Adobo

Adobo

The name "adobo" comes from a Spanish cooking technique of first marinating meat then stewing it in its marinade. When the Spaniards saw Filipinos making their traditional dish in a similar manner they called it "adobo" and the name stuck. In fact, no one even knows what the original Filipino name was.

The marinade consists basically of soy sauce and vinegar, with black pepper or peppercorns, onions, garlic and bay leaves added. Most people combine these ingredients into the marinade, let the meat sit in it for a period of time then stew the meat in it. But I learned a little secret from another cook: how to get the meat to come out moist and tender rather than hard and dry as it usually does. That is to leave the vinegar out of the marinade, and only add it during the last few minutes of cooking time! Very untraditional, but apparently the acidity of the vinegar does something to the meat that causes it to be drier and tougher. (Yes, I know that many people recommend marinading tough cuts of meat in lemon juice or vinegar as a tenderizer. I don't pretend to understand it: all I know is that adobo cooked in this way comes out tender and juicy.)

Adobo comes in two varieties: adobong baboy (pork adobo) and adobong manok (chicken adobo.) Both are prepared identically, the only difference being the meat used. You can even mix the two meats if you like.

Adobong kangkong (water spinach cooked adobo-style)

Adobong kangkong on a serving platter

Kangkong is a tropical plant that is commonly eaten in Southeast Asian countries as a green vegetable, much like we eat spinach, collard greens  or Swiss chard. It tastes somewhat like mind-flavored spinach. Both the stems and leaves are consumed. In the Philippines, kangkong is usually braised with various seasonings including vinegar in the adobo style.

If you can't find fresh kangkong where you are, feel free to substitute fresh spinach or your favorite green. I don't think mustard greens would do well in this dish, though: their flavor's too strong.

I made this last Friday evening. My wife was planning to do the cooking but some company stopped by, so she went outside (away from the barking dogs) to entertain them while I minded our dogs. We were both pretty hungry so I decided to do the sous-chefery and prep everything for her to save time, and then I decided I may as well pre-cook the pork too, and when that was done it was simplest to just finish everything off and cook the whole bloody thing. :) I was just going to invite our guests to come inside and join us for dinner but when I did they were just leaving, so we had it all to ourselves. It was scrumptious!