the divine chicken broth

Passport & Plate - Pinikpikan

Philippines | Thursday, March 13, 2014 | 4 photos

Ingredients
1 live native chicken
½ cup tapuy (rice wine)
2 slices etag (aged- salted and smoked pork)
1 medium sized green papaya
1 clove garlic, minced
Ginger
Chili leaves
Salt
Water
Oil

 

How to prepare this recipe
Continuously tap the body of the chicken with a short stick until blood clots develop leading to its death.
After removing its feather, slightly roast the chicken in fire until its skin is burnt to golden brown.
Chop and clean the chicken meat including the innards.
In a pan, sauté the garlic followed by the chicken. Then pour the tapuy in. Stir until the alcohol is reduced.
Add water, pounded ginger, and the etag; then boil until meat is tender.
Add the chopped papaya and chili leaves. Simmer until the papaya is tender.
Add salt to taste.

 

The story behind this recipe
Amidst the pulsating beat of gongs and drums, of songs and chants, the pinikpikan traces its origins. It is food for festivities and rituals of the indigenous peoples of the Philippine Cordilleras.
What makes the dish unique is the manner by which it is prepared. The chicken is tapped repeatedly until its blood clots leading to its death; the action is called pikpik thus the term pinikpikan. It is then thrown to a fire until the feathers are burnt off with the skin roasted to golden brown.
Despite the seemingly violent preparation, the pinikpikan has a rather divine taste. It gets its distinctive flavor from the chicken’s burnt skin and from the etag and the tapuy: smoked pork slices and rice wine carefully aged and prepared to suit primordial specifications.
Originally the pinikpikan served as an offering to the gods, reserved for seeking divine guidance. But with society slowly leaning towards the abandonment of the ethnic village—to a more integrated way of life, the pinikpikan has transitioned from sacred to commercial.
Several alterations came with this transition. Vegetables were added to the pinikpikan, usually sayote or papaya. It was also flavored with ginger, reminiscent of the tinola—another Filipino chicken broth associated with the lowlands. These alterations are sometimes met with criticisms citing the inauthenticity of the current pinikpikan.
I personally view this transition as a reflection of the Filipino experience, a nation full of differences trying to merge cultures to create a common identity. The current pinikpikan is a fusion. Inauthentic as it is to some, it continues to hold cultural significance both to Cordillerans and the whole of Philippine society.
The pinikpikan provides nostalgia to anyone who tastes it, a longing for the elemental. A sip of its broth cradles you as a gentle breeze would to a feather, reminiscent of the quaint mountains it originated from.
The calming rhythm of the gongs resides in the pinikpikan.