Today’s Ulam: Dinakdakan with Utak ng Baboy (pig’s brain).
Yep, this is the authentic Dinakdakan right? The one that uses pig’s brain instead of mayonnaise as sauce. Whenever I cook Dinakdakan kasi, I always use mayonnaise to make the sauce. Why? it’s simply because I can’t get ahold of pig’s brain at the local wet market and my daughters love the creaminess of mayo.
So What is Dinakdakan?
Dinakdakan is a popular Ilokano dish, also known as Warekwarek, consisting of various pork head parts like pork ears, cheeks, jowls, and pork liver tossed in a creamy dressing made with calamansi juice, pork brain, and chili peppers.
Most of the time, this comes as a beer pairing but this time — it’s our weekend ulam!
DINAKDAKAN RECIPE VIDEO
To make this Dinakdakan, I just boiled pork ears, cheeks, and pork liver in water seasoned with salt, bay leaf, garlic, and peppercorns until tender. Then the hubby grilled it until crispy. To make the sauce, I just combined boiled pig’s brain which I mashed until creamy. Then I added calamansi juice, liquid seasoning, and chopped onions. Then I combined the sauce and the sliced meat.
I didn’t add too much finger chillies because Twinkle will also be eating. Dun lang tayo sa level of spiciness na kaya nya and my LPR permits (LOL).
PrintDinakdakan with Utak ng Baboy
Ingredients
- 800g pork ears and cheeks
- 250g pork liver
- water for boiling
- 3 bay leaf
- 1 tsp peppercorns
- 1 tbsp salt
sauce
- 2 pig’s brain, boiled
- juice of 6 calamansi
- 2 tbsp liquid seasoning
- 1 white onion, chopped
- 1 shallot, chopped
- finger chili, sliced
- siling labuyo (optional)
Instructions
- Wash and clean the pork ears and pork liver. Put in pot and fill with water.
- Add the bay leaf, salt, and peppercorns.
- Bring to a boil. Remove the scum/foam on the surface of the water.
- Simmer for about 20 minutes then remove the pork liver.
- Simmer for additional 25 minutes or until tender. Remove pork ears and cheeks from the pot.
- Grill on charcoal or grill pan until crispy.
- Cut on your desired size and put into a large bowl.
- Prepare the sauce: Mash the pig’s brain until creamy. Add liquid seasoning, onions, calamansi juice, and chili, if using, in a small bowl. Mix well.
- Pour it into the grilled pork and liver and mix well.
- Serve immediately and enjoy!
