Cooking adobo

If there is one dish that is a quintessentially Filipino, it’s adobo. Marinated in a variety of sauces, the meat is stewed to brown perfection making every bite a mouthful of flavors.

Although the dish makes use of a Spanish name, adobo was already around in pre-colonial Philippines when 16th century native Filipinos utilized vinegar and soy sauce to preserve meats. Only when the Spaniards did arrive did they give a name to the dish that they too eventually adapted into their cuisine.

In my own home, adobo is on the weekly menu once a week. I love it. My kids love it and so does our dog. I guess that is how much it is a favorite. Even living abroad, when looking for a Filipino restaurant, invariably, adobo is something I almost always order.

While writing this story, I sampled the dish at Café Ysabel where according to Chef Gino Gonzales, it remains a best seller.

Cooking adobo the classic way

It starts off by sautéing onions and garlic then adding the meat and slowly browning it. When the meat changes in color you can start putting patis & vinegar. I let the vinegar evaporate first before mixing it around. A good amount of cracked black pepper is added as well. When it dries up and crust starts to form at the bottom, you deglaze the pan by adding stock or water to loosen the crust (fonds) then it adheres to the meat, thus helping in the browning process.  This is done until the meat is tender and brown. To finish, the meat is taken out then more stock or water is added to deglaze the pan and the sauce is formed. This is served on the side.

If that is the classic way of cooking it, then what innovations are there for the dish?

“There’s the addition of foreign spices to start off,” said Chef Gene. “There are even versions with foie gras now. Adobo flakes has become very popular. The use of foreign vinegar as acid like balsamic or raspberry. Adobo as a dish is pretty established and popular now that's why there are a lot of attempts to re-interpret this dish into beautifully plated sometimes deconstructed dishes.”