Sisig is a delicious dish made of pork head/face skin and liver. Ask the chef to add pork brains if you have a death wish. It is so popular that many Filipino restaurants serve it. The dining place that makes really good sisig is sure to attract customers in droves. The best one offers the perfect balance of crunch and creaminess in one sinful delight. It doesn’t have to come from the big restaurants; excellent renditions can actually be found in the friendly neighborhood food stalls.

Sisig is a Northern Luzon specialty which reportedly originated in Pampanga. It is known as a "pulutan" or finger food served as a partner to beer. When Filipino men gather around beer and food after work, the usual fare for these drinking sessions are these meat dishes. In due time, women started consuming the dish sans the beer, pairing it with the ubiquitous white rice instead.

Entrepreneur Immanuel “Tong” Balce noticed that pregnant women liked their sisig this way. He decided to take sisig to the mall where people can appreciate them best. With this, Sisig Hooray was born.

Sisig Hooray, unlike other restaurants that feature a complete menu of food from entrées to desserts, used to have only two offerings: Plain Sisig for the barkada (group of friends) and Sisig with Rice. Sisig with Rice costs only Php 49, a little over a dollar, and the Barkada meal - good for three to four people - costs Php 130, approximately $3.

Sisig Hooray is so focused on its signature dish that it does not even bother to display drinks in their stall. The iced tea beverage C2 and bottled mineral water are available, but you have to ask about the drinks so the service crew can add these to your order.

Sisig Hooray has since expanded its offerings to include Bangus (milkfish) and Chicken Sisig. All are still sinful and delectable, and though the Bangus and Chicken Sisig appear much healthier as presumed, they taste no less delicious as the ultimate assault on your circulatory system: the Pork Sisig meal.

Sisig Hooray’s Pork Sisig may be the ultimate sisig because it is absolutely creamy, owing to its liver-mayonnaise sauce. This sauce is then mixed with chili and pork skin bits that are either fried or roasted to crunchy perfection, garnished with chopped green chili and then topped with tiny pieces of chicharon (deep-fried pork rinds). A quick, blissful death-inducer indeed.

The following is the recipe for traditional Sisig. Sisig Hooray's recipe is of course proprietory.

In a saucepan, heat cooking oil; then sauté the garlic, onions, and chili. Add the meat & pork liver, and let simmer until golden brown. Make a mixture of fish sauce, vinegar, soy sauce, bouillon & black pepper, then pour the broth into the cooking meat and let it simmer for ten minutes. To finish cooking the dish, pour it on a hot sizzling plate, and top with chicharon/pork rind bits.

To add a bit of tartness to the taste, squeeze a piece of calamansi or lemon on the dish.

Sisig can be served on its own (it’s known as a pulutan/beer match), or it can be served with rice. Some restaurants serve their Sisig on a sizzling plate, and they break an egg onto it and allow it to cook right on the sisig. Others serve it with mayo on the side, because it enhances the flavor of the Sisig.

This is the traditional way of cooking Sisig. For additional flavor, here are a few modifications.

Mix this sauce into the rest of the Sisig. Add ½ cup chopped (non-spicy) green chili pepper to the mix. Top generously with chopped chicharon, and even deep fried garlic chips, if you like.

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Tips on Sisig:

The best ones are a perfect balance of crunchy and creamy in one sinful delight.

The best Sisig doesn’t have
to come from the big restaurants.

On the contrary, the best ones can actually be found in the friendly neighborhood
food court stalls.