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.


Ingredients:

1/4 kilo of pork and/or boneless chicken thigh meat, cut into large cubes
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 head of garlic (8 to 10 cloves), peeled and slightly crushed
5 bay leaves (bay laurel)
12 whole black peppercorns
1/2 cup cane or white vinegar
2 tablespoons cooking oil
Water as required
Pepper to taste

Instructions:

Mix the soy sauce, garlic, bay leaves and peppercorns. Add the meat, mix well and marinate for at least 2 hours. Remove the meat from the marinade and drain well.

Heat the oil in a large skillet and cook the meat until brown.

Add the remaining marinade and some water if required (the meat should be only partially covered.) Heat until bubbly then lower heat, cover and simmer for around 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the vinegar. Mix well. Raise heat and cook until bubbly, then lower heat and simmer for another 10 minutes.

Season with pepper to taste. Serve over rice. Serves 4.

Note: some people like to cook their adobo until all the marinade evaporates, brown the cooked meat in oil then serve it with a soy sauce/vinegar/sliced onion dipping sauce. Others prefer their adobo to be saucy and moist, as in the above recipe.  That's the way I prefer to cook mine (saucy.)