Recipe: Pinaupong Manok (Filipino Chicken Pot Roast)



What a large oven!

A classmate of mine from medical school (Dr. Ramos of UP, Class 1992) saw my blog and requested that I demonstrate making Pinaupong Manok online.  So, going ahead with the challenge, I did some research and came up with the following thoughts.

What?! I have to build this just to get a decent pizza?!

Now a smaller oven with gas range - convenience
of the modern kitchen.

First of all, Pinaupong Manok is actually nothing short of baked chicken.  However, a caveat to this is that it is actually pot roast chicken.  The reason is this, ovens in the olden days were, of course, firewood driven; therefore, they have to be huge.  They have to accommodate both the wood fuel not to mention the oven itself where the food is to be roasted.  Therefore, it is virtually impossible for the common pueblo to have an oven and have roasted dinners.  However, in today’s kitchen of electric and gas ranges, these now occupy minimal space.  In fact, the early ads of the twentieth century for stoves and ranges, both electric and gas, boast of the convenience as well as the minimalist designs of these appliances in relation to the traditional kitchens of the late nineteenth century.  So, traditionally speaking, only large houses with large kitchens which are usually situated OUTSIDE of the house (to prevent the main house from accidentally catching fire, God forbid) can accommodate luxurious oven roasted foods.  So imagine the lowly 19^th Century Indio in Spanish Philippines, not having a large house and kitchen.  How could he enjoy such a treat?

Palayoks come in different sizes.

So, in comes the earthenware pot, usually the cooking implement of the poor in those days.  Of course, because they were common prior to the entry of steel and can be produced using the most common of materials, clay; they came in various sizes similar to today’s set of Le Creuset, Anulon, Calphalon and Circulon.  They can come as small as  condiment containers or as large to make the humungous stew that could feed the whole baranggay during the town fiesta.  The middle size, accommodating a medium chicken is what is used to make Pinaupong Manok.

Ayan! Magpapakain si Mayor! (Just in time
for the new election cycle.)

Secondly, and therefore, Pinaupong Manok is very much a misnomer.  It is not really Pinaupo or “sitting” as the name implies, rather it is placed with cavity down on a bed of salt.  A variation of this bed is the placement of a piece of banana leaf on top of the salt.  Now, if one thinks about it, there is a variation of this with the pressure cooker and one can find the recipe of Pot Roast Beef in old recipe books that come with these things.  The flat plate with holes that are sold with the pressure cooker is the guard that prevents the meat from burning when the meat’s underside touches the bottom of the pan.  Because earthenware pots sold in the olden days do not come with such things, improvisation with the use of salt is best.

Now, why salt?  Salt dehydrates.  Even with the meat’s juices, as long as there is salt at the bottom supporting it and with the heat, it will remain relatively dry.  This is the reason why the recipe calls for a lot of salt as in handfuls of it.

Banana leaves?  Yes, if anyone cares to remember the olden days of the charcoal driven iron, the househelp usually places the heated side on a bed of folded banana leaves.  It’s moisture, underneath the fine meshwork of though banana leaf fibers is enough to keep the iron’s steel clean for a smooth gliding surface touching the clothing being ironed.  The same principle is true of the Pinaupong Manok.  It is there to further prevent the chicken from charring by preventing its direct contact to the pot’s hot surface.

There are some who have tried making Pinaupong Manok at home complaining that the final product is pale and not appetizing to look at and are therefore wondering what could have gone wrong.  The answer lies in the temperature.  One has to remember that this is actually a “pseudo-baking” process – baking while making do with the fact that one does not have an oven.  Therefore, to achieve that lovely color of a roast even without an oven, a higher temperature is needed probably mimicking the oven conditions of approximately 350 to 375 Fahrenheit, but even so, there is a disadvantage to this with the fact that pot roasting does not contain a direct fire source, therefore, broiling is difficult not to mention that the moisture inside the pot is high.  In fact, if one studies the method of making pot roast, they advise that the meats are browned first in direct contact with the pot’s hot surface with some fat and spices, then applying the steel guard, pouring in the pot a bit of liquid to create steam as one covers the pot leaving it to steam further and “bake” for the next hour or two.  One finds as well that the pot would be charred at the bottom and quite difficult to clean afterwards.

