Drink: Liquor - How To Homebrew A Beer

Materials/Stuffs and Ingredients:

- 6 lbs malt
- Hops (1 oz Galena Hops (pellet) & 1/2 oz Fuggles Hops (pellets))
- 1 20 qt. stock pot
- 7 gm Red Star Ale yeast or 14 gm Whitbread Ale yeast
- Water (H2O)
- 1 7.6 Gallon Food-Grade plastic bucket with tight fitting lid and airlock
- Heat (preferably a stovetop)
- 1 long charasamatic wooden spoon
- A cool place to put your beer while it's fermenting
- 2 cases of empty RETURNABLE pints (16 oz.)
- Lot-O-bottle caps and a capper
- Hydrometer
- Thermometer

Procedure:

1. Bring 1.5 gallons of cold H2O to boil and add 6 lbs. of Muntons and Fisons Amber Dry Malt.
2. Stir it so it doesn't stick to the bottom.
3. Add 1 oz. of either Northern Brewers Hops (pellets) or 1 oz. of Galena Hops (pellets).
4. Bring it back to boil and keep it boiling for 45 min. Boiling not simmering.
5. 5 minutes before the time is up add 1/2 oz. Fuggles Hops (pellets).
6. Pour this boiling concoction into your sterilized fermenting bucket along with enough H2O to make 5 gallons.
7. Put the Thermometer and the Hydrometer in the bucket too.
8. When the temp. is around 70 degree fahrenheit add either 7 grams Red Star Ale yeast or 14
grams Whitbread Ale yeast.
9. Pitch the yeast by sprinkling it on top, letting it sit for 5 min. then stirring it in.
10. Put the lid on with the airlock and leave it alone for 7 days.
11. Again use the Hydrometer to check the Specific Gravity on the 7th day and
12. again on the 8th day, If the reading are the same, bottle it!
13. To bottle, sterilize your bottles then siphon the beer in to another bucket or your stock pot, add 3/4 cup corn sugar (Make a simple syrup with 2 cups H2O and the 3/4 cupcorn sugar) siphon into your bottles and cap them.
14. Wait about 2 weeks before you drink your new home brewed beer. The longer you leave it in the bottle the better it will become.
15. Enjoy your beer :)

Drink: Liquor - How To Make Some Mixed Beverages For Any Occasion

(Warning: Alcohol content)

Drink:  Dry Martini
Ingredients:  4 parts gin (or vodka);  1 part DRY vermouth
Procedure: Stir with cracked ice; strain into glass.  Add green olive or a twist of lemon peel.

Drink: Manhattan
Ingredients: 1 1/2 oz. Bourbon (or rye);  1/2 oz. sweet vermouth;  Dash of Angostura bitters (optional)
Procedure: Stir with cracked ice and strain into glass.  Add a cherry.

Drink: Sour
Ingredients: 1 1/2 oz. Bourbon (or rye);  3/4 oz. fresh lemon juice;  1 teaspoon sugar
Procedure: Shake with cracked ice; strain into glass.  Add orange slice on rim of glass and a cherry.

Drink: Bloody Mary
Ingredients: 3 oz. tomato juice;  1/2 oz. lemon juice;  Dash of Worchestershire sauce;  1 1/2 oz. vodka
Procedure: Add salt and pepper to taste.  Shake with cracked ice; strain into six oz. glass.

Drink: Gimlet
Ingredients: 4 parts gin (or vodka);  1 part sweetened lime juice
Procedure: Shake with cracked ice and strain into a cocktail glass.  Serve with small slice of fresh lime.\

Drink: Daiquiri
Ingredients: Juice from 1/2 lime or 1/4 lemon;  1 teaspon sugar; 1 1/2 oz. light rum
Procedure: Shake thoroughly with cracked ice, until the shaker frosts. Strain into cocktail glass.

Drink: Whiskey Collins
Ingredients: 1 1/2 oz. Whiskey;  Juice of 1/4 lime;  7-up
Procedure: Mix whiskey and lime juice in a tall glass. Add ice cubes; fill with 7-up.

Drink: Old-fashioned
Ingredients: Dash of Angostura bitters; 1/2 teaspoon sugar; 1/2 oz. sparkling water; 1 1/2 oz. whiskey
Procedure: Stir bitters, sugar, and water in glass; add ice cubes, and whiskey. Add twist of lemon peel, orange slice, and cherry.

Drink: Margarita
Ingredients: 1 1/2 oz. Tequila;  1/2 oz. Triple Sec;  1 oz. fresh lime or lemon juice
Procedure: Moisten cocktail glass with fruit rind; spin rim in salt. Shake ingredients with cracked ice. Strain into glass.  Sip over rim.

Drink: Screwdriver
Ingredients: 1 1/2 oz. Vodka;  orange juice
Procedure: Put ice cubes in six-oz. glass. Add vodka; fill with orange juice; stir.

