Adobo is a dish that unites and divides Filipinos. Every Pinoy household has its own adobo recipe handed down over generations.
There remains a debate over the origins of this dish, with one theory attributing it to the Spanish colonizers. Nationalists, however, point out that all the ingredients had been in use on the islands before the Europeans arrived.
Basic recipe
Simple ingredients are required in adobo: vinegar, salt, black pepper, garlic, bay leaves and soy sauce. Some cooks omit or substitute one or two of those ingredients.
For pork, chicken or any meat adobo, the meat is first marinated for 30 minutes, drained and fried until brown, then simmered in its marinade. The garlic is fried to golden brown and simmered with the meat over low heat until tender.
Soupy or dry
Rice eaters love adobo because its gravy pours perfectly over rice, coating every grain. This practice is common, especially among unli-rice eaters.
The dry, crispy adobo was introduced by Larry Cruz at Cafe Adriatico and was soon copied by many wannabes. The other outlets of his LJC chain also make one of the best Chicken Pork Adobo in the country.
Adobo 24/7 is the attraction for balikbayans at Aristocrat Restaurant, the country’s most popular eatery. Served either as breakfast or à la carte, the dish comes as large chunks of slowly cooked pork and chicken parts. For takeouts, the dish can be ordered frozen to be enjoyed at home.
Nationwide appeal
Traveling all over the Philippines, one discovers hundreds of adobo variants which utilize spices, herbs and other ingredients available locally.
Spending one summer in San Carlos, Pangasinan in the 1950s, I learned how to make binagoongang adobo, using no salt or soy sauce. Alamang bagoong provided the saltiness. Once cooked, it was pink from the salted shrimp and aromatic from bay leaves and garlic. Almost all the meat juices had evaporated, leaving the pork pieces immersed in rendered fat which would keep it from spoiling.
Ex-dancers’ legacy
Adobo sa gata is the heirloom dish of some families in my hometown, a legacy from dancehall girls from Bicol who worked in Las Piñas after the war. Mostly coming from Polangui, the pretty ladies married some of the town’s most eligible bachelors and became ideal wives, mothers and grandmothers.
Hunters’ delight
Men in our barrio used to go hunting in the mountains of Rizal and Cavite. They were often gone for days, subsisting on rice and whatever they caught. Sometimes they brought back wild animals still alive. My favorite was bayawak (monitor lizard), which really tasted like chicken when cooked adobo-style. Other wild game also ended up in the adobo pot: frogs, eel, wild quail, migrating birds.
Even vegetables are delicious as adobong kangkong, sigarilyas. And don’t forget peanuts and cornick. Truly, adobo is not just a national dish, it's a universal dish.
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