Jul 27, 2021
Adobo is the go-to dish for Filipino home cooking.
When you go to a party, they will serve Lechon, but this is something you can’t have every day if you want to live past 40.
Adobo is confusing because Goya makes a product called Adobo which is nothing like Filipino Adobo.
Ok, so now it is time for my rant. I measure everything. Why, because I want to be able to consistently repeat it. I’ve been admonished for this as not being a good cook because a Chef should just know how much to put in and go by taste. My retort, if I can put a smile on your face today, I know I can repeat it because I take care to be consistent.
The wives tale that I deal with every time I make Adobo is, once the vinegar and soy sauce are simmering, you must not touch it or you can ruin the dish.
Adobo is simple and wonderful and my only complaint ever might be that there isn’t enough sauce. I’m a dip bread in that sauce guy. There are some Filipino dishes that I prefer with bread. I never let them see me do this. As long as you keep the proportions, there is no reason why you couldn’t double the sauce below. Double the soy sauce, vinegar, bay leaf and garlic. Always make sure you have 1 ½ half times vinegar to soy sauce.
You can use a whole chicken or just thighs. You can use diced pork, hell I’m willing to substitute any meat, I’m even willing to go as far as to use tofu.
My wife always complains that I don’t do it correctly, that it doesn’t taste like her dad’s. The issue here is that he always does it by eye, and never wrote it down. Also she says the mine to too vinegary and that is because all of the recipes I have seen, use more vinegar than soy sauce. We could just adjust the ratio.
Here it is
· ¾ cup sugar cane vinegar (you really do need to follow this rule)
· ½ cup soy sauce (Kikkoman style – not la choy, or la choy style – I won’t judge)
· 1 or 2 whole medium to large heads of garlic separated and crushed
· 8 chicken thighs or drumsticks or 4 whole chicken legs, or a whole chicken cut up (skin on)
· 1 table spoon black pepper corns
· 2 Bay leaves
Put all of the ingredients in a pot, cover it and simmer until the chicken is done, ½ hour to 45 minutes.
Remove the chicken and crisp it up under the broiler.
Simmer and reduce the sauce to half.
You could serve with sautéed onions and rice. Generally, we eat this two days after cooking allowing everything to blend. Some dishes are better after they sit for a few days. Also, it is easier to scrape the fat from the surface after is has hardened.
Kiss yourself for making deliciousness.
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