Drink: Bacardi
Ingredients: Juice of 1/2 lime (or lemon);  1/2 teaspon sugar; one teaspoon grenadine;  1 1/2 oz. Bacardi rum
Procedure: Shake well with cracked ice and strain into cocktail glass.

Drink: Tequila Sunrise
Ingredients: 2-3 dashes grenadine; orange juice; 1 1/2 oz. of Tequila
Procedure: Put grenadine into eight-oz. glass. Fill with ice cubes. Add tequila. Fill with orange juice. Do not stir.

Drink: Whiskey Wallbanger
Ingredients: 1 oz.  Whiskey;  1/2 oz. Liquore Gilliano; Orang  juice
Procedure: Fill tall glass with ice cubes. Add liquors. Fill with orange juice; stir.

Drink: Gin 'n Tonic
Ingredients: Juice and rind of 1/4 lime;  1 1/2 oz gin; tonic water (Schweppes is reccommended)
Procedure: Squeeze lime over ice cubes in tall glass and add rind. Pour in gin; fill with tonic and stir.

Drink: Sombrero
Ingredients: 1 1/2 oz. coffee liquer; chilled milk
Procedure: Fill eight-oz. glass with ice cubes. Add liquer; fill with milk; stir.

Drink: Stinger
Ingredients: 1 1/2 oz. brandy;  3/4 oz. white creme de menthe
Procedure: Shake with cracked ice;  strain into glass.

Drink: Pina Colada
Ingredients: 1 1/2 oz. rum;  1 oz. cream of coconut;  2 oz. Pineapple juice
Procedure: Shake with 1/2 cup crushed ice (use a blender). Pour into a tall glass filled with ice cubes. Add a chery.

Drink: Rob Roy
Ingredients: 1 1/2 oz. Scotch;  3/4 oz. sweet vermouth; dash of Angostura bitters
Procedure: Stir with cracked ice; strain into cocktail glass. Add a twist of lemon peel. This drink is often called a "Scotch Manhattan".

Drink: Black Russian
Ingredients: 1 1/2 oz. vodka;  3/4 oz. coffee liquer
Procedure: Shake with cracked ice; strain over ice cubes in a pre-chilled short glass (slightly larger than a teacup).

Drink: Scarlett O'Harra
Ingredients: 1 1/2 oz whiskey;  juice of 1/4 lime; 1 1/2 oz. cranberry juice cocktain (Ocean Spray)
Procedure: Shake with cracked ice; strain into a glass.

Traditional Food: Meat - The Pinikpikan

PINIKPIKAN – The most popular dish among the Philippine Cordillerans. It is a food preparation composed of chicken meat, soup and vegetables. Because of its distinct savory taste, many people of the lowland Philippines have already included it in their cuisine recipe.

Ingredients and Materials:

- 1 kl live chicken, preferably the common barn chicken or the Philippine native chicken.
- 1/2 kl of peeled chayote/sayote (optional), cut into four pieces lengthwise, Chayote is a green vine plant or its fruit common in the highland Cordilleras.
- 1/2 kl pichay or chinese cabbage (optional), leaves individually parted/separated
- 1/4 kl etag or innasin (optional)
- 2 tablespoons of salt
- 1/4 teaspoon of monosodium glutamate (optional)
- 1 cup chopped leeks
- 6 cloves of crushed garlic
- 3 common size of crushed ginger
- 1/2 cup of quarter-sliced red onion
- 1 cup of tapey (optional), the wine and solid.
- cooking container
- 2 to 3 medium sized bowls
- ladle
- sharp kitchen knife
- chopping knife
- chopping board
- a hard thin but not so light stick about 2 feet in size – for beating the chicken.
- firewood or outdoor gas burner
- clean flat surface – where you can place the chicken while doing with it.
- burn protection gloves – wear it during the chicken dressing, Cordilleran folks do not need to wear them anymore.

Procedures

1. BEATING THE CHICKEN. Well, it involves beating and killing the chicken. But before going to that, I just want to say that it is often when people buy chicken, as much as possible, they do not want to include the bony wings and neck. But the Cordillerans beat the wings and neck until these parts swells and become fleshy, and believe it or not, they tastes good when cooked.Hold tightly together, therefore, the neck, feet, and the other wing in one hand while laying the other wing inside up over the clean flat surface, or you may ask someone to hold and unfold/spread the wing over the flat surface and then use the stick to beat the spread wing flesh from end to end not too soft, but not too hard until the flesh of the wing swells or become bluish. Of course, the chicken squawks so you must harden your grip. Do the same with the other wing. After doing with the wings, hold them and the feet in one hand and lay the neck and head on the flat surface, beat the neck from end to end, and side to side not too hard, but not too soft until it swells and become bluish. When done with the beatings, you must kill the chicken right away by beating hard the back of the head just below the comb. Just one sure blow on the said part can actually kill the chicken instantly.Remember that this is the traditional first step of preparing the pinikpikan. If you do not want to include the blood then you may skip the beatings, instead, bleed it using the sharp kitchen knife. First, go to the drainage or you may provide a container for the blood, hold tightly together the feet and wings and lay the head side up on the surface, slit hard between the neck and the head, you must see the blood spurting out, you can also check inside the incision and cut all the vascular vessels. Hang the chicken over the drainage or blood container until bleeding stops. If you want to skip these procedures then you can proceed to the cooking procedures by using a kilo of chopped roasted/fried chicken, but I should tell you it won’t tastes as good as the traditional pinikpikan. Anyway, pinikpikan means beaten flesh and charred feathers.

