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Pinapaitan or papaitan (lit. "to make bitter") is a Filipino-Ilocano people stew made with goat meat and offal and flavored with its bile, chyme, or cud (also known as papait). This papait gives the stew its signature bitter flavor profile or "pait" (lit. "bitter"), a flavor profile commonly associated with Ilocano cuisine. Similar to other Ilocano meat dishes, pinapaitan does not contain any vegetables other than those used for flavoring.
Various offal include tripe, kidneys, liver, heart, chitterlings, pancreas, and spleen. Hide and blood may also be added. Alternately, it can be made with beef when goat is not available. It also goes by the name sangkutsar from the Spanish term "sancocho]]" meaning "to parboil". In Vigan and Pangasinan, pinapaitan made with beef is known as sinanglaw.
It is enjoyed as a main dish served with rice or as pulutan (appetizer) with alcohol. One researcher has suggested that the consumption of pinapaitan may be an underlying display of machismo, not dissimilar to extreme chili-eating competitions. Nevertheless, the consumption of bitter foods including bile is said to trigger the body's innate immunity, thus supporting disease prevention and promoting health.
It has no relation to the similar sounding dish named paitan (白湯), a common soup for Japanese ramen.
The most probable origin of pinapaitan is from the Spanish colonial era. In the early 1800s, the Spanish friars would get the best meat, while the Filipinos were given the less desirable cuts. Pinapaitan is said to be a product of this resourcefulness, which dates back to that time.
The meat and offal are sliced into thin bitesize pieces 3 cm to 5 cm and parboiled in water mixed with vinegar to remove impurities or gaminess. Aromatics vegetables, primarily ginger (optionally garlic or shallots) is sauteed, followed by the meat and offal. Water is added to the meat and simmered until tender.
The bile (or cud) is added to the stew towards the end of the cooking process. It is optionally soured with vinegar, bilimbi, or tamarind (pulp or leaves), or spiced with . It may be seasoned with salt, fish sauce, or MSG.
Some recipes use bittermelon, or its leaves, as a substitute for bile or when it is not available.
Ilocano people are not the only ones partial to bitter flavors using bile. Niu bie tang is a soup made by the Kam people ethnic group in the Guizhou Province of China. Cattle are fed fine grass and herbs before slaughtering and extracting the ingredients. Other ingredients are added to the cud and bile and boiled to make a soup. People in Guizhou enjoy the soup as the base of noodle dishes.
The Dai people ethnic group in southern Yunnan cuisine is noted for its noodle dish sapie (撒撇), a dish laced with bile and chyme. Similarly, the Thái people (Vietnam) in Vietnam also has a dish called nậm pịa or nặm pịa (intestine juice). The Isan ethnic community in northern Thailand and Lao people, also feature bile in laap (ລາບ). Further afield in Italy, chyme from unweaned calves furnishes the sauce for a Roman dish called pajata.
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