Adobo: From Foreign Origin to an Authentically Filipino Dish

Jan. 16, 2013 - PRLog -- Of all the Filipino food recipes, perhaps adobo deserves the spot of the most distinctive dish that is easily recognizable as something truly Filipino. Making this absolutely succulent dish does not require much of your cooking skills. While enjoying a hearty adobo meal, have you ever marveled at how this truly Filipino dish originated and who named it? Now here's how the story goes:

History of adobo

It’s totally interesting how it became a typical Filipino dish when it fact its name is derived from adobado - a Spanish menu. Adobo is even a Spanish word which means seasoning or marinade. Filipinos finally found out that a pungent mix of soy sauce and vinegar would be the best ingredient to preserve meat.

         This is usually done with one of adobo’s main ingredients, yes that’s soaking or curing the meat with vinegar. Filipinos perhaps gave its name as to how the dish is initially prepared. Another trademark of the Filipino cuisine is Bagoong - also done through preservation.

The most visible influences in our culture are those of the Chinese and Spanish. Adobo was purely white in the ancient days but it started to innovate when Chinese introduced soy sauce.

How to make adobo

With all these alien background, how did early chefs made adobo the distinct dish that Filipinos and foreigner alike enjoy today? Simple, they retained all the native ingredients but made use of foreign ones like they own it; and the grand result, one of the most unique Filipino food recipes known all over the world.

Letting the meat soak in a soy-vinegar base with pimienta (black pepper) and garlic longer than usual will give you an exquisite flavor. You’ll surely enjoy an addictively tangy flavor if you considerably immerse the meat in a pungent mix of soy sauce and vinegar. After this, prepare the needed amounts of chopped garlic and onion for the meat that is chopped according to how you want it consumed. Heat the pot first and then put in either the spices first or all everything including the marinated meat. Stew it for almost an hour on a medium heat with regular stirring.

Reinventing adobo

Having a little sense of Filipino creativity in preparing this dish is sure to achieve flavor that's highly addictive. Sugar, coconut milk and kangkong are some ingredients added to make a variation of this dish.

Know more and taste more with http://www.filipinoadobo.com, or watch the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&am... or be part of its facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/filipino.adobo.9.