2. DRESSING THE CHICKEN USING A SMALL FIRE. Either create a small fire using the firewood or start the gas burner outside the house (this procedure is messy so it be recommended to be done outside). If you are in a cloistered neighborhood or in a place or country that prohibits environmental degradation due to creating fire smokes, then skip this procedure and go directly to the cooking procedure using a ready chicken (chopped roasted or fried chicken). After starting the fire, pluck all the big or primary feathers of the wings and tails and discard them (old folks throw them into the fire). Wear your gloves, hold the feet while you place the chicken body on the fire. Do not stay long on one part so that the skin won’t be burned into carbon. While burning the feathers of the other part, try scraping the charred feathers with the beating stick. Scorch under the wings, the neck, head and the bill. Singe all the parts until feather remnants are removed. Hold the body and burn the feet until the primary layers or scales loosen. Place the chicken on the clean flat surface and remove using your hands the scorched layers of the feet, bill, wattles, and comb. While on the flat surface, check the chicken where and what part you may still need to singe. Note that the old folks do not really have to burn completely all the feathers, they may have already be finished with the dressing even if it is still rough due to some incomplete charring, the new version should be to make it more smoother by charring the feathers completely. When the burning is finished, the color should be from light brown to dark brown, but it is relatively darker if you used firewood.Put off the the fire and bring in the chicken for washing. Wash slightly the whole chicken, open the bill and wash the mouth with running water, scrape it with your finger.




3. PINIKPIKAN WAY OF BUTCHERING AND CHOPPING. After washing the chicken, lay it on the chopping board or on the clean flat surface, chest upside. Hold the right shoulder and with the sharp kitchen knife, make a deep cut slowly between the right shoulder and the neck, slice it down through the cavity (be careful so you won’t harm the crop and other cavity organs) down to the middle and top of the breast bone. Do the same to the left side so that the cut would form a “V” shape. At the vertex of the “V” shape cut, continue the incision (note that the breast bone is soft for the sharp knife and can be easily cut with a little more force) and be careful not to harm any cavity organ especially the gall bladder and the digestive organs. The incision should be directed down to the right side or slanted toward the right side anywhere below the wings to its back, and then cut upward to meet the cut between the shoulder and the neck so that you can separate the right wing, the shoulder, and a small part of the breast. Do the same to the left side. Put separated parts into the cooking container. Lay inside up the remaining part of the chicken and separate the right leg by slicing between the leg and the chest and cutting off the leg bone from the thigh bone, do the same to the other leg, separate the feet from the legs and put them into the cooking container. Create slits at both sides of the thigh, from the cuts down to the part above the anus so that the breast and the back would easily be split apart. Now, you have to do it, hold the neck with one hand and hook the thumb of the other hand on the middle top of the breast bone, and with a little force, split apart the back and the breast. Pull down the breast to reveal the intestines. At this time, you can check the gall bladder if it is short and hidden inside the liver then it is ’sparing,’ but if it is revealed and slightly protruding below the liver then it is ‘yielding.’ You can also review if it is thick or thin before making a wish or decision regarding your immediate future plan. Well, God still knows what is best ahemm…but a person should always try for goodness sake. Now, separate the breast and put it into the cooking container. Cut out the gall bladder carefully (do not spill the gall on the chicken so that it won’t get bitter) and the trachea and discard them. Pull down the esophagus, and remove all the digestive organs and put them in a bowl and set it aside. Take the gizzard from the digestive organ, split it apart flat-wise under a running water and remove the mess inside including the yellowish membrane stuck inside it, then put the gizzard into the cooking container after washing it. Put all the remaining part (the chest organs still intact inside the cavity and the neck still connect the head to the body) into the cooking container. Actually, at this time, some old folks have already finished with their butchering with these eight raw parts of the chicken already separated, they could start cooking it after washing.These parts can actually be best chopped to smaller parts for the servings. Here is one way of chopping the raw parts, take out the parts from the cooking container one after the other for chopping (put them back again after chopping). Using the chopping board and knife, take out the wings and separate the wingettes, shoulders, and the small breast parts. Chop the breast or tenderloin lengthwise into halves, cut each to 3 parts crosswise. Separate the head, comb, and the neck. Take out the cavity organs from the cavity and put them into the cooking container immediately. Separate the rib frame and cut it to 3 parts crosswise. Chop all the remaining parts into considerable sizes. Wash the meat inside the container. After washing, pour two liters of drinking water and cook it.



