An Ilocano grilled-pork dish: pork belly or face cooked over live coals, then chopped and dressed warm with cane vinegar, onion, ginger, and chili. It is often called the Ilocano cousin of sisig, sharing the same idea of chopped, seared pork brightened with sour and aromatic seasonings — but built around smoke and vinegar rather than a sizzling plate. Eaten as a main with rice or as pulutan with drinks.
Insarabasab (also sarabasab) belongs to the Ilocos region, and accounts of Ilocano cooking trace its name to a root meaning roughly 'seared over fire,' a description of how it is made. Traditionally the pork is grilled over a clay stove, the dalikan, whose wood smoke is said to mark the dish, then chopped and tossed with the region's sukang Iloko cane vinegar. It is frequently described as the Ilocano forerunner or counterpart of the better-known sisig.
Smoky and meaty up front, with charred edges giving way to tender, fatty pork. The cane vinegar cuts sharp and clean, ginger adds a warm bite, and raw onion brings crunch and pungency. Served warm rather than sizzling, it tastes more of fire and sour than of fat — leaner and brighter than a plate of sisig.
Grilling over coals does the heavy lifting: the fat renders, the surface chars for smoky flavor, and the meat firms up enough to chop cleanly. Chopping while still warm lets the pork drink in the dressing, and adding the vinegar, onion, and ginger off the heat keeps them raw and sharp rather than cooked-down. The acid both seasons and freshens the rich pork, the same balance that makes sisig work.
Variations
Cooks may use pork face and ears for more gelatinous texture, or include grilled liver. The chili can be dialed from mild to fierce, and some add calamansi alongside the vinegar for a rounder sourness.
On the Palate
Where Insarabasab sits in the Filipino flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4How it's made
7 steps · 20 min
- 125 min
Season pork belly or pork face with salt and grill it over hot coals, turning, until charred outside and cooked through.
Watch outGrill over hot coals until charred outside and cooked through — the fat renders and the surface chars for smoke, and it firms up enough to chop clean.
- 23 min
Rest the grilled pork briefly so the juices settle.
- 34 min
Chop the warm pork into small, bite-sized pieces.
Watch outChop the pork while it's still warm — a warm chop drinks in the dressing; let it cool and it takes the vinegar poorly.
- 43 min
Mince the onion, ginger, and chili.
- 51 min
Toss the chopped pork with the aromatics while still warm.
- 61 min
Dress with cane vinegar and fish sauce and mix well.
Watch outAdd the vinegar, onion and ginger off the heat so they stay raw and sharp — cook them down and you lose the bright, fresh edge.
- 71 min
Taste and adjust the sourness and salt, then serve warm with rice.
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