Because Pinaupong Manok does not have the browning process prior to its “baking” as in the traditional pot roast, I think the temperature should even be higher probably even 400 or 500.  Will it burn the chicken?  I don’t think so, as long as one has a good amount of salt and banana leaves as bedding.  Will it dry up?  No, as long as the pot is tightly covered and the meats moisture is contained during the cooking process.  Remember that during this time of “baking” the intense heat creates a crusting in the meat that contains the juices within as the insides begin to steam and cook.  When the dish is done and letting the meat “rest” before serving (this is done with all meats cooked in the oven and steaks as well), the juices come the inside creep to the outside, rehydrating it.  This is the secret of a good roast.

Next, I could not emphasize that the pot should be large enough to “enclose” the chicken; this means that the distance between the chicken and the salt/banana leaves barrier should probably be the same as that of the cover and the top of the chicken.  The reason for this is the banana leaves/salt layer act as a “guard” from the direct heat of the fire beneath thus preventing burning the chicken, yet it is the same high intense heat needed to equally cook the top of the chicken and browning it as the bottom of the bird.

Spices.  Traditionally, they are very Filipino Asian.  The use of pungent spices to remove the gaminess of the meat is a must.  Since ginger and lemongrass (“tanglad”) were common, these two are usually combined with garlic and pepper to favor the dish.  These can be bought in Asian stores if anyone in the United States is interested in making this dish.

Ingredients.

• 1 whole (as much as possible fatty) chicken.  In this case, I used approximately a 3 pound chicken.
• 1 tablespoon of salt for seasoning.
• 1 tablespoon of freshly ground black pepper.
• 1 stalk of lemongrass.
• 1 large root (approximately the size of three thumbs) of ginger.
• 1 medium head of onion, peeled and quartered.
• 1 head of garlic, peeled and chopped.
• Two or three cups of rock salt, more or less, depending on the size of the pot.
• Three sheets of banana leaves.

Procedure.

1. Prepare the spices well.  The lemongrass is folded into a third that would fit the inside of the chicken and pounded well to release its essence.
2. Season the chicken, inside and out, with the salt and pepper.  After applying salt, one may want to prick the chicken multiple times to let the salt penetrate and wipe with a towel as the bird gets wet since the salt attracts the water from beneath the meat.  Then, as with the salt, apply pepper inside and out.
3. Once the bird is seasoned well, stuff the inner cavity with garlic, onion and lemongrass.
4. In a pot that can accommodate the bird equally on all sides (see explanation above), put a thick layer of approximately an inch of salt and top eith banana leaves.  Place the chicken in the pot (traditionally with the cavity facing down thus having the bird sit) resting on the banana leaves, cover and put the pot on high heat.
5. Steaming the chicken first with its intrinsic moisture and later on baking as it dehydrates, with the heat of the pot less moisture, cook the chicken for probably 20 minutes per pound. (Intense heat may cook the chicken with probably 15 minutes per pound.)
6. Turn off the heat and let the chicken rest.  At this point, the juices will escape permitting the dryer portions of the meat to rehydrate back its moisture.

Dipping sauce.

Ingredients.

• 1/8 cup light soy sauce
• 1/8 cup honey
• 1/8 cup calamansi or lime juice

Procedure.

1. Mix the three components together.  You may choose to add slivers of garlic and ginger or onions.
2. Serve with slices of chicken meat above.  Chopped spring onions may be added as garnish.

   

   The final product with dipping sauce and
   garnish of spring onions.  Success!!

Tips.

• Because of the intense heat achieved by the smaller surface area of the pot vis chicken, it may take lower than twenty minutes per pound (roughly forty minutes per kilo) of chicken to cook.
• Intense heat is necessary to “roast” the chicken although the initial process involves steaming with the meat’s intrinsic juices.  The browning of the chicken is later as the heat evaporates all of the juices during the cooking process.
• The bird is allowed to rest after cooking for easier handling and slicing later. 
• You are not faulted, if possible – I’m sure the ladies of Jose Rizal and Andres Bonifacio’s time would do also – if you choose to “turn the bird” during the roasting process with a long fork to brown the other side.  This is actually a “trick” that one can use doing traditional pot roast in Western cuisine that otherwise can also be used in making this dish.