THE SPANISH INFLUENCE
IN TUGUEGARAO
(CAGAYAN VALLEY) CUISINE

“Cagayan is also longganisa country. Almost every barangay has its own secret, zealously guarded recipe. My first choice is a meat stall in Sto. Domingo Market in Tuguegarao owned by Aling Juliet Daraway (Don Domingo Public Market, Tuguegarao City. Her longganisa is so flavorful and filled with enough garlic to ward off evil spirits. Fry it almost to a crisp and serve with fried rice and fried egg for breakfast, with native vinegar as dipping sauce.

I always thought that longganisa was the Filipino name for sausages styled after the Spanish chorizos. Sound the buzzer. Not true. Longganisa, the word, is a local name for sausages, most probably derived from longaniza, which is Spanish for a pork sausage that is typically rather long and skinny. Chorizos are generally shorter and pudgier. But naked, they both look similar…hahaha. Sorry, I couldn’t resist that. A longaniza can be enjoyed either fresh or cured/dried/smoked until quite hard. In the Philippines, we tend to use the two terms longganisa and chorizo interchangeably, and they refer to all types of pork (sometimes chicken and other ingredients) based sausages, with the spices and flavors varying from region to region.

Longaniza or longganisa are chorizos flavored with local spices. Each region in the Philippines produces its own longaniza, each with distinct characteristics. Some towns and cities produce popular varieties.
 
Few people realize that longanizas are not only found in the Philippines. One can encounter them in Spain where they are originally from and other areas with Spanish influences such as Mexico and the rest of Latin America. Classic Spanish sausages include chorizos, longanizas, sobrasadas, morcillas, butiffaras, salchichas and salchichones.
 
I've always wondered why native sausages made all over the Philippines are all called longaniza or longganisa when in most countries, sausages are given various names depending on the place of origin, ingredients and varieties. While longaniza is the name for native sausages in the Philippines, in some parts of the Visayas and Mindanao, choriso, soriso or tsoriso are more common terms. So I'm starting this series in the hopes of documenting the different varieties of longaniza.

Longaniza is the Portuguese version.So there, the name doesnt really matter, longaniza is the Portuguese term. The difference in taste is a matter of culinary evolution/history. Even in the places where the chorizo/longaniza originated, there are regional variations.

Most longganisas in the Philippines fall under two categories: hamonado (sweet or matamis) and derecado (garlicky or mabawang, sour and/or salty).

• Fernandez, D. G. 2000. Palayok, Philippine Food through time, on site in the palayok, Makati City Philippines: Bookmark Inc. 2000
• Fernandez, D. G. 1994. Tikim, Essays on Philippine food and culture. Pasig, Metro Manila: Anvil Publishing.
• Fernandez, Doreen G. and Edilberto N. Alegre. Sarap: Essays on Philippine Food. Manila: Mr. & Ms. Publishing Company, Inc. 1988.
• Fernandez, Doreen G. Food Fish”; Food at the Very Beginning”; The Staff of Filipino Life”; “Pancit, Paella, and the Filipino Taste”; ‘Recipes from an Exile’s Notebooks”; ‘An Internment Camp Cookbook”; “Surviving off the Land”; Street Food, Fastfood”; A Filipino Christmas.” Kasaysayan: The Story of the Filipino People. Vols. 1,2,3,4,7,8, 10.
• Fernando, Gilda Cordero, ed. The Culinary Culture of the Philippines. Makati, Metro Manila: Bancom Audio vision Corporation. 1976.