Week 9 - Agahan - The Philippines

LONGSILOG

Dear readers, due to an extremely hectic couple of weeks this entry is over two weeks late!  My apologies....

For our second breakfast this weekend we tried some Filipino Agahan (breakfast).  I have many awesome Filipino friends and was especially eager for this breakfast.  I'd like to say a huge thank-you to everyone who helped me with their input for this blog entry.

Breakfast in the Philippines seems like a bigger deal than many of the countries I've researched.  While most entries feature foods that people have on Sundays or special occasions, today's food is something people seem to recall their mothers making on any normal day of the week (and that's awesome!).

Longsilog is really a portmanteau made up of three foods:  Longganisa, a garlicky breakfast sausage; Sinangog, garlic fried rice, and Itlog, fried egg.  How interesting is that?  Points to the Philippines for the best breakfast name.

The food itself smelled awesome cooking up.  Mmmmm, does anything beat fried garlic?

The Longganisa I purchased was garlicky and slightly sweet.  Apparently these sausages can feature different flavourings depending on the province (some are sour, spicy, sweet, etc).  Unfortunately the store I purchased these at only had one kind.

The star of the show, and the feature of this breakfast that gave it that distinct Asian twist was the Sinangog (or garlic fried rice).  You have to plan ahead to make great Sinangog by making sure you have plenty of left-over rice from the meal before.  The overnight time in the fridge allows the rice to dry out and helps you to achieve that delightful fried, but not mushy texture.  Our Sinangog was extremely garlicky with just a bit of crunch from the fried bits.  Masarap!

The Verdict:

For Ease of Preparation:






Not difficult, but it does take some planning ahead.

For Degrees of Separation:







It's just like Sausage and Eggs but the garlic fried rice factor pushes it to a solid three.

For Guestability:






This would bring a thoughtful twist to an old hospitality favourite.

For Sustainability:






Although not quite as hearty as the Full English, this one still satisfies.

Overall Appeal:






I really enjoyed Longganisa and particularly the Sinangog.  I would caution that this is a breakfast for garlic lovers only, no part-time garlic eaters need apply, it is a lot of glorious, stinky garlic to face in the morning.

Where will we go next?  How about does an all-expense paid trip to Mexico sound....