Sizzling Sisig

Ingredients

• 2 pig's ears, about 400 g total
• 500 g pork jowl or pork belly
• 1 onion, quartered, plus 1 large onion finely diced
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 tbsp black peppercorns
• 2 tsp salt
• 150 g chicken liver
• 6 siling labuyo, finely chopped
• 6 tbsp calamansi juice
• 3 tbsp cane vinegar
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp coarsely cracked black pepper
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1 egg, optional
• 50 g pork crackling, crushed

Before you cook

• Scrape the pig's ears with a knife and singe off any remaining bristles over a flame.
• Finely dice the large onion and keep it raw and cold.
• Squeeze and strain the calamansi juice.
• Set a cast-iron plate or heavy skillet in the oven at its highest setting to get properly hot.

Steps

1. Put the pig's ears and pork jowl in a deep pot with the quartered onion, bay leaves, peppercorns and salt.
2. Cover them with water, bring to the boil, then lower to a simmer.
3. Cook for 60 to 75 minutes, until a skewer passes through the thickest part of the ear with no resistance.
4. Lift the meat out onto a rack and leave it to dry and cool for 20 minutes, because wet meat will never char.
5. Pat every surface dry with kitchen paper.
6. Grill the ears and jowl over hot charcoal, or under a fiercely hot grill, for 6 to 8 minutes a side until the edges blacken and blister.
7. Grill the chicken livers for 2 minutes a side, until just firm and still pink at the centre.
8. Move everything to a board and let it sit for 5 minutes so it is cool enough to handle.
9. Chop the ears, jowl and liver into rough 5 mm dice with a heavy knife, keeping the texture uneven.
10. Tip the chopped meat into a bowl and add the diced raw onion, chopped chillies, soy sauce, vinegar, half the calamansi juice and the cracked pepper.
11. Toss it hard with a spoon and taste, adding more vinegar or calamansi until it is sharp enough to cut the fat.
12. Take the screaming-hot plate out of the oven and set it on a wooden board.
13. Drop the butter onto the plate and let it foam.
14. Tip the sisig on and press it flat so it hisses and the underside crisps, about 90 seconds.
15. Crack the egg into the middle if you are using one and let the heat of the plate set it.
16. Squeeze over the remaining calamansi, scatter the crushed crackling and carry it to the table still spitting.