Louie Cruz goes for the classic, old-fashioned way

Surprise—it’s devoid of any coloring, not even a drop of soy sauce
THERE are a thousand and one ways to cook adobo. And nobody will sue or beat you to death for not following the familiar recipe of a blend of vinegar, meat, garlic, pepper, bay leaf (laurel) or soy sauce.

Cooking adobo has become an expression of one’s culinary background, influences, beliefs, habits, moods, customs and traditions. There’s no correct recipe to follow because, at the end of each meal, what matters most are the taste, the memory and the pleasure of eating the dish.

Inquirer Lifestyle starts a new food feature, called Adobo Corner, where we present numerous ways of preparing adobo at home.

In this corner, we want to show various styles of whipping up adobo, and how the dish, to most Filipinos, is a matter of personal taste. Some like to use soy sauce, others fish sauce instead.

Still others add sliced ginger. There are those who omit garlic and bay leaf.

Some like their adobo dry, while others want their meat swimming in lard.

Whatever it is, one thing’s for sure: Adobo will always and forever be the Pinoy’s favorite everyday food, wherever he or she may be in the world.

Traditional recipe

Art collector and PR man Louie Cruz’s pork version is nothing if not traditional and old-fashioned, devoid of any coloring, not even a drop of soy sauce. He believes adding soy sauce to the dish makes it more Chinese than Filipino.

Yet, his adobo has a nice, rich brown sauce—thick, garlicky and finger-linkin’ good.

The brown-colored sauce comes from separately frying the pork and the garlic, and returning them to the simmering broth till you can almost smell the aroma of sweet garlic.

The flavors, says Cruz, always intensify and develop as the dish is fried and reheated.

He uses pork belly with all its fatty layering, cut three inches thick. It’s then deep-fried after being boiled, browned and crunched up. Cruz, however, cautions cooks that oil splatters all over the place when the wet pork is fried.

Cruz usually cooks adobo in bulk, with a minimum of six kilos of meat. He cooks it in a large deep pot and stores it in the fridge till he craves for it or whenever friends drop by his condominium for lunch or dinner.

The adobo, he says, can be kept in the freezer for at least three months.

The adobo for this shoot was already three days old, but it was still very flavorful.

“Adobo is like mechado—it gets better when you eat it several days after,” says Cruz. “However, people think it’s aged. Food only gets extra-delicious with frequent reheating, not by how many days you’ve kept it. My adobo tastes good because of repeated frying or reheating.”

Cruz’s pork adobo was an original recipe of his grandmother, Amanda Corpuz Cruz, that was handed down to mom Lucy Antonio, considered one of the most gracious hostesses in the diplomatic community in the ’70s and ’80s. (Louie’s father, JV Cruz, was a noted newspaper columnist, Press Secretary and ambassador.)

“It’s so tedious to make, that’s why nobody does it anymore,” he adds. “I feel we should revive traditional recipes that have been brought to the grave by our grandmothers, like mechado, kaldereta, tocino. Our grandmothers in the olden days would cook the whole day, and that’s what dying in our cuisine. You can only take pride in your culinary wealth if you really go back to the recipes of your grandmothers. Nouvelle cuisine doesn’t last.”

Interestingly, Cruz reveals he and his family cannot eat pork adobo without a banana (lacatan) on the side.

“People find it funny, but our family eats adobo with every bite of banana to remove that ‘suya’ factor, just like an atchara. But, I had friends who tried it and got hooked on it,” says Cruz.

Classic, old-fashioned pork ‘adobo’

2 k sliced pork belly

250 g garlic, chopped

1 tbsp black whole peppercorn, crackled

6 pc laurel

6-8 tbsp of vinegar according to taste

1 Knorr chicken cube

In a deep pot, combine garlic, pepper, salt, laurel, chicken broth, vinegar and 10 glasses of water. Bring to a boil until pork is tender, approximately 30 minutes. Do not overcook.

Strain pork and garlic. Separate pork from garlic. Set aside broth.

Then, fry pork in oil, turning occasionally until golden brown. Oil will splatter since pork is wet. Add fried meat to the already simmering broth. This will take approximately an hour.

Chop garlic finely then fry until golden brown in the same pan where pork was fried. Return to broth and mix well. This will take another 30 minutes. Let it simmer. Sauce will turn brown without soy sauce, since pork and garlic have been browned.

source: inquirer