Passport & Plate - “Not So” Classic Adobo
Philippines | Thursday, March 13, 2014 | 1 photos
Ingredients
¼ cup Garlic Oil
1 kilogram Pork Belly (skin-on) cut into cubes (1” by 1”)
Salt
Pepper
8 cloves Garlic Confit or Roasted Garlic
½ cup Distilled Vinegar
¼ cup Chicken Stock or Broth
2 tablespoon Soy Sauce
10 pieces Freshly Crushed Peppercorns
1 piece Bay Leaf
½ tablespoon Coarse Salt
1 tablespoon Brown Sugar
To Make the Garlic Oil and Garlic Confit:
Poach in very low fire/heat 8 whole cloves of garlic in 1 cup of Olive Oil until tender and mash-able (about an hour). Make sure to not brown the garlic as these will turn bitter and gummy.
How to prepare this recipe1.) In a stew pot, heat garlic oil.
2.) Pat pork belly dry, season with salt and pepper.
3.) Brown pork belly in garlic oil. Make sure to do this in small batches. Set aside.
4.) Return browned pork belly into the stew pot, together with garlic confit, distilled vinegar, chicken stock, soy sauce, freshly crushed peppercorns, and bay leaf. At this point, no matter what happen; do not stir! Wait for the mixture to boil before stirring.
(Note: Premature stirring of vinegar will result to difference in taste. As we call it, it tastes “raw”.)
5.) Once boiling, stir mixture once to fully incorporate everything.
6.) Turn fire to lowest possible setting.
7.) Let the stew simmer, with the pot slightly covered, for about an hour and a half to two hours or until the meat is fork tender.
8.) Don’t hesitate to add ¼ cup more of chicken stock if the sauce is about to dry up and the meat is not yet tender.
9.) However, if the meat is tender enough but there’s still too much liquid. Have the liquid reduce, with the pot uncovered. Reduce until sauce is thick and oil had rendered.
The story behind this recipe“My Mom the Undisputed Adobo Queen”
Everyone loves my mom’s adobo. Even when we went to the United States to visit my Aunt (her sister), my mom’s adobo was their first request.
“Please cook us your adobo.” My mom would happily oblige.
I love to cook, yes! But I never thought adobo as something challenging. I would watch my mom as she prepares and cook her “famous” adobo. It’s easy no doubt; but I can’t be more wrong!
The first time I tried to cook adobo, it was a total disaster! Everyone hated it. Asked me even to not cook adobo ever again! “We know you cook well, but please never your adobo.” My younger sister pleaded.
I didn’t give up. I even bought a book entirely about adobo. Again, it was a total disappointment.
“Didn’t you go to culinary school, and yet you can’t even cook a simple adobo?” My siblings would jeer.
Yes, I can’t cook adobo. But that didn’t stop me from trying. I have tested quite a lot of techniques, using western ingredients like wine and foie gras, just to boost my adobo but to no avail. Still I didn't give up!
My mom reminded me to go back to basics. So I did. I went back to the grass root; simple but quality ingredients. It was perfect! Mom reminded me that cooking comes not from books and recipes but rather from the heart. Mom loves my simple adobo so much that she requests it for dinner almost every week.
Well, it is still not my adobo. It was her who reminded me to simplify things and to just cook with love. She is still the undisputed adobo queen, I am merely her protégé.
