegar and spices that almost any pinoy could identify in an instant, even in a darkened room and/or if s/he were blindfolded! And for some reason, the mouth toots continue for most of the day! Worse, if you are on a road trip and are confined to a small car after eating longganisa for breakfast, it will be a long trip indeed, regardless of destination. And forget a mixture of Diet Coke and longganisa, we are talking nuclear emissions of the most offensive kind! Yesterday at the market I spied some pretty interesting longganisa at a vendor beside my suki tinapa dealer. What caught my eye is the fact that she had at least 70+ kilos of longganisa under her bilao…anyone who brings that much sausage to a day market is confident about sales!
The small pudgy longganisa were from Vigan and although they had a yellowish tinge from achuete or food coloring, I decided to try them out since my tinapa vendor enthusiastically vouched for the quality and the vendor said she easily sold 100 kilos of the stuff on a Saturday… back home, I took the longganisa out of the plastic bag and counted 44 pieces to a kilo which cost PHP190… thus each little link was about PHP4.30 or USD 8 cents each. We fried up a few longganisa and had them with spicy chilli vinegar and lots of steamed rice…yum, they were good indeed. To fry, I actually place them in a frying pan with some water and turn the heat up high. The boiling water cooks the sausages and evaporates at which point the fats in the longganisa are rendered and the skin is burnished and caramelized. I add no other oil to the pan. If you want to have certain cholesterol issues, quickly stir fry your steamed rice in the pan drippings. Have this all with some fried egg as well… some things just can’t be improved on… a breakfast of longganisa, rice, egg and vinegar!

There you have it! Nope. He’s not Ilocano!

Oh, and I encourage all of you who love food to go visit his website! Be warned, though, you’ll be drooling excessively!