4. CLEANING THE INTESTINES. While cooking the pinikpikan, you can now take the bowl of intestines. You know, the intestines tastes good, but you can discard them if you like. Suppose you decide to include it in your pinikpikan, then bring it to the running water so that the wastes continuously be washed away while working on it. Untangle the intestines, tear the mesentery and remove the caecas (blind guts) and discard them. Using the small knife, cut the intestines into 6-inch pieces. Put the small knife inside the intestine and rip it lengthwise under the running water to wash away the wastes inside, do the same with the others and put them into a different bowl. Pour three spoonfuls of salt over the torn intestines and mash it for 15 seconds before washing it with water – do it thrice or more before you finally put them into the cooking container.

5. WHILE COOKING. Wash the etag or innasin, you can either chop it or not, and put directly into the cooking container. When the water start to boil, put into the container the garlic, red onion, ginger, tapey, monosodium glutamate, and the salt, let it boil for 30 minutes before you put the sayote, wait for another 10 minutes before you put the chinese cabbage, then let it boil for another 5-8 minutes. Taste the soup, if it is too salty then add more water, otherwise, add more salt.

6. SERVING. Put the vegetables into a bowl and the pinikpikan meat into a separate container. Pour the pinikpikan soup into everyone’s cup and add amount of leeks.Cordillerans consume pinikpikan together with rice during meal time of family reunions, gatherings or feasts. It could also be served as chaser when friends get together for some drinks.

Organic Food: Vegetable Sauté - Mushroom

Ingredients:

- 1kl of mushrooms (parted into sizeable amount)
- vegetable oil
- salt (amount according to your preference)
Procedure:

1. Heat the oil.
2. Put the mushrooms and salt and then stir.
3. Once in while, stir the mixture otherwise you’ll going to have a carbon mushroom.
4. Some mushrooms cooked faster than the others. You’ll know that the mushroom is cooked if it breaks easily using your stirring implement.

It is superb when eaten with rice during mealtime.

Traditional Food: Bu'ko'

It is the sun dried sweet potato (camote) or cassava chips. When they are sun dried, they become sweeter and would be able to be stored for a long period of time. It is one of the past time snacks or main dish of the Igorots long time ago.

Procedure:

1. Peel the sweet potatoes or cassava (you may peel as many as you like).
2. Slice them into thin elongated chips.
3. Dry them under the sun. This process would be through when the water contents have gone. You may check if it is ready for the keeping by breaking some to see if it is already dry inside.
4. When dried already, put bu'ko' in a close container and keep aside for future use.

Food Preparation and Consumption:

1. Cook some chips with water. When it is cooked, put some sugar and milk (optional) and mix them well. Serve hot or cold in a bowl. Other recommended additional ingredients for this would be cooked cassava cubes, sliced ripe banana (saba or radja), sago balls and/or gulaman (agar-agar gelatin)
2. Or just fry some to make you a nutritious snack.

Note: sweet potato contains considerable amount of sugar that can cause you to have lots of gas inside your intestine or flatulence.

Traditional Food: Sabeng or Tengba

It is a soft, glutinous and salty liquid food preparation by the Igorot higlanders. Its whitish and almost sticky quality made it good for food embellishment.Well, nowadays, there are different methods as well as different ingredients that could be applied to arrive at a different kinds of sabeng. But I will be presenting the traditional sabeng that have nourished the babies and children of the Highlanders long time ago.

Ingredients and Materials:

# 1 kl ground ( or powdered ) rice
# 1/4 pound of crushed bubod (a whitish disc-shaped mass of yeasted starch that is commonly sold in the northern Philippines)
# 1/2 kl uncooked crabs (specifically the fresh water edible crabs)
# 5 tablespoons of salt
# drinking/tap water
# closed container ( enough to contain all the ingredients )ProceduresSALT THE CRABS (ALIVE OR DEAD): Put the uncooked crabs inside the container, and then salt them thoroughly. Close the container after and set aside for 24 hours.

AFTER 24 HOURS: Open the container and you must see the liquid inside it that is produced by the salted crabs, pour the ground rice, if the liquid is not enough to contain the ground rice then you can add the drinking water into it until the liquid raised to the same level with the ground rice, add the bubod and mix them thoroughly. Then close the container well and let it rest for 4 weeks.

4 WEEKS AFTER: Your sabeng is actually ready for consumption after 4 weeks, the carapace as well as the other parts of the crabs have already softened.

CONSUMPTION: It can be consumed plainly by frying it for viand. Some sip it in small amount while it is raw. But because of its almost glutinous and tasty nature, it can be added to other foods to give a sticky and tasty soup. The Highlanders used to add considerable amount of it to make an enjoyable sayote soup.

