I was caught off guard when my daughter-in-law asked me to show her how to make adobo. I only have a couple chicken legs in the freezer. How was I going to teach her when all I know how to make is chicken adobo for a church fiesta?
You see, when my children started school, I didn’t cook at home. However, the school requested that the Filipino families participate in the fiesta by opening a food booth. I was assigned to make chicken adobo, so I had to learn fast. Since then and for over 20 years, our family opened our little food booth contribution to the community festivities. Each year, I would tweak the recipe until I have come to perfect a 20-pound chicken adobo recipe with my eyes 'almost' closed. The dilemma with this most recent request was how to proportion my spices accordingly for a few pieces of meat.
The lesson did not turn out bad, but even though adobo is a staple Filipino dish, I thought it is about time for my children to have the first and only recipe that can make from muscle memory. Maybe this will sit on this page for many years before they'll discover that I wrote this for them. The same way I found my Mom's one and only handwritten recipe, tucked in a cookbook which I found when we moved into our first vacation home, which incidentally was legally recorded by the county on her birthday, one year after she passed.
Without further ado.... here are the ingedients and instructions for my ho-hum everyday adobo!
2 1/2 lbs of legs quarters
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup cane vinegar
2 tbsp peppercorn
one head garlic, minced
2-3 bay leaves
salt and ground pepper, to taste
brown sugar (optional)
1) Put all of the above in a pot and fire up to high heat.
2) When it comes to a boil, mix and cover. Do not mix until after it boils! Old folks say that the meat will not tenderize if vinegar is moved before it boils.
3) Lower heat to simmer on medium heat for about 15 - 20 minutes.
If you prefer, let it simmer uncovered to reduce the sauce.. and you're done. It's that easy!
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