INASASUT : THE SCIENCE BEHIND IT

Inasasut is a Kalinga term for salted dried meat. It can be eaten raw or cooked.  Other Cordillerans call it Innasin or etag.

THE SCIENCE BEHIND:

Salting is used because most bacteria, fungi and other potentially pathogenic organisms cannot survive in a highly salty environment, due to the hypertonic nature of salt. Any living cell in such an environment will become dehydrated through osmosis and die or become temporarily inactivated.

 

WHAT YOU NEED:

- Pork  

- Plenty of Salt

- Storage container- preferably wooden

 

HOW IT IS DONE: 

1.     Rub the meat with generous amount of salt.

2.    Look for a suitable place where the meat can be hanged so it will undergo the curing process.

 

My Mom would usually smoke it for about two weeks as what Ykalingas would traditionally do. They hang it over their “dalpong” earthen stove. In the early times, instead of pork, they used the meat of “ugsa” or wild deer and “baboy ramo” or wild pig.

 

If you choose to smoke it, make sure it is free from dust and insects for the meat can be eaten raw or cooked with beans such as munggo (Mung Beans).