I am biased but ever since living in Metro Manila I never bought a single longganisa from the public market or grocery chains to be cooked at home. It has always been always the Cabanatuan longganisa (or “langgonisa” as it is called in most areas in Nueva Ecija) or bust in our household. There is already a few posts on how to cook it so here is just the quick rundown of what to do and what to avoid with this recado sausage. 🙂

• DO use a pan that you can scrub after for cleanup. Trust me, those non-stick pans are not going to last. 🙂
• DONT just fry the longganisa links in oil. That is not how to properly cook it and in most cases you wont need to add the extra oil.
• DO cook the longganisa in water. About 1/4 to 1/3 or the links should be submerged in tap water, and turn it over now and then until all the water evaporates.
• DO prick the skin of the longganisa once all the water has evaporated so that the rendered oil can get into the pan.
• DO toast the skin but dont burn them.
• DO put day-old rice into the pan to get all those toasty goodness into a fried rice to accompany the logganisa. And since the Cabanatuan longganisa is recado (“garlicky”) then there is no need to add anything except a bit of salt to your fried rice.

Caveat:  We now cook the longganisa in the air fryer. I just put a parchment paper under it for easy cleanup and oil extraction since we have those circular basket type. I still put in water at the start. 15 minutes at 160 degrees centigrade, flip and then 7-8 minutes more  at 170 degrees.  Another benefit of this cooking route is that the logganisa can go straight from the freezer to the airfryer basket, just ensure there is a single layer of sausage so they all get boiled first.