Fish longganisa

A skinless fish sausage held together by pork fat and a long rest, chilled before it is fried.

Pork, Fish. Not vegetarian — contains fish, pork.

Ingredients

900 g firm white fish fillet, skinned and boned
200 g pork back fat, finely diced
60 g dark muscovado sugar
60 ml vinegar
12 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon annatto powder
2 tablespoons cornflour
2 tablespoons oil, for frying

Method

PORK FAT IS WHAT HOLDS IT TOGETHER. Fish has almost no fat and almost no connective tissue, so a sausage made of fish alone crumbles into the pan the moment it warms. The diced fat melts as it fries and binds everything round it. There is no vegetarian version of this that works.
Keep everything COLD throughout. Fish mince warms fast and warm fish mince goes pasty and will not set. Chill the bowl and the blade if you can.
Chop the fish by hand to a coarse mince, 3 mm, rather than blending it. A processor turns it to paste and you lose every bit of texture.
Dice the pork fat small, 3 mm, and keep it in the fridge until the moment it goes in. Soft fat smears instead of staying in pieces.
Mix the fish, fat, sugar, vinegar, garlic, salt, pepper, annatto and cornflour, then beat the mixture against the bowl for 2 minutes until it is tacky and holds in a lump.
A LONG REST IS NOT OPTIONAL: covered, in the fridge, overnight, and 24 hours is better. The salt and the cornflour need that time to firm the mince. Fried the same day, it falls apart.
Shape into short fat sausages with wet hands, or roll them in cling film into cylinders and chill again 1 hour.
Fry in a little oil over a MEDIUM heat, 4 to 5 minutes, turning carefully. Hot and fast, the sugar burns before the middle is set.
Turn them with two spoons rather than tongs for the first turn. They firm as they cook and are fragile until then.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Philippines · All recipes