Isaw

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Selection of Filipino barbecue skewers

Filipino barbecue or Pinoy barbecue (Tagalog: ihaw-ihaw, reduplication of 'grill') is a Filipino cuisine variety of skewers (tusok-tusok) that are grilled (inihaw).[1] Entrenched in the street food of the Philippines since the 1950s, Filipino barbecue is quintessentially based on marinated pork, chicken and offal.

Preparation and consumption

Skewered brochettes of marinated pork (baboy) on a grill

Filipino barbecue is based on a widespread marinade of banana ketchup, calamansi juice, lemon-lime soda (classically 7-Up), and soy sauce. According to Filipino food historian Ige Ramos , the carbonation from the soda is colloquially intended to tenderize tough cuts of meat. The marinated brochettes are skewered and grilled, typically over a charcoal grill moderated with a pamaypay hand fan, with the marinade re-applied during cooking to caramelize.[2][3]

Filipino barbecue skewers are typically served with atchara, an unripe papaya pickle, along with a vinegar-based sawsawan for dipping. Filipino barbecue is eaten both as a merienda light meal, and as an ulam, or the main component of a Filipino-cuisine meal with rice.[2][3][4]

Street food

Roadside barbecue food stall (Tagalog: barbecuhan); worker at right uses a sawsawan hand fan

Filipino barbecue is endemic to street food of the Philippines. Food booths specializing in Filipino barbecue (Tagalog: barbecuhan) offer large communal pots of sawsawan to dunk skewers. Carinderias, a variety of Filipino eatery, also serve Filipino barbecue skewers alongside other varieties of inihaw grilled dishes and street foods.[2]

History

Filipino barbecue developed in the 1950s in Metropolitan Manila; according to Filipino chef Jordy Navarra, the style is couched in the charcoal-grilling of rural inihaw. The development of the grilling style may come from the influence of the United States colonization of the Philippines from 1898 to 1946, through which soda, ketchup and American barbecue were introduced in the 1930s. Filipino food historian Ige Ramos opines that the precursor to the standard marinade of Filipino barbecue was created by combining imported American foods, to cherish and maximize their perceived value. During World War II in the Philippines, banana ketchup was invented as an ersatz good that defined the nascent Filipino barbecue marinade after the war.[2]

Chicken and pork prime cuts along with grilled squid (inihaw na pusit) were the skewers of choice from the 1950s until the 1969 Philippine balance of payments crisis and the continued economic hardships in the Philippines of the 1970s during the Marcos dictatorship drove increasingly impoverished Filipinos to eat cheaper offal cuts as poverty food. By the early 1990s, Filipino barbecue with its modern offal skewers had become entrenched as a street food sold both during the day on streets in both urban and suburban contexts, as well as at night markets alongside ukay-ukay stalls. The slang terms for various offal skewers were largely established by this time; Filipino food historian Doreen Fernandez opined that the humorous, euphemistic names were an expression of how offal barbecue skewers were seen as a 'lesser' snack - a pantawid-gutom - as opposed to a primal cut skewer, which could constitute an ulam main meal-portion.[4][5][6]

List of varieties

Variety[a]SlangIngredientsRef.
Atay ng baboyPork liver[7]
Atay ng manokChicken liver[8][1]
Balúmbalúnan (balun-balunan)Gizzard[8]
Bato ng baboyPork kidney
BotsiChicken crop[9]
DugoBetamaxBlood curd[1][2]
HotdogHot dog[10]
Isaw ng baboy (tumbóng)
Cebuano: ilogon		Mag wheelsPork chitterlings (bung)[8][11][1]
Isaw ng manokIUDChicken chitterlings[5][8]
KurbataNecktieChicken esophagus[12]
Paa ng manokAdidasChicken feet[5][1]
Pakpak ng manokPAL (Philippine Airlines)Chicken wings[5][9]
Pork maskTagalog: MaskaraPork jowl and other parts of the head[11]
ProvenChicken proventriculus[9]
PusitSquid as food[6]
Puso na manokSpanish: corazonChicken heart[1]
Pwet na manokTagalog: Wetpak, transl. buttChicken tail[1][13]
Tenga ng baboyWalkmanPig's ears[8][7]
Ulo ng manokHelmetsChicken heads or combs[1][5]

See also

Notes

  1. Tagalog language names may be further defined by a preceding "inihaw na" ('grilled').

References

  1. Dizon, Erika (July 22, 2019). "The SPOT.ph Glossary of Street Food in Manila". SPOT.PH. Archived from the original on 2023-09-28. Retrieved 2026-06-16.
  2. Zubiri, Stephanie (June 13, 2022). "The sweet flavours of Pinoy BBQ". BBC. Retrieved 2026-06-11.
  3. Pineda, Maida (October 5, 2021). "Inihaw: Barbecue the Filipino chargrill way". Special Broadcasting Service. Retrieved 2026-06-11.
  4. Lasco, Gideon; Mendoza, Jhaki (May 21, 2024). "Deciphering a Non-meal: Pantawid-Gutom and the Everyday Negotiation of Hunger in the Philippines". Cultural Anthropology. 39 (2). doi:10.14506/ca39.2.02. ISSN 1548-1360.
  5. Fernandez, Doreen (1994). "Balut to Barbecue: Philippine Streetfood". Tikim: essays on Philippine food and culture. Anvil. pp. 3–14. ISBN 978-90-04-41479-2.
  6. Fernandez, Doreen; Alegre, Edilberto N. (1988). "The Streetfood Scene". Sarap: essays on Philippine food. Aduana, Intramuros, Manila: Mr. & Ms. Pub. Co. p. 154-158. ISBN 978-971-91137-0-6.
  7. Enano, Jhesset O. (August 13, 2017). "Sizzle never stops for famed UP campus spot". INQUIRER.net. Retrieved 2026-06-16.
  8. Vila, Alixandra Caole (October 28, 2019). "How one man cleaned up on Philippine delicacy isaw". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2026-06-16.
  9. Deutsch, Jonathan; Murakhver, Natalya (2012). They eat that? a cultural encyclopedia of weird and exotic food from around the world. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO. pp. 120–121. ISBN 978-0-313-38058-7.
  10. Cohen, Eli (April 28, 2025). "Why Filipino Hot Dogs Are Unlike Any Other". Food Republic. Retrieved 2026-06-12.
  11. Palanca, Clinton (October 31, 2018). "Why you should fly to Iligan–where the afternoon pigs are never as good as the morning ones". Lifestyle.INQ. Retrieved 2026-06-12.
  12. Ocampo, Ambeth R. (January 10, 2018). "Black Nazarene and street food". INQUIRER.net. Retrieved 2026-06-22.
  13. Estrosas, Caryl (October 25, 2011). "Filipino Street Food Adventure". Art of Adventuring. Archived from the original on 2013-11-24. Retrieved 2026-06-22.