Adobo

Ingredients

Adobo

• 1.2 kgchicken thighs and drumsticks, bone in and skin on, or pork belly in 3 cm cubes
• 120 mlFilipino cane vinegar (sukang maasim or sukang Iloko)
• 80 mlFilipino soy sauce
• 1whole head of garlic, about 12 cloves, peeled and lightly crushed
• 3dried bay leaves
• 1 tbspwhole black peppercorns, cracked
• 250 mlwater
• 2 tbspneutral oil
• 1 tspbrown sugar (optional)

To serve

• 800 ghot steamed rice
• 2spring onions, sliced (optional)

Directions

1. Toss the chicken with the soy sauce, garlic, cracked peppercorns and bay and marinate 30 minutes, or up to 12 hours in the fridge. Plenty of Filipino cooks skip this and go straight to the pot; both are correct.
2. Lift the meat out, pat it dry and brown it skin-side down in the oil in a heavy pan over medium-high heat for 4–5 minutes, until deep gold. Do it in batches so it colours rather than steams.
3. Pour in the marinade and the water and bring to the boil.
4. Add the vinegar and then do not stir, and do not cover, for the first 5 minutes of boiling. Letting the acetic edge cook off untouched is the one rule every Filipino cook repeats.
5. Drop the heat to a bare simmer, cover and cook 30–35 minutes, turning the pieces once, until the meat pulls easily from the bone.
6. Uncover, raise the heat and reduce the sauce for 8–10 minutes to a glossy mahogany liquid that coats a spoon, about 200 ml left in the pan. Taste it: sour first, salty second, then garlic and pepper.
7. For the crisped version, lift the pieces out and fry them in the rendered fat until the edges blister, then return them to the sauce.
8. Rest off the heat 10 minutes and serve over rice with the sauce spooned across it.

Technique

• Adobo is not one recipe. It is a preservation method, vinegar plus salt, that predates Spanish contact; the Spanish supplied only the name. Every family’s ratio differs and every one of them is authentic.
• The vinegar must be cane, coconut or palm vinegar: sharp but low in harsh acetic bite. Balsamic, malt or wine vinegar pull the dish out of shape.
• It improves on the second day, when the garlic sweetens and the sauce settles, and the acid keeps it safely for a week in the fridge. This is the whole reason the dish exists.

Substitutions

• No cane vinegar: white wine vinegar cut 3:1 with water, or unseasoned rice vinegar with a pinch of salt.
• Pork belly instead of chicken needs 15–20 minutes longer and gives a richer, fattier sauce.
• No Filipino soy: Japanese soy is close; Chinese dark soy is too heavy and sweet.

Variations

• Adobong puti, the older white version with no soy at all, seasoned with salt.
• Adobo sa gata, finished with coconut milk in the Bicol style.
• Adobong pusit, squid cooked in its own ink with the same vinegar and garlic.

History

Predates Spanish colonization: Filipino cooks were already preserving meat and seafood in vinegar and salt long before Spain arrived in the 1500s, since the acid kept food edible in a hot, humid climate with no refrigeration. Spanish colonizers gave the dish its name, adobo, their word for a marinade or pickling sauce, mistaking a native technique for a version of their own, and later added soy sauce once trade with China and Japan introduced it to the islands. The vinegar-soy-garlic combination now considered classic adobo only fully came together over the following centuries of that layered contact, and the dish varies enormously by region and household, with no single fixed recipe, only the shared technique of braising in vinegar.

Frequently asked questions

What is Adobo?

Adobo is a main from Philippines: chicken or pork braised in vinegar, soy, garlic and bay. Predates Spanish colonization: Filipino cooks were already preserving meat and seafood in vinegar and salt long before Spain arrived in the 1500s, since the acid kept food edible in a hot, humid climate with no refrigeration. Spanish colonizers gave the dish its name, adobo, their word for a marinade or pickling sauce, mistaking a native technique for a version of their own, and later added soy sauce once trade with China and Japan introduced it to the islands. The vinegar-soy-garlic combination now considered classic adobo only fully came together over the following centuries of that layered contact, and the dish varies enormously by region and household, with no single fixed recipe, only the shared technique of braising in vinegar.

How long does Adobo take to make?

Adobo takes 15 min of preparation and 50 min of cooking. The recipe makes 4 servings. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Adobo?

Yes, within limits. No cane vinegar: white wine vinegar cut 3:1 with water, or unseasoned rice vinegar with a pinch of salt. Pork belly instead of chicken needs 15–20 minutes longer and gives a richer, fattier sauce. No Filipino soy: Japanese soy is close; Chinese dark soy is too heavy and sweet.

What is the most important thing to get right in Adobo?

Lift the meat out, pat it dry and brown it skin-side down in the oil in a heavy pan over medium-high heat for 4–5 minutes, until deep gold. Do it in batches so it colours rather than steams.