FOOD TRIP 1: Killing Me Softly
I stared at the dying chicken and nearly wept.
After being beaten half to death with a blunt stick, its feathers forcibly pulled out, and put over a fire to burn alive, it stubbornly held on to life.
The mountains of Benguet are unapologetic to lowlanders like me. While they looked great on postcards, it took nearly all my willpower not to drop dead from sheer exhaustion after a day’s trek. At journey’s end by nightfall, I was ecstatic to learn a feast was being prepared for us by our host family.
Or so I thought.
They were going to cook pinikpikan. Little did I know I was going to be an unwilling witness to the gruesome torture and murder of an innocent… chicken.
First, manong grabbed the chicken by its wings and started beating it with a stick all over its body. The chicken squawked and shrieked but the beating continued until its skin was entirely covered by blood clots. When the chicken could hardly move, manong began forcibly pulling out its feathers until only a few stragglers were left. Ouch! Barely alive, the “dressed” chicken was then put over a fire to burn (Ouch! again). That was the last straw for the poor chicken, I guess. It must have decided death was a better option so it drew its last breath and croaked adios patria adorada. Killing me softly ngarud.
Cooked like tinola, pinikpikan is quite an exotic dish. With the combined flavors of burnt skin and feathers, blood clots, and ginger - - garantisado, papawisan ka sa sarap! Yum yum.
Trouble is, pinikpikan is almost always served when the Ibalois or Kankanaeys have visitors. And since we were going to be in the mountains for several days – hopping from one village to another – we found ourselves eating pinikpikan in the morning, pinikpikan at noon, and pinikpikan in the evening every single day for three days. Aaaargh!!! I did not eat chicken for three months after that.
What’s more, I wouldn’t ever dream of being reincarnated as a chicken in the Cordillera.
PINIKPIKAN
BENGUET MOUNTAINS
RICE TERRACES
After being beaten half to death with a blunt stick, its feathers forcibly pulled out, and put over a fire to burn alive, it stubbornly held on to life.
The mountains of Benguet are unapologetic to lowlanders like me. While they looked great on postcards, it took nearly all my willpower not to drop dead from sheer exhaustion after a day’s trek. At journey’s end by nightfall, I was ecstatic to learn a feast was being prepared for us by our host family.
Or so I thought.
They were going to cook pinikpikan. Little did I know I was going to be an unwilling witness to the gruesome torture and murder of an innocent… chicken.
First, manong grabbed the chicken by its wings and started beating it with a stick all over its body. The chicken squawked and shrieked but the beating continued until its skin was entirely covered by blood clots. When the chicken could hardly move, manong began forcibly pulling out its feathers until only a few stragglers were left. Ouch! Barely alive, the “dressed” chicken was then put over a fire to burn (Ouch! again). That was the last straw for the poor chicken, I guess. It must have decided death was a better option so it drew its last breath and croaked adios patria adorada. Killing me softly ngarud.
Cooked like tinola, pinikpikan is quite an exotic dish. With the combined flavors of burnt skin and feathers, blood clots, and ginger - - garantisado, papawisan ka sa sarap! Yum yum.
Trouble is, pinikpikan is almost always served when the Ibalois or Kankanaeys have visitors. And since we were going to be in the mountains for several days – hopping from one village to another – we found ourselves eating pinikpikan in the morning, pinikpikan at noon, and pinikpikan in the evening every single day for three days. Aaaargh!!! I did not eat chicken for three months after that.
What’s more, I wouldn’t ever dream of being reincarnated as a chicken in the Cordillera.
PINIKPIKAN
BENGUET MOUNTAINS
RICE TERRACES
posted by Miki at
8:58 AM
2 Comments:
kainggit ka naman kuya miki dahil ang dami mo ng napuntahang lugar... pwede bang mag-apply dyan sa office nyo para magtravel rin ako??? hahaha!!!
siguro, purgang-purga ka sa manok... hahaha!!!
gharyjohn
Yeah,
We igorots have the best taste for the pinikpikan, Pinikpikan because in our local tongue, "Pinikpik" with a stick to let the chicken blood circulate up to the wings. It is best when etag or bungsos is added.The soup is uncomparable to any kind of dish in the world.
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