Adobo- The Philippines Pride

One of the staple food around Filipino homes is our Adobo. It is so famous that a lot of concoctions has been created for this viand alone. We practically cooked adobo for everything- pork, chicken, beef, even goat. We cooked it with fish and vegetables too, even exotic animals like frog and crocodiles are being cooked the adobo way. It can be saucy, dry or even flaked, and the list goes on.

Cooking adobo dates back to Pre-Hispanic Period when our ancestors usually boil, broil or steam meat and chicken. To preserved these food they marinate it in salt and vinegar, thus the name adobo from the Spanish term "Adobar", to marinate, or sauce.

Adobo is popular because it has a wide range of taste. It is salty, partly sour with a tinge of sweetness. So practically you get the best of everything. And what is so special about this food is that it has relatively long shelf life because of the vinegar which is it's primary ingredient. It is the most common food to bring on out of town trips as it is less prone to bacteria.

Are you ready to cook our famous adobo?

What you will need:

Pork cubes
Salt
Crushed peppers
Garlic chopped

Laurel leaf
Brown sugar
Soy sauce
Cane vinegar

What you will do:

Season first the pork cubes with salt, drench it with some brown sugar and let it sit for 15 mins. It's a technique I use so that the flavors will infuse faster. Now, it's time to marinade the pork cubes with vinegar, soy sauce and some crushed peppercorns. You can left it marinated for 1 hour or even overnight.

Our second phase is boiling the marinated pork along with 1-2 cups of water and some laurel leaf. Let it simmer until pork is tender, adding more water to the sauce as needed. Another old technique that I do is boiling meat with two pieces of fork as they help with making the meat tender faster.

When the pork is already tender, set the sauce aside. Then saute some chopped garlic and fry with the rest of the pork cubes until golden brown. Add the sauce back to the pork cubes and let it simmer for 5 mins. You can add some boiled eggs and garnish with fried garlic before serving.

Happy Eating!