It was a good adobo so I had to ask Edwin how he prepared
it. He mentioned an unusual set of
ingredients (for me anyway). There are a
million ways to cook Adobo and just like any good recipe I wanted to be able to
do it myself anywhere anytime.
Edwin told me to buy pork belly and ribs. I called Beefway Butchery at Kingsway Street
about their prices. The lady said pork
back ribs are more expensive than the side ribs because it is meatier.
I never did get a chance to go to Beefway. Two days before Canadian Thanksgiving, I saw
what looked like high-quality meat at Osaka’s T&T Supermarket inside the
Yaohan Mall in Richmond. So I got both
pork belly and back ribs.
The Sunday night before Thanksgiving, Edwin demonstrated his
Adobo version.
For around three
kilos of chopped meat rinsed in water and drained, Edwin poured with restraint
about five tablespoons of Heinz Apple Cider vinegar. “You don’t want the mix to be too sour.” He also said he prefers apple cider vinegar
because it is less acidic than other types such as palm, coconut, or sugar cane
vinegars. Then around 10 tablespoons of
Maggi Seasoning (instead of the
traditional Soy Sauce) which contains MSG.
On top of the meat he dropped about 8 cloves of pressed garlic, two medium
sized yellow onions chunked, around one tablespoon of vetsin (MSG), two
tablespoon of white refined sugar, and one tablespoons of ground black pepper. Absolutely no salt as the Maggi is already
sodium-laden, and no water as the meat will release plenty when heated. Upon
setting the pot on high heat, Edwin put in three small bay leaves (laurel). Edwin said that he will definitely do some
seasoning adjustment at some point.
Philippine cooking dictum dictates that one should not move,
touch the contents in a pot when it is in a marinade of or while stewing in vinegar until the liquid
boils, or with some chefs until the meat is almost done. I personally have in the past detected a less
favorable taste when the ingredients are mixed prematurely.
So when the vinegary broth began to boil, Edwin tossed the
pieces around, sideways, and up and down.
He said it didn’t smell quite right yet because our nostrils were
detecting a strong whiff of vinegar.
Smell? Edwin does not adjust his
cooking on taste but rather on smell.
He let the adobo boil for 10 minutes more in medium heat, and
then came the reformulation. To counter
the sour tang, Edwin added one more tablespoon of white sugar (although Edwin
remarked brown sugar is better if available).
Once the sugar was mixed, the aroma indeed changed from vinegary to a
perfect ying yang balance of sour and sweet, pleasant to the nostrils.
By this time half of the meat was almost immersed in its juice. This is when we added about two cups of cubed
potatoes. Twenty minutes later, the lid
was taken off to reduce the sauce. The
process of confit has begun. After
almost an hour of cooking, Edwin turned off the heat. Throughout from start to finish, Edwin did
not once taste test the dish – gauging only by the sense of smell.
Unlike other recipes which called for the meat to be hauled
out, fried to make the skin crispier, and then reunited with the delicious
sauce – with Edwin there was none of this.
The pork belly skin would remain flabby.
The longer the meat marinates in its sauce the tastier – no
rocket science here. The following day
the Adobo was like a caterpillar that overnight became a butterfly. It was good on its own and with steaming
rice, it was incredible. I did dip the
meat in fish sauce to give it my personal preference of kick.
On my own I would drop the MSG, and for the coup-de-grace fry the pork bellies to
make the skin crunchy.
It is a must on most meat dishes or seafood, or soup for
that matter, the presence of bones which imparts flavor – a tip I learned from
an elderly lady when I was in Southhaven, Mississippi. She said the local catfish was best cooked
with its bones as opposed to a fillet. So do your adobo with ribs.
Malinamnam!
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