Traditional Food: Meat - Kinuday

It is the Ibaloi etag. But kinuday, unlike the etag, includes much of the red meat, fats, skin and bones without salt curing but smoking only. The procedure has nailed its distinction.



In history, Ibaloi folks used the fireplace with “shakelan” or tripod on it for cooking food to make kinuday. In order to show you how to make kinuday, I should rather give you an account about this kinuday thing to give you a hint. When an Ibaloi elder received his “sa-sakey” or “wat-wat” (a slab/s of meat taken home from a cañao fest), he would usually turn them into kinuday meat. He would find an elongated hard and thin stick and then pierce it through the slabs at their ends one after the other until they would look like hanged laundries, then he would hang the stick of meat above and across the “shakelan” using poles for hanging or hanging hooks so that every time a food is being cooked the smoke and food vapors would process the meat into kinuday. Households in the olden times have their foods cooked in the morning, midday (sometimes) and in the evening thus the smoking of the kinuday was as frequently done. For pig’s meat, it would be ready for consumption after four months and the cow’s meat, after seven months. The Ibaloi elders usually leave the kinuday hanged even after done with the process. And when his visitor/s or guest/s have come to his home he could un-hang and offer the kinuday to be cooked as ingredient to the main dish or just cooked plain for meal or for wine chaser.

Today, since many households have shift to electric or gas fuel, the kinuday has become rare. Sometimes, you could only eat kinuday again if you or someone you know lives near a kinuday maker.

Traditional Food: Meat - Susot

Susot is an Ibaloi delicacy used especially for food embellishment.

Ingredients and materials:

- cleaned large and small intestine of pig
- 3 table spoons of salt
- camote cider (or banana cider), enough to soak all the other ingredients
- 1 cup tapey (solid mash or winerice)
- 1/2 cup ginger (cut into small pieces)
- jar or glass container

Procedure:

1. Slice the the intestines into pieces, about 2 cms
2. Put all the ingredients into the container and mix them well.
3. Seal the container with thick cloth or 5 plies of babana leaves
4. Store in a moderately temperatured place for 5 days
5. Afetr 5 days, it would be ready to be used

Ibaloi folks use this ingredient in numerous main dishes like pinikpikan, laeng (gabi casserole), vegetable saute and others.

Food: Meat - Pulutan, Pulotan

Pulutan, in english, means wine chaser. It is a grilled small animal's breast (pitso) or pig's belly chopped into 1/2 inch cube with a lot of spices. Aside from being a wine chaser, it is also consumed as a viand.

Ingredients and Materials
# 1 kl of swine breast, should have no bone and contain part of the red meat, some fats and the skin
# 1 cup of chopped red onions
# 1/2 cup of leeks
# 3/4 tablespoon of salt
# 1/4 cup of lemon or calamansi juice
# a grille
# chopping knife and board
# a large bowl

Procedure

GRILL: Grill the pork until it is cooked.

CHOP: Chop the grilled pork into 1/2 inch cubes and put them into the bowl.

SPICE UP: Put all the spices and additives into the pulutan bowl – the onions, leeks, salt, lemon or calamansi juice and optional (pepper, vinegar, soy sauce), and mix them well.

MIX WELL: And after mixing them well, the pulutan is ready for consumption.

Consumption:

Usually, when the Highlanders butcher pig/s for an occasion or feast, it is the pulutan that is first cooked and prepared as an article for the wine or liquor the butchers and other folks in the butchering and cooking area are sociably drinking while finishing up all the cuisine works for the occasion.

The pulutan presented here in this blog is the kind that could be consumed with rice during meal time.

Food: Highland Staples in the Philippines

 (Staples in Montaniosa/Igorotlandia/Cordillera)

Sweet potato is the main staple of the Igorots in the ancient Philippine Cordillera. In the absence or presence of rice in the granaries, the sweet potato remained abundant in every household as it was perennially cultivated on different kinds of land forms, unlike the rice which can only be planted and grow viably on flat or semi-flat surface with enough water supply.

The cassava also has its own place in the Cordillera highland Igorot farms, and though placed below the sweet potato and rice in terms of popularity and importance by the Highlanders, the cassava was being made into much more different kinds of food like cassava wine, cake, rolls, sun-dried chips and more.

The banana is a tropical fruit but there are some varieties like saba and radja banana, which mostly preferred cooked, are cold tolerance and very common in the Cordilleras. 

The corn or maize is a perennial plant but the old folks have a habit of planting them on Holy Saturday or Sabado Gloria of the Holy Week. The advantage for this is accounted on the Philippine weather seasons, just imagine a plenty of freshly harvested corn supply during the rainy season.

The ube or violet yam was only a forage plant that could be found at the sides of the farms, but today, it is being cultivated as a major product to meet the demand of ube jam and flavor makers.

