Pinikpikan

A Cordilleran feast is never complete without a tasty "pinikpikan."

This legendary dish  derives its flavor from the coagulated blood, the burned feathers and skin, plus the Etag, which is a  cured and smoked meat, aged and kept underground in earthen jars.

Its name came from the process of light beating called "pikpik." The beating is important because it keeps the blood inside the chicken. And if done properly, the chicken will not have broken bones when sliced and it will not be bloody.

A man doing the "pikpik"
(Source: https://www.google.com.ph/search?q=cordillera+food&biw)

Ingredients:

1. A live Chicken 
2. Sayote- cubed
3. A head of Chinese cabbage/pechay 
4. 1/2 to 1 kilo of innasin/etag

 

What else do you need?

1. wood for fire

2. a clean, flat surface, preferably smooth

3. a piece of stick for beating.

Instructions:

1. Start a fire.
2. Put one wing of the chicken on the flat surface. Using the stick, beat the wing from the inside, not to soft, but not to hard that it will break the bones and the skin of the chicken. Beat it from the tip of the wing to the side, then back. Do it again. Now do the same to the other wing. After beating the wings, lay the neck of the chicken sideways on the flat surface. Beat the neck from end to end.
3. To kill the chicken, hold the chicken by the feet and wings in one hand. Hit the back of the head with the stick, just below the comb. Not too hard, or the chicken will bleed, and not too soft either, or the chicken will get mad, and may peck at you. One well placed blow will do it without breaking the skin.
4. Afterwards, burn all of the feathers off the chicken on the fire you made. You can use your gas range, but it will be very messy afterwards. Better burn the feathers off using an outside fire.
5. After the feathers are removed, remove excess charred feathers from the chicken. Chances are, the chicken has also started to look like roast chicken.
6. Now, butcher the chicken, slice it, and put the slices into a cooking container.
7. Cut the innasin/etag into pieces as large as the chicken pieces. Put them into the cooking container. Do not put the sayote if there is very little innasin/etag.
8. On the other hand, if you think it will be very salty, add sayote to minimize the salty taste.
9. Clean the vegetables and separate the leaves. It is better to cook this over heavy heat.
10. When the meat is done, Put the vegetables into the container, remove from the fire/heat, and cover. Leave for two minutes. Stir, and serve.

 

The Ritual Way:

            In earlier times, the tribes would use a native chicken, smaller in variety with tastier, darker meat.With a simple stick lightly beat the live chicken under both wings and in the neck until these areas turn dark blue with the bloood rising to just under the skin. Deliver the coup de grace by hitting the head hard with the stick. The eyeballs are checked for signs of life.

 

           The pinions are then removed and the whole chicken is thrown into an open fire until all the feathers are burned off, making sure that the boots are properly singed so that they can be separated from the skin by hand. The chicken is the then washed and cleaned to remove soot and dirt, then the claws, beak and crown are removed. The intestines are inverted and cleaned, while the gizzard is sliced open and cleaned. The intestines are then tied around the gizzard. All these will eventually be included in the soup.

           Then the ritual cutting up of the chicken begins. Remove the chicken head and set aside for cooking. Slice the skin to dislocate the thighs, then slice under the neck to remove the innards (stomach, intestines and gizzard). Guide the knife to slice under the shoulder blade to separate the rib cage from the chest. Remove the chest, leaving the rib cage intact with the internal organs (heart, liver, lungs).

           The tribal priest is then called to read the bile and liver. Calubis when the liver is covering the bile, and Cherweyis when the bile is completely visible, which is a sign of good luck. This then determines the tribe's course of action (i.e. hunting, planting, etc.). If the prognosis is Calub, the whole process is repeated, and other chickens cooked this way, until Cherweyis achieved.

 

           Then limbs are separated from body, and all edible chicken parts, including the head and innards, are thrown into a pot of water flavored with Etag or Itag and boiled. The singed feathers are also used to give the soup a smoked flavor.

           The headman is served what is considered the best part, which is the whole center portion (ribs and innards). The rest of the chicken is served as a viand.