CEBU, Philippines - This dish is quite popular among students in Cebu, along with paklay and dinuguan. Pork sari-sari is great-tasting and makes for a filling meal - at an affordable price per serving. The eateries around the university campuses in the city would often have pork sari-sari as part of their standard offerings.
The word "sari-sari" is a Visayan word that means "assorted" in English. The dish is called so because it is made from various parts of the pig: ear, lungs, tongue, liver, heart, intestines etc. These parts are thoroughly cleaned and then cut into bite-size pieces.
People who haven't tried the dish are mostly wary about the possible 'smell' of the pork innards as main ingredients. Actually, this is never a problem for as long as these organs are cleaned properly beforehand. Also, the spices are often enough to overcome any slight smell there may be.
Those from the Tagalog regions would mistake the pork sari-sari of the Visayas for their "sisig." The two dishes are somewhat similar - but quite different. A main difference is in the size of the cuts of the main ingredients.
While the pork sari-sari cuts are bite-size, the sisig's are finer, almost like ground. Which can mean that the sisig is more tedious to prepare. And, perhaps, the two are cooked in different ways.
To try cooking pork sari-sari at home, this recipe from melyskitchen.blogspot.com is a good guide.
Ingredients:
2 pork ears
1 pork heart
¼ kilo pork liver
1 pork tongue
8 cloves garlic
1 onion
1 teaspoon ground pepper
¼ cup soy sauce
¼ cup vinegar
Some chili
Some spring onion (optional)
Procedure:
1. Boil all the pork parts until tender, and then cut lengthwise into small pieces.
2. Saute garlic and onion, and then put in the rest of the ingredients, simmering and stirring occasionally until done.
3. Serve hot and garnish with spring onion (if desired).
Some people add a little salt and sugar, according to their tastes.