Avocado, papaya, calamansi are the most common fruits found in every home orchard. The sayote, native potatoes, cabbage, common legumes, carrots and the taro were among the vegetables cultivated for home use and as commercial products particularly in the Province of Benguet.

Today, the traditional raw products of the Highland Cordillera are being threatened by GMO, imported seeds and cuttings, and imported cheap raw products entering the market. Struggling against the said threats, the local government officials and local farmers are doing initiatives by employing policies, regulations and alternatives to make the local raw products competitive in the market.

Food: Soup - Kaling Soup

“Kaling” is the Igorot term for the Jojo mudfish, which believed to have originated from Japan during the Japanese occuptaion in the Phillipines. This fresh water slippery fish is slender and elongated with a length of about 5 to 8 inches when matured. It looks like a ball pen with a dark brown color on its back and light to white below the lateral line. In the past, kaling fish freely spawned in the streams, marshlands and watered rice paddies where the Igorot highlanders gathered the matured fish for food. But when a certain kind of rice paddy snails swarmed the area, the kaling started to disappear because the said snails feed on kaling eggs. Nowadays, kaling is being raised in special fish ponds and are being sold at the market in Mt. Province.

Kaling Soup Ingredients:

- 1 kl of kaling
- ½ cup of chopped ginger or turmeric
- ½ cup of tapey (including the mash/rice)
- 1.5 liter of water
- 3 table spoons of salt (depends on your preference)

- leeks, tomatoes (optional)

- use either msg, sinigang or sugar for seasoning (optional)

Steps:

1. Cook the kaling and the chooped ginger with the 1.5 liter of water
2. When the water starts to boil, wait for 5 minutes before adding the rest of the ingredients.
3. After that, wait for 8 to 10 minutes pf boiling before keeping it aside for serving.

In the highland Cordillera, the dish is served as viand for rice during mealtime.

Food: Meat - Pinuneg

Pinuneg is the Igorot sausage. It is similar to the longganisa and the common sausage available in the market. Their only differences are the contents and make up. Pinuneg uses the pig’s blood, large intestine and spices. This food must be a product of the culinary ingenuity of the Cordillerans, it is something like combining in one the two filipino foods which are the longganisa and the dinuguan, thus, this may not really be a traditional food. This food just came out recently from a Cordillera restaurant then the recipe had quickly spread all throughout the highland, and later on, in the lowlands.

Ingredients and Materials

# 2 ft intact and cleaned large intestine of pig, it can be obtained from the pig butcher or slaughter house.

# 400 to 500 ml of pig blood, it can be obtained from the pig butcher or slaughter house (note that the blood will be jellified and become dark red in color after a minute of exposure to the air but that’s just alright)

# 1 tablespoon of salt

# 1 cup of minced red onion

# 1/4 cup of minced ginger

# 1 teaspoon of powdered peppermint

# 1/2 cup of minced garlic

# 1 cup of chopped leeks (optional)

# 1 1/2 liter of water

# a cooking container

# 2 5-inch clean hard fiber threads, for tying the ends of the intestine

Procedures (in case the intestine still contains the stuff, you must to take it out. Remove the waste inside the intestine by putting water through the other opening and raise it to push down the contents out from the other end. After removal, wash it thoroughly and then invert or turn it inside out using a stick or through your own technique, treat it with salt, mash and then wash it. Do the salting-mashing-washing three times and be sure not to create cut on it)

MIX THE INGREDIENTS: Put the jellied blood into the bowl, soften it by mashing with your hand, then put all the ingredients (do not include the leeks and the intestine). Mix them thoroughly.

STUFF THE INTESTINE: Tie close one end of the intestine with one thread (do not use rubber, nylon or any material that melts on boiling water), then with your hands, fill in all the mixture inside the intestine tube. The intestine should inflate to its size. Close the mouth (open end) of the intestine by tying it with the other thread.

















COOK IT: Put the thing into the cooking container in a circular or spiral way and pour into the 1 1/2 liter of water and cook it. If you want to serve the broth then you can add 1 tablespoon of salt (amount of salt still depend upon your discretion). Boil the Pinuneg for 30 to 35 minutes. You will notice that some parts of it will swell due to the trapped gas, use a fork or a knife to bore a hole on the intestine in order to let the gas out.















SERVING: After cooking, take out your pinuneg from the container and put it on a big plate. Slice it crosswise making some sausages or just in 2-cms thickness. You may fill cups with the broth and add leeks. Pinuneg is best eaten with rice during meal time.

Food: Meat - Bungsos or Bungsus

An Igorot delicacy made from pig’s intestines and some innards (optional).

Procedures:

1. If the intestines are not yet cleaned, put them into a big container bowl and go to the running water (ex. faucet) and with a scissor or a knife, tear open the intestines and wash the wastes inside with the running water. Wash them thoroughly, you may mash them with salt and then wash them again.

2. After three mash and wash cycles, you may stop it so that the intestines won’t loss so much of its parts, don’t worry, the wastes have been washed away already. Put the intestines into a container and mash it with salt, you may now add the innards and some crushed garlic, peppermint and ginger and mix them well inside the container.

3. After mixing them thoroughly, seal the container and set it aside for 3 to 5 days in a normal temperature location.

4. After 3 to 5 days, your bungsos is ready for cooking. It does have a sweet daring smell but have a real palatable taste when cooked. The simplest way to cook it is by boiling it with water for 20-30 minutes. You may turn the broth into a soup by sprinkling it with chopped leeks, etc. or throw it away. Take out the bungsos and put it on a bowl, cut it into 1 inch pieces and eat with rice. When cooked, it can also be cut into small pieces and add to some dishes like chopsuey, vegetable sauté, etc.

Traditional Food: Etag (Dried and salted pork/meat)

Etag (igorot) or Innasin (iloko) – An Igorot food that is preserved small slab of meat (esp. pork) made through salt-treating, sun-drying; and/or smoking. Its color is partly dark brown with noticeable whitish yellow fat color. It comes from different varieties depending on the methods used. There are three methods of making etag which are discussed in the procedures. Its savory and salty taste made it a good seasoning ingredient for some foods.

Ingredients and Materials

1. 1 kl of pork, sliced into 1-inch thick slabs, it should have no bones, and must have 20% to 80% fat per slab
2. 1/5 to 1/4 kl of salt
3. a large bowl
4. Gusi (earthen jar) or any container enough for the meat
5. a stick or straw, use to pierce the slabs for hanging
6. firewoods (optional)

Procedures

1. Treating it with salt. The morning is the best time to start, particularly during summer, spring or any day that do not rain, however, there is still a way to make etag during rainy season which is the smoking procedure. So, place the meat into the bowl, press or squeeze it lightly and then pour out the extracted liquid from the bottom of the bowl, if there is any. Take out one slice and rub salt on its surface, be sure to salt inside the fissures before you return it back to the container. Do the same with the other slabs. When done, close the container airtight and set it aside for 24 hours. Do not refrigerate it.

2. After 24 hours and on… As I’ve said, it is better to start working on it in the morning so that after 24 hours, it would be another good morning (in a place with 24 hour day-night cycle) for you , perfect for the sun-soaking.After 24 hours, the procedure splits into three methods: a. sun-soaking, b. smoking, and c. is the combination of a & b.

a. Sun-soaking: Find a good place where you can soak the slabs in the sun. The Cordillerans pierced the slabs at the ends with stick (it looks like hanged laundries side by side) or with straw and hang them at a high place where carnivorous land animals could not reach. The others just put them on a clean flat surface, and they just turn the slabs regularly to sun-dry all the sides.

When the sun sets, put them back inside the container. Do not get them wet, it will hinder the curing process. If there ain’t been any interruption (i.e rain) then you can do this in three days, else you have to add more time of curing under the sun to complete the 3-day sun-soaking.

b. Smoking: The outcome of this would be a brother to the smoked meat, but etag is too salty which made it a good salting agent for other food preparations. To start with it, find a safe and shaded place where you can create just a small fire using the firewoods (be sure you woun’t be violating the fire code of your country or location). You should avoid using the resinous kind of wood like the pine tree because it would stick wicked soot on the meat and embitter your food. After creating a fire (small smoky fire), place or hang the slabs above the fire. Remember that your objective is only to smoke and not to roast or burn the meat, so you may place the meat where it could be reached by the smoke but couldn’t be reached by the radiant heat. Do this for 30 minutes everyday for 1 week. Put back the slabs into the container after each session.

c. Combination: This is just doing both methods a the same time. Just choose a place where a wind couldn’t distract the smoking procedure. Smoke them for 1 hour while they’re being soaked in the sun, or you may do it your own way as long as they get smoked and sun-dried. Who knows, you can actually create the best etag in the world. Do these everyday for 3 days.

3. Keeping or storing the etag. After the days of curing, the etags are ready to be consumed. But if you want to store them for future consumption then it’s fine, you have made them to be preserved for a long long time. I’ve heard that the oldest etag that ever eaten was five years old (ahrgkk!), but the old folks said that etag after 6 months and up should not be eaten and to be discarded.

4. How to consume etag. Of course, you make etag for your immediate consumption. The simpliest way to consume it is by eating it plainly. Wash it to lessen its saltiness, then cook it in any way you like, then eat it with rice. As an ingredient, these can be added to many kind of dishes ranging from pinikpikan to chopsuey. The Highlanders chop them into small pieces and add them to their vegetable saute.

Food: Beverage - How to make Bubod (Wine Yeast)

Bubod is the main ingredient of the traditional cordilleran beverage or alcoholic drink like the rice wine. It is a white to brown oval disc-shape hardened starch powder that contain the fermenter – the yeast.

Ingredients and materials:

1 kl of kintuman (a violet red rice of the Cordillera) or any sticky rice.

7-10 pieces of 5-inch tall ‘ung-gwad’ herb, i forgot its english name (whole plant) or you may use the aniseed plant or any other edible herbal plant that have the yeast.

1/2 cup of sliced ginger

1 liter of water

Mixing container for the ingredients

Clean glass container

Grain grinder

Wide baking pan

Procedures

1. Pulverize the rice using the grain grinder, then put the powdered rice into the container.
2. Crush the plants and the ginger with the grinder to break them into small pieces, spare the juice too.
3. Put the crushed plants and the juice into the container and add water then mix all the ingredients until it became a sticky paste.
4. With your plams, take a handful of the paste and form an oval disc shape or ball and place it on the clean pan. Repeat the step until finished with the paste.
5. Dry under the sun to harden the soft wet bubod balls before keeping them in a closed container for future use.

Bubod crumbs and balls courtesy of DOST, Philippines

Organic Food: Vegetable Sauté - Sayote (Fruit)

Ingredients:

- 1 kl sayote fruits
- ¼ kl pork or etag (at least 50% fat and 0% bone)
- salt
- msg or sugar for seasoning

Procedure:

1. Peel the sayote and cut them crosswise in halves, the halves to be made chunks each with thickness of half cm and with width depend on the size of the sayote.

2. Chop the pork or etag and fry until half cooked, do not forget the stirring.
3. At this time, the oil must already been extracted and boiling, add the sayote chunks/slices and then stir once in a while.
4. This sauté is best when sayote is half cooked. Before setting it aside for serving, add the seasoning and stir well.

Most (or some) Highlanders enjoy this sauté with rice for the meal.

Traditional Food: Liquor - Tapey vars: Tapuy, Tapuey - (The Igorot Rice Wine)

TAPEY (The Igorot ricewine) – Is the famous alcoholic beverage of the Igorots. It is a wine made from rice. Traditionally, it is used or offered by the Igorots for libation during public feasts, thanksgivings or other activities. It is also served when someone host meeting or gathering at his house or at other place like the Dap-ay. But then and now, anyone can really make tapey to be consumed personally by the person anytime.

It could be consumed best on the 4th-6th day of brewing when it is still sweet. Do not allow children to drink any amount of it, instead, give them fruit juices or milk drinks. Also, do not booze on it because it can give a real heavy hangover. Consume it in sobriety for the good health.

Ingredients and Materials:

- 1/2 lb of bubod (a whitish disc-shaped mass of yeasted starch that is commonly sold in the northern Philippines)
- 1 kl of rice (preferably the sticky or glutinous variety. Igorots prefer the kintuman – a violet red sticky rice usually cultivated in the northern Philippines)
- l lit. of drinking water
- 1 big clean banana leaf or a clean flat surface – to be used where to spread the rice for cooling and curing
- a gusi (clay jar) or any container except soft plastic – enough to contain the cooked rice
- a ladle
- rice cooker or cooking container

Procedures

PREPARATION: In the preparation and curing of tapey, some old folks who are being reputed as good tapey makers usually choose the time between midnight and dusk to start it. they said there should be no any distraction in order not to disturb the spirit of the tapey. Of course, there must also be a lesser chance of spreading other bacteria on the tapey when you are alone in the kitchen or anywhere else where you do the prepration for brewing.

COOK THE RICE: Now that you have made all the materials and ingredients ready, wash the rice and cook it with the 1 liter of drinking water. While waiting for the rice to be half-cooked, you can have a free time to drink a cup of the tapey that you’ve previously created ahihi :D Always check the rice, and then set it aside after the boiling water or the bubbles have already gone, this means the rice is ready to be made tapey.

CURE THE RICE: Lay the banana leaf upside down on a flat surface and use the ladle to spread the hot newly cooked rice on top of it so that the rice would be about 1 inch thick. Cool it down first before crushing and crumbing the bubod all over the top of the rice.

PREPARE FOR FERMENTATION: After the bubod curing, use the ladle to put the rice into the gusi or container (brewing container). Cover it with 2 to 3 plies of torn banana leaf or a clean piece of cloth and seal it with a rubber band or a garter. Do not cover it tightly with a hard cap else the cap or the container will break as the fermentation goes.

BREWING: Store or hide the brew in a warm and safe place or in a moderately temperatured place, and let the time do the rest of the process.

SWEET TASTE OF LABOR: At the fourth day after you brew your famous ricewine, you should go back to your brewing place to have a good drink of the sweet ricewine you have just made. Note that it should taste sweet, if not, then you must have stumbled on another kind of ricewine.

The tapey have two parts, the liquid which is called the ricewine and the solid or the mash which is called the winerice. Both can be consumed at the same time, but you can also extract the ricewine and discard the solid mass. Take note also that its taste changes with time. Again, if you want to preserve it for a long time, do not seal the container airtight because the cap or container will break.