One
city closest to my heart and which I consider as my second home is Baguio City.
Having spent my college and law school years in Baguio for almost 9 years, it
has given me much comfort and good memorable experiences not just because of
its good cold weather, but the warmth of this small simple city provided by its
people, the place, culture and food.
Baguio City ,
famous for being “The Summer Capital of the Philippines Burnham Park , Mines View Park ,
Philippine Military Academy (PMA), Wright Park Baguio is the
Panagbenga Festival or Flower Festival. Among of the highlights of the
Panagbenga Festival are float parade and the street dance competition. Also,
the Session Road (as the heart of Baguio downtown) is
closed with food stalls and mini bazaars for the locals and tourists, and mini
concerts are held for entertainment.
When I was still a student, my friends and I always looked forward to the Panagbenga Festival, especially when the Session Road closes and mini concerts are held. We had so much fun walking up and down Session Road during this festival, chatting and trying some food being sold in the stalls and watching concerts or street performers. How I miss those times!
Aside from the good places (tourist spots) I went/hanged out in and the Panagbenga Festival which I experienced (many times) in Baguio City, one of the most comforting things I like about Baguio city is the food. As a student back then, my friends and I had to find a place/restaurant which offers good delicious food at a very affordable price. Our favorite was (and still is) “Good Taste Café and Restaurant” (located near the Dangwa Bus Terminal and Center Mall at Lapu-lapu St., Baguio City).
True to its name, not only “Good Taste” offers good tasting food, but there are varieties of dishes (especially dishes with Baguio Vegetables in it) to choose from its menu at a very affordable price. Below are some of my personal favorites:
Chopsuey
Beef
Broccoli
There
are still a lot of dishes of Good Taste I have not tried yet, which is the more
reason that I have to go back to it. In fact, last September 2014, when I
attended a wedding held in Baguio, we went to Good Taste and had my friends try
their delicious and affordable dishes. Truly, Good Taste is a restaurant that
delivers—(not just “good” tasting food) the best taste for value!
Other
than the usual dishes I have tried, if you visit Baguio City and you want to
try something different or their local dish, you may try tasting the
Cordilleras’ dish –Pinikpikan, which is a flavorful chicken dish, somewhat
similar to our usual Tinola. During my stay in Baguio City, I have tried
Pinikpikan several times as prepared by local friends (with Cordilleran roots
or those who belong to the Cordilleran ethnic groups such as the Ifugao,
Bontoc, Kalinga).
Unlike
preparing for the usual dishes we have, there is actually a ritual preparation
of the Pinikpikan dish. This controversial but popular 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.
Pinikpikan’s
preparation is a ritual performed by Cordillera tribes to determine the
appropriate courses of action and their fate. It takes hours of careful work to
prepare an authentic Pinikpikan. The chicken is 'battered' to keep the blood
inside the chicken. If it is beaten properly, the chicken will not be bloody
when it is cut. None of the bones should be broken during the beating or even
the slicing. The process of light beating or "pikpik" is where Pinikpikan
gets its name.
How
to Prepare Pinikpikan
1.
Select an appropriate live chicken and start a fire. In earlier times, the
tribes would use a native chicken, smaller in variety with tastier, darker
meat. In recent days, a broiler has become a perfectly acceptable substitute
because it's much larger and serves more people.
2.
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.
"It
must be noted that when the Pinikpikan is served with vegetables, such as
sayote, or flavored with ginger, then it becomes merely a version of the
Philippine soup, Chicken Tinola or Tinolang Manok."
3.
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.
4.
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.
5.
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).
6.
The tribal priest is then called to read the bile and liver. Calub is when the
liver is covering the bile, and Cherwey is 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 Cherwey is achieved.
7.
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.
8.
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.
If
you happen to be in Baguio City and you would want to try Pinikpikan, you may
visit Café by the Ruins restaurant (near Burnham Park), which has a forest-ish
ambiance.
SOURCES:
Photo
Credits to Joy Ruiz and Karen Marquez
http://visitpinas.com/best-taste-cafe-and-restaurant-baguio-city/
http://www.tsinoyfoodies.com/2012/02/good-taste-cafe-and-restaurant-chinese.html
http://www.baguioboard.com/
http://www.gobaguio.com/pinikpikan.html#.VE4Em2fwnfI
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