Adobo: Filipino or Spanish?

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Subtitles: Jose Mendoza

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#tastinghistory #adobo #filipinofood

[TastingHistory]

I realize now that I say Abodong instead of Adobong later in the video; it should be Adobong but clearly, I have troubles with b and d looking the same.

What's everyone's favorite Adobo? Also, if you make your own, share pics on Instagram: @TastingHistoryWithMaxMiller.

[bariboy]

I'm not Filipino, but Black American. I grew up in a part of Maryland where there are lots of Filipino families. My father was a pediatrician and took care of many of the Filipino kids in our community. At Christmas and Easter, the parents of some of my Dad's Filipino patients would drop off big pans of Filipino food to our house as thanks. It was amazing tasting these dishes next to our family's favorite southern dishes. I learned the delicious flavors of this cuisine from a young age. Everyone makes adobo differently. The way I like to make it is with a combination of chicken thighs and pork ribs. I simmer those in vinegar, soy sauce, coconut milk, bay leaves, lots of black pepper and a lot of garlic. once the meat is fall apart tender, I take it out of the pot and reduce the sauce. Then I pour the reduced sauce back over the meat and put it in the oven under the broiler just for a bit so it caramelizes some. Try it this way, you'll love it.

[robertcopp]

The reason that, “Your Mom’s Adobo is the best one” is because everyone makes it super different.
If you asked 100 Filipino moms to make Adobo, you would get 100 different recipes.

[webbtrekker]

Back in the 1960's while I was in the Navy I lived and worked with Filipinos. Almost every day we had Adobo, mostly chicken and rice, for lunch. It was wonderful. I still can taste the flavor and long for a plate of Adobo even today at age 75.

[ceemartin]

In Spain there are many 'adobo' recipes, each region has their own likes and dislikes, but a typical easy 'adobo' (vinegar marinade) recipe which is great with chicken is widely used in Andalucia and is as follows:

In a Pestle and Mortar (mortero in Spanish) mash up around 3 Garlic cloves (remove skin first!), then add 2 tablespoons of dried Oregano and 1 tablespoon of dried Cumin (half the amount of what we used of Oregano). Mash up again. Then add enough White Wine Vinegar to more than cover the mix in the mortar. Mix with a spoon. This is the 'adobo', ie, the marinade.

In a large bowl add skinless Chicken pieces (you can leave some with bones for added flavour). Add Sea Salt to taste. Add the Adobo marinade (ie, everything that was in the Mortar) to the bowl and 2 tablespoons of Spanish Pimentón (dulce) de la Vera, which has a sweet smoked paprika flavour. If you can't find this, just use Sweet Paprika, and if you can only find Smoked Paprika, just add a teaspoon of sugar. Finally add 1 cup of water, or enough to nearly cover the chicken. Mix well and leave the chicken to marinade in the bowl for an hour or so. You can leave it for longer if you want, in the fridge.

Put a wide based pot in medium heat and add enough Olive Oil to cover the base, then add the marinated chicken (with all the marinade, ie, the 'adobo'). Cover the pot with a lid and let it cook until the chicken meat is cooked through and the marinade has reduced significantly. After around 20 minutes, turn the chicken pieces around, and cover again with the lid. If necessary add a little bit more water, a bit of pimentón dulce, or sweet paprika and a splash of vinegar if you see there is hardly any marinade left. It should take more or less around 40 - 45 minutes to cook and reduce. Then turn off the heat and serve.

PD: You can 'tweak' the recipe to add or replace the dried herbs and use Rosemary, Thyme, Peppercorns, Parsley, Fennel, whichever dried herbs you love, to the pestle and mortar. You could also use a mixture of Dried and fresh herbs, for example, Dried Oregano, Dried cumin and fresh parsley and rosemary. Fresh garlic and fresh parsley really go well together (add that mix in a pestle and mortar, add salt and vinegar and then add to pan fried sliced chips cooked in good olive oil, with a pinch of salt, and you will get addicted. These chips would make a lovely side dish to the Adobo chicken, by the way.

Crucial ingredients in Spanish adobo are the wine vinegar and the Pimentón dulce (ie, Smoked Sweet Paprika). Oregano and Cumin are also very commonly used. So is the garlic. You can skip the garlic if you don't like it, or just use 1 clove. Traditional cooking in Spain does not use Chili, or rarely does. You could add a tiny bit if you really like it, or just replace it with Peppercorns that should give a bit of a 'kick' to the dish. Or just add some chili oil or Siracha once it's in your plate. I would suggest to try the dish without the 'heat' first, to get a taste of authentic 'adobo', ie, the vinegary and herby flavour.

[bulletkingaming]

Yup, the American-Filipino war was one of the forgotten and dark histories between the USA and the Philippines. Not even the majority of Americans today know about. Was something.

[PoisonxAlchemist]

For Americans interested in further reading on our history with the Philippines and Puerto Rico, I recommend "How to Hide an Empire" by Daniel Immerwahr

[MarvinT]

A few important detail though:

1) the Philippine islands had contacts with Indian and Arab traders, the latter of which introduced Islam to parts of the archipelago and they had a hand in influencing the local cuisine. Non-Spanish dishes or spices were mostly influenced by the two

2) The Spanish love for (and indeed greed for) spices was caused by the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, cutting off trade to the far east and as a result increased demand and the price for imported spices- the Iberian Peninsula was hit worst of all owing their geographical position on the far west of those trade routes. Those spices Magellan were showing-off were worth a fortune back in the Peninsula.

3) Adobong dilaw = marinated with curry sauce
Adobong pula = marinated with annatto / achuete spices
Adobong puti = marinated with salt and vinegar

[asa-punkatsouthvinland]

A few years ago a Filipina I knew taught me her family's recipe for Adobo. It's simple but not actually easy to get right. My first time making it my friend cried...I thought I screwed up badly & offended her. But as it turned out my attempt was so close to her grandmother's Adobo it brought my friend to tears!
I was so humbled & flattered that I got it right!

[Lauren.E.O]

Asking someone who makes the best adobo is like asking who makes the best pizza: either they won’t give a straight answer or you just started a war.

[LightLoveAngelArt]

i don't think that "jump cut to one second clip of clacking hard tack together" gag is ever going to get old

[sterlingherrera]

Hello, I specialize in Philippine Studies and the history of this dish is fairly well known, actually. I just wanted to add on to the many Filipinos who have also pointed out the history.

The answer about which came first is actually the wrong question. In reality, they are completely unrelated dishes with separate histories that share a name due to colonialism.

Filipino adobo is an indigenous style of cooking. The original name in Tagalog is paksiw, a word which is still used for certain variations. Paksiw essentially means “cooked in vinegar” and this style of cooking is a way of preserving meats. Adobo is a descendant of this style.

When the Spanish arrived in the Philippines they called this Filipino dish adobo because of a similarity to a food they had back home. But in reality the Filipino dish comes from the same lineage of dishes seen elsewhere in Southeast Asia that use vinegar to preserve and season foods.

[louieangellacaba]

Regarding spices, Filipinos know about it. We have old terms found in our old dictionaries. like kayumanis for true cinnamon and kalingag for native Cinnamon (now just kanela), Sangke for star anise, Haras for fennel seeds (replaced by Anis-Palay). We also have native nutmegs which are called tanghas/duguan. Galangal (or langkawas in Tagalog) are also used in our cuisine but it became rare nowadays.

[InkyM]

*Max:* This is a Renaissance sauce.

*Me:* a renaissauce

[CrowwreakStevenson]

Filipinos: "Woo! we're independent!"
America: "Your free trial of democracy has expired"

[Maj_Problem]

I'm Filipino so my mom makes the classic adobo with sauce but she then fries the adobo and on special occasions it has chicken liver and chicken hearts and its the best adobo ever hahahaha

[absinthexiii]

As a Spaniard I’ve only ever eaten our version, but I would love to try the Filipino version. I have a feeling it is going to be delicious and I will be craving it regularly.

[FlybyStardancer]

Max: “I don’t think I would do well at sea.”
José in CC: “Forgets he worked on Disney Cruise Line...”
Me: (dies laughing) XD XD XD XD XD

[ゼロワンそれが俺の名だ]

Funnily enough, I only learned of the filipino-american war recently due to hearing about it as part of an npc dialogue in Red Dead Redemption 2.

[jon]

I think there should be a Jon Townsend reference in every episode. Huzzah!