May 7, 2021 • 31 mins
This method of cooking is endlessly adaptable, and the various dishes it creates represent the history of the Philippines on a plate. Anney and Lauren dig into the history and culture of Filipino adobo.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hello, and welcome to Savor production of I Heart Radio.
I'm Annie Reese and I'm Lauren Bogelbaum. And today we're
talking about Filipino adobo, Yes, which I have very little
experience with, but sounds amazing and I want it. I'm
determined it's so good. Yes, this has been a not
(00:28):
infrequent listener request. Yes, so I believe that we've read
um to listener emails from Catlin or Caitlin perhaps and
e J who specifically wrote in about um Filipino a dobo,
and I know others have, but I did want to
reread a section of e J's email because I feel
(00:50):
like if it's it's a good t l DAR for
this section. Yeah yeah, um so E G wrote, this
is the history of the Philippine means embedded in one dish.
Meat traditionally soaked in vinegar, evolved further when the Chinese
trade brought soy sauce and the Spanish colonization made more
spices available. I once promised a taco lesson literally make
(01:11):
tacos out of an El Paso taco kit to my
Japanese students, but it was my packed lunch of Filipino
chicken adobo that blew the minds of my students. It
goes so well with rice, they exclaimed. They are definitely
not wrong. Adobo is Filipino picnic food because it is
vinegar based, it does not spoil in our tropical climate
and travels well in the tupple ware. Oh yeah, I
(01:33):
have not had that much experience with it, but it
is one of the many very delicious dishes that I
had while visiting a friend out in Oakland, California, where
there is UH or traditionally has been UM, a relatively
large Filipino population, and a lot of really amazing restaurants. UM.
There is also here in Atlanta, just opened up, possibly
(01:56):
during the quarantine. A Filipino play is called Esta or
possibly Estalita UM over in Grant Park, right across from
Oakland Cemetery. So so, fellow a t L folks look
them up. They're doing amazing work. I when I was
looking up, where can I get my hands on the
(02:18):
san Antauh, they popped up. Yeah, but I'm also interested
in cooking it, because I did see. I looked at
a bunch of recipes for this, and while some of
them were complicated or maybe more complicated, than what I'm
used to anyway. Um, a lot of them were fairly easy.
So if anybody has any recipes, Oh goodness, yes, yes, yes, yes,
(02:44):
Oh my gosh, I'm so excited to try it. It It
sounds delicious. Um. But I guess that brings us to
our question. Filipino adobo what is it? Well, Filipino adobo
is a dish that can be many things, but at
its core, it's a stuff, usually protein, marinated usually and
(03:08):
then braised or stewed in a sauce or almost like
a brine of a vinegar, something salty, black pepper, probably
garlican bay leaves, maybe other seasonings, and often served with
that sauce over rice. And I know, I know that
is extremely in specific. Um. That's because this is a
(03:30):
highly adaptable, very personal dish. It's really more like a
cooking method, um than a specific type of food. Um.
They say that in the Philippines, every island, every neighborhood,
every household, every person has their own not just favorite,
but like correct version of a dobo. I love that
because that implies that you think everyone else's is increased incorrect, right,
(03:56):
like literally everyone else's only Yeah, yeah, I I read
a lot of I I read from a lot of
cooks and chefs that like, depending on the people who
they're cooking for, they will cook it differently because they
know that they have a specific preference for it. I
love that, though. I love the idea that you would
patron a restaurant enough or just like half that conversation
(04:21):
with the person the chef, and they'll be like, Okay, okay,
I got you brown sugar. Sure, but or like whatever
it is that it is or or that yeah, like
like you might choose a restaurant or that, Like if
you're a home cook and you're cooking for you know,
like one person versus another in your house, right, yeah, Yeah.
The star ingredient is often bone in skin on chicken
(04:44):
pieces at dark meat. Often I've seen many, many, many
recipes for but you can you can like adobo pretty
much anything. Pork squid or leafy greens are also real common,
but other seafood, chili, peppers or other vegetables pretty much anything, Yeah,
can be a do bode um, pork, pork ribs, pork belly, duck, tuna, octopus, shrimp.
(05:06):
I've seen so many different variations um. Other things like
potatoes and onions can be added for proteins and other
things that benefit from like a good browning. Um. You
pans here the stuff first and then cook it down
in the sauce, and sometimes might finish the dish by
taking that protein out in either broiling or frying or
(05:26):
grilling it before serving to provide a texture contrast of
a crispy and tender Yeah, right right. The vinegars used
are often like local area specialties, like a cane vinegar
made from fermented sugarcane juice or molasses, coconut vinegar made
(05:47):
from either fermented coconut tree sap or from coconut water,
or palm vinegar made from the sap from the Nipa palm.
Nipa palm. I didn't look that one up, and I'm
going to keep moving. Um. Vinegar is an important ingredient
and condiment in general in Filipino cuisine. UM. And the
word is succa, which I wanted to include just because
(06:08):
of the sheer number of I'm going to get you
succa puns that I came across while I'm doing the
reading for this episode. That's amazing, that's amazing. UM, And
I'm unfamiliar with all of these vinegar's personally but um,
but as one would imagine, they all have slightly different
levels of like acid and sweetness and other flavors. And
(06:30):
I've read that they're vaguely similar in vibe to um,
either apple cide or vinegar or rice vinegar, depending on
kind of what you're which one you're dealing with, or
what you're going for so um. If you are trying
to cook this in a place where those things are
not available to you, those could be possible substitutes. UM.
The salt element, maybe salt or soy sauce. Often it
(06:51):
is soy sauce. You can add a sweetener from brown
sugar to honey to a soft drink I saw like
sprite and Coca cola a dope bows um. You can
add coconut milk or mashed pork liver to give it
kind of a different creamy creaminess or texture. You can
add other seasonings, from ginger to hot peppers. And I
(07:12):
can hear some of you screaming through time and space
that that one of those things, or all of those
things that I just said is not a dobo. I'm
merely reporting what I have read that some people do.
And I want to assure you that your version is correct,
(07:32):
very diplomatic, lauren, very smooth, very wise. Oh goodness. UM
so yeah, yeah, you can have a lot of variation
in the final result, but the dish is just an
amazing comfort food UM, bright and tangy, salty, savory and
a little bit pungent, silky and tender, with pops of
(07:56):
whatever other flavors and textures you choose to add in.
Not to be confused with, however, Caribbean and Central and
South American adobo, which is a category of seasoning blends
used to make sauces and to season and marinate meats. UM.
There are a lot of variations on that too, but
the basic ingredients are similar a little bit different garlic, oregano, turmeric,
(08:20):
and black pepper, often mixed with a vinegar and or
a tart citrus juice. Both words do come from the
same source, though, uh, that being Spanish colonizers who observed
native peoples in these places crafting these marinated meat dishes UM.
A Spanish word for marinate is ato bar and so
eventually uh folks took to calling both the Filipino dish
(08:42):
and the American sauce adobo yep, yeah, pip, yep. H.
Well what about the nutrition, Oh, it depends on how
you cook, it doesn't it doesn't it, but but yeah,
in general, it is a pretty hard the meal. Um,
it's gonna help fill you up and keep you going. Um,
(09:04):
you know, eat a vegetable always. Yeah, yeah, as you're
going through it, I'm trying to I feel like I
should start with a simple one, like to get the
clear yeah taste, but I do I do love a vegetable,
So I'm trying to think of what would be either
like a good side with it or something I could
add in. I think the first one I want to
(09:25):
try like a really basic Yeah. Yeah, I think that's
probably a good a good way to start getting a
handle on it. Um. I did read a lot about
like um, kale type grains getting mixed in care or
you can always steam of vegetable or or otherwise cook
of vegetable as a side dish um to consume with
(09:46):
your just protein adobo. Yes, I've got a lot of
I feel like I'm gonna choose your own adventure, and
I'm trying to make the right choice. That is totally
what a doobo is. Yes, absolutely, I don't want to
flip the page and it says you were in a
plane accident and you're lost in the woods. That's the end.
(10:13):
You read very different recipe books than I do. My
my cookbooks would be some weird adrenaline. And now your
cake is on fire. Your cake is made of acid,
and it's trying to eat you even better than you
(10:36):
become the recipe. Okay. Um, well, as you might imagine
with something that is often more of a process or
method of cooking than actually like a dish, traditional dish, dish. Um,
it's hard to track down numbers, yes, yes, but I
(10:59):
will say it's sort of the unofficial official dish of
the Philippines and a really prominent piece of pop cultures.
To learn the way you might see, um, people wearing
sarata shirts like a Doobo shirts. Um. And there is
a move to make it the official official dish, which
we'll talk about a little bit more later. Yes, yes,
(11:21):
uh yeah, because right there there are over seven thousand
islands in the Philippines and plenty of local takes on
regional cuisine. So um, so let us let us get
in to the history of how this all came to be. Yes,
let us. But first we're gonna pause for a quick
break for word from our sponsor, and we're back. Thank
(11:51):
you sponsored, Yes, thank you. So. Like many foods we
talk about, Filipino dobo's origin story is a very a
murky one. Um. It's a meshing together of multiple cultures
and histories ingredients. Like e J said in the letter
at the top. Uh, and this is one of those
episodes that um almost got overwhelming because there were so
(12:12):
many pasts. There are some new pasts that could be
traced back as to how each specific ingredient ended up
in adobo. Lauren went through a million ingredients a little exaggeration,
but a lot of ingredient number. Yeah. Yeah, So it's
kind of like oh and like many things we talked about,
historians believe that Filipino adobo may have started out as
(12:35):
a way to preserve food, to make it last longer.
I think that is something we talked about quite frequently.
The high salinity of soy sauce or salt, combined with
the high acidity of vinegar creates a very unfriendly environment
for bacteria. Adopo was also traditionally made in clay pots.
(12:55):
Yeah yeah, um, and uh, what's going on with the salt,
and the A is that salt is is real hard
on microorganisms, which generally need water to live. Many things
do UM, and salt crystals absorb water molecules, tying them
up UM and eventually UM those those salt crystals will
(13:16):
dissolve into a salt water solution, which, thanks to osmosis
UM means that UM some of the salt molecules are
going to seep into the microorganisms where it'll disrupt the
activity of their enzymes and even like weaken the molecular
structure of their DNA, making it harder for them to
to thrive and reproduce and spoil your food. UM Vinegar
(13:38):
is also difficult on many microbes because in general, living
things need their environment to be within a particular range
of pH level in order to survive and thrive. UM
vinegar is tasty to us and like you can pour
it on your skin with no particular ill effect. UM.
But but it's basically the my grew up equivalent to
(14:00):
like a vat of acid. So it's so funny you
say that, because I was just thinking to myself, as
someone who yes, has seen way too any horror movies,
what if I started carrying around salt and vinegar just
in case. And then for some reason I thought of
the image of like the alien to Zeno morphine, Like,
(14:22):
what would happen if I threw like a lot of
vinegar and salt on there? I mean salt. I don't
you know, I don't know, I don't know. Did they
very important question, did they try salt? No, they never
tried salt. You know that would be like the most Yeah,
(14:46):
because I have I um, I asked for one of
my good friends was at the grocery store and she
asked me, like, do you need anything from the grocery store?
And I said salt and she bought me like a
ridiculously huge thing of salt, so hard to cook with.
I love her so much. I've so thankful. But it
is like now I feel like salmon Diane, Yes, every
time I get it out. Um. So I have started
thinking more in terms of that with salt. But I
(15:08):
think that would be the most hilarious anticlimactic death in
the Alien movies. I was like, yeah, did and it
just went yeah, have you getting it's all or something?
I don't know? All right, um, but anyway, let's back
up a step, speaking of kind of that salt element um.
(15:31):
At first, the indigenous peoples of the Philippines relied mostly
on vinegar and salt to accomplish create this preserving of
food um and or perhaps specifically coconut vinegar and cane sugar.
There's a long history of similar recipes and methods and
hot tropical areas using vinegar and salt preserve foods. When
(15:52):
Malat settlers arrived on the islands, this was the method
they used to increase the longevity of their foods. The
style of cooking in the philip means at the time
leaned more towards simple preparations like boiling, steaming, are roasting,
and yes, meats and other ingredients preserved in salt and vinegroup.
A lot of these recipes were passed on orally, so
written records are really sparse if they exist at all.
(16:14):
When the Spanish arrived, they may have destroyed these records
to renaming dishes and methods. More on that in a second. Yes,
But before then, around the ninth century CE, Arabic traders
began bringing spices such as black pepper to the Philippines.
The soy sauce didn't come onto the scene until Chinese
(16:36):
merchants looking to sell their products ended up settling in
the area. This would have been circa the freds. And yes,
they introduced ingredients like soy sauce, and for many soy
sauce became the go to replacement for salt and a
key ingredient in adobo, though some people did and still
do use salt over soy sauce. Um. I even read
(16:57):
and I would love if any bay can confirm this
that it's not uncommon to not have like salt on
the table, but to have soy sauce on the table,
it's like you're salt ingredient. When Spanish colonizers landed and
settled in the Philippines in the sixteenth century, they called
this cuisine tradition that they witnessed adobo. Um yes, the
(17:18):
Spanish word for marinader, seasoning like laurence, said Franciscan missionary
Pedro descent Bueno Venta, pinned the first known European record
of adobo de los naturales or marinade of the locals
in six On top of that, the Spanish also introduced
new ingredients to the Philippines, like spices that were incorporated
(17:41):
into some varieties of adobo. The Spanish ruled the Philippines
for three centuries, which impacted the cuisine and many many ways.
Some argue that adobo is distantly related to the Spanish
recipe for adobado a pork loin cured with olive oil,
vinegar and some spices for several months. But it sounds
to me and you a bunch more folks are a
(18:04):
boy more dodual than me, Like the foundation of Filipino
adobo was already there, long, long, long before the manshrived. Yeah, yeah,
I would, I would say so, yes, um but but
but again, Yeah, you've got this melding of cultural traditions
and culinary traditions, and so certainly, um within some some
families or or locals, you're going to have that greater
(18:26):
Spanish influence and um in a little bit more of
those types of flavors or methods in there so rights
and as these ingredients were introduced, this dish or method
of preparation was customized, um to taste. An availability of
things all across the islands, seafood, coconut milk, chilies for heat, potatoes, liver, yes,
(18:47):
all all kinds of things in the work keeni lao.
Food writers Adrene Fernandez and el Delberto L. Gray wrote
the Spanish word adobo is actually a pickling sauce rather
than a dish. The Spanish dish auto batto is pork
marinated for weeks in adopo sauce made of vinegar, olive, oil, garlic, time,
laurel leaf, rigano paprica, and salt. The Philippine dish we
(19:10):
call adopo today is the opposite a dish rather than
a sauce, but pickled or cooked in a sauce of vinegar.
Small wonders then that the Spaniard Bueno Ventura should see
the fish or meat cooked in vinegar as a dobo
of the native people's See, these are the complications when
you're trying to get to the bottom of food histories. Yeah,
(19:31):
and um, and and they're right. There is some speculation that, um,
the dish that Buenaventuro was talking about was not adobo
as we would call it today, but rather kenny law right, right,
We're right, um and kenni lau yes, being a pre
Hispanic Filipino dish perhaps poor clever cooked in vinegar, garlic,
(19:53):
and pepper, related to you, but not exactly adopo nowadays
Keno law. Usually you're is to a seafood cooked in vinegar,
not something that would be classified as adobo. And we're
like a Savich style thing kind of is or almost
like a poque. Yeah, right, and all of this is
part of an ongoing argument about whether or not to
(20:13):
change the name of Filipino adobo. Until her death in
two thousand two, Fernandez, the food writer we just quoted
um or tirelessly to reclaim adobo's history as an indigenous
Filipino food. Christ the comber Ford, the Filipino American executive
chef during Obama's time as president, was known for her
(20:34):
chicken adovo, and President Obama was very vocal about his
love for it. Food writer Andrew Zimmerman predicted that Filipino
food would become quote the next big thing. In twelve
and in Filipino American chef Sheldon Simeon made porkadobo on Top.
Chef Bloomberg reported that searchers for Filipino food doubled in
(20:56):
the US from twenty twelve, so and preasing popularity in
the first representative of the whole introduced the Philippine National
symbols act proposing to make adobo the country's official dish. Yeah,
(21:17):
I mean, I have no skin in this game. Do
whatever you want. Do you have a dinosaur? That's what
we really care about here on our food show is
whether or not you have a official dinosaur m That's
(21:37):
sort of the hidden backbone of Savor is a dinosaur podcast. Specifically,
do you have one to represent your country or see
or other municipalities? Sure? Sure, um yeah, yeah, so it's
(21:58):
it's it's it's I don't know, like I read, I
read so many different things about different ways to prepare
adobo and different um, different ways to to use it
once you have prepared it, like um, yeah, like taking
the meat and using it as like a pizza topping
or something like that, or like in in sushi rolls
or I don't know, and I want and I want
(22:20):
to eat. I just want to eat everything I do too.
The options are endless. We hilariously enough listeners. We usually
record this around like eating time, um, later in the day,
yeah yeah, like like creeping right up on Annie's dinner
time for sure. Yeah. So always by the end, why
(22:43):
didn't I prepare like some smart lists have written in
said they look at our episodes and then go to
the store. That's what I need to start. Oh wow, Yeah,
that would be so much smarter than I am. Heck
right now, me too, me too. Um, but yes, I'm
so excited to try again. At least send any any
(23:05):
recipes are away. Um. In the meantime, we do have
some listener mail for you, we do. But first we've
got one more quick break for a word from our sponsor.
And we're back. Thank you, sponsors, Yes, thank you, And
(23:26):
we're back with listener ma male comforting stretch. Yeah. I
did read a lot of accounts about how Filipino adobo
is like a very nostalgic comfort food. Yeah. Sure, m oh,
we're speaking of. We've got some more listener mail about
(23:49):
regional foods, yes, which, as you know, we love. Gabby wrote,
he guess I told my husband that I am doing
bills and I just heard the listener mail at the
end of the Statue episode. I'm from upstate New York,
north of Syracuse, and I was thrilled to hear about
salt potatoes, garbage plates, and tomato pie. I grew up
military and my dad is from Syracuse. I never knew
(24:11):
salt potatoes to be regional. We just always ate them,
and so do many people up around here that I
just thought that they were quote normal. At one point
we shared some with a coworker from Australia. She was
incredibly under well. I too, have tried a garbage plate
while in Rochester, and it is something that is strongly
(24:32):
associated with the nights where one drinks less than responsibly.
It's a drunk food. I don't remember hot sauce, but
I do remember potato salad, max salad, some sort of
meat and grease being labeled over the whole thing. I
think I also thought it needed salt, but I don't
remember a whole up more from that night. I've never
had tomato pie looks like yuck, but we do eat.
(24:55):
Utica greens and chicken Riggies are Ricky's. I tried to
look it up, could not find it. Let me know, um,
both from Utica, New York. The greens are probably wilted
Swiss shard with garlic, cheese and bread crumbs, not low
fat and so delicious. Chicken Riggy's I'm Gonna Stay Ricky's
(25:15):
Chicken Piggy's can be found all over the internet. But
the time I loved them best, they were not in
a cream sauce, just tomato and oil and lots of
hot peppers. It was amazing. We also have krog Krogan
Bologny throws me every time. It is a very strange
(25:40):
looking word. Yes, um, a local bologny, ridiculous amounts of
maple syrup. And my husband and I have friends that
something that sounds like it came right from a little
house on the prairie. Johnny cakes. They're basically cornbread cooked
in around tin. Some people eat them with fresh maple syrup,
and our friend also pours hot coffee on his. I
(26:03):
guess to each their own. Lastly, at the State Fair,
the Great New York State Fair, the food is famous.
There is a fried at dough place that always has
lines miles long, and Dinas serves barbecue, a biker place
that serves barbecue. I only think it is okay, and
my mom insists that it is the tradition for Fireman
(26:23):
Days to eat ketchup and mustard on sausage, peppers and onions.
Bless I'm a master only kind of person, but I
put mustard in my mac and cheese, and when I
told my students. I'm a teacher. They decided my cooking
must be awful. I'm sure there are one hundred more
things up here. We're practically in Canada, and I'm unimpressed
(26:43):
with poutine. But these seem drill avant and fun. Oh
my goodness, so all of it. I want to know more.
I want to try it. Yes. And I forgot to
mention in the last listener mail where we read some
of these regional specialties. Um, I forgot to mention that
(27:04):
in the South, tomato pie is something different, uh than
what you both described, which sounds like a cold pizza.
I guess it could be up, but it's often cold.
It's often or like room temperature, yeah, but without the
cheese maybe right. But in the South tomato pie is
like a pie. It's a savory pie that you make
(27:26):
the tomatoes. Yeah, And it can vary. I in my experience,
that can vary pretty widely. Where sometimes as a like
pie crust um on the bottom, and sometimes it uh
has like kind of a layer of cheese and um
crackers on the top and no pie crust and lots
(27:47):
of yeah, tomatoes and sometimes squash and uh cream cheese
and sour cream um different. So that's something I love though, Like, yeah,
I would say tomato pie and you different understandings of
what that is, and much delicious confusion would ensue, right
or I don't know, Like I've read a lot of
(28:08):
conflicting information on people's opinions about that first kind of
tomato pie, so it could be not delicious confusion. Yeah,
it depends all We're all entitled to our opinions. And
being very diplomatic today, I haven't had enough coffee. Megan
(28:29):
wrote as an Ohio and who now lives near Utica,
New York. I wanted to write in to say how
much I love all the recent suggestions for podcast topics.
Cincinnati's style chili is so good. Skyline is my preferred brand,
and I like a four way