Pinikpikan

Chicken charred over a flame before it is simmered, with salt-cured pork for depth.

Chicken, Pork. Not vegetarian — contains chicken, pork.

Ingredients

• 1 chicken, about 1.5 kg, in large pieces
• 200 g etag or other salt-cured pork, in chunks
• 2 sayote, in thick wedges
• 1 large thumb ginger, in thick slices
• 2 onions, quartered
• 2 litres water
• 4 spring onions, sliced
• 1 teaspoon salt

Method

1. THE CHICKEN IS CHARRED BEFORE IT IS WET, and that smoke is what the broth tastes of. Simmered from raw, this is a plain chicken soup with cured pork in it.
2. Hold the chicken pieces over a flame, or lay them on a very hot dry grill, until the skin blisters and blackens in patches and the smell turns to singed feather-and-fat. 3 to 4 minutes a side.
3. Scrape off the worst of the black but LEAVE THE SKIN ON. It carries the smoke.
4. Rinse the etag and put it in the water with the ginger and onion. Simmer 30 minutes -- it is hard and very salty and needs a head start.
5. Add the charred chicken and simmer, covered, 40 minutes.
6. TASTE BEFORE SALTING. Etag is a preserved meat and usually there is no need for any; the 1 teaspoon in the list is a maximum, not an instruction.
7. Sayote in for the last 8 minutes, until translucent at the edge but still firm.
8. Spring onion off the heat. The broth should be clear, smoky and salty, not thick.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Philippines · All recipes