SAGADA PINIKPIKAN

Pinikpikan is an Ilocano word meaning, tapped repeatedly. In this case, a chicken is hit with a stick repeatedly to coagulate its blood before cooking, which believed to add flavor to the chicken meat when its cooked.

PINIKPIKAN AT BOMOD-OK FALLS
Let's have a cooking lesson, shall we? 😂

If you've been to the Cordilleras, this dish is as synonymous as the Rice Terraces to Banaue. So it would be interesting to learn a bit about it. Our tour guides, happened to suggest we would have pinikpikan for lunch in Bomod-ok Falls.  bring some etag  a live chicken, and uncooked rice for our Bomod-Ok Falls trek.

So on our long way to the falls, we gathered the ingredients along the way. Pretty cool. We bought rice. We bought etag at some small shop (very salty cured pork meat). Then a live chicken at another shop. About halfway to the trek, some cabbages. Ingredients complete.

Note:

This trek happened prior to my being a plant-based eater!

12 Steps of Cooking Pinikpikan 😂
1. Gather some twigs and woods for fire.


2. Beat the sh*t out of the chicken. Sorry Peta. I know this is beyond cruelty.


3. Put the chicken over the flame.


4. In a group effort, remove the feathers.


5. Repeat the process: flaming and skinning the bird.


6. Take the innards out and chop the chicken using a metal scrap.


7. Wash the innards in the nearby stream. Add it to the dish later.


8. Add mountain spring water to the rice for cooking.


9. Dump the cooked rice onto banana leaves and use the casserole for the chicken dish.


10. Cover the cooked rice with some wild ferns to protect it from the elements.


11. Add greens to the dish for the final touch.


12. Viola! Chicken Ala-Montagne. Bon Appetit!


And for more primeval effect, a bamboo stick plus the bottom half of a plastic bottle was utilized as a serving spoon for the soup. Banana trunks for plates. All worked out great! Quite ingenious, these Igorot guys.

BOMOD-OK FALLS, SAGADA

Bomod-Ok Falls is one the many prides if Sagada, Mtn Province, Philippines.

BOMOD-OK FALLS
Bomod-Ok Falls plunges 20 meters off of a hill top, creating this freezing mist in and around its milky aquamarine pool. One of Sagada's hidden gem destination.

To reach Bomod-Ok Falls, you can take the jeep going to Bangaan, a 15-min ride. But why when you can do it on foot. Approx 5 km of an epic landscapes of hillside pine trees and awesome views of rice terraces.

The Epic Trek to Bangaan
Hiking together with friends plus a couple of locals is the way to do it, at least, for me. Otherwise, I would have missed the opportunity to take great photos of the incredible sceneries; the towering pine trees, the deeps and valleys, the mountains, the rice paddies, the tiny villages, the locals we met along the way. It’s just too awesome to miss.

It takes about an hour and a half to reach a village called Bangaan, the jump off point to the falls. This is the old Bangaan High School building.

Descending to Fidelisan Village
As we reached Bangaan, we immediately went to a long descend down the side of the mountain on a cemented steps of approx 30 mins to Fidelisan village where we stop to register. (P10/head).

Cat-walk on Rice Paddies!
From Fidelisan Village we continued trekking thru rice paddies towards the waterfalls. A 30 min easy. The waterfalls is well hidden behind the mountain; only when you reach the outer bank would the falls can be seen.

And Finally, The Big Falls!
If you want to see the legendary fall’s rainbow, be there before noon. Freezing cold mist from the falls was really a nice welcome.

Bomod-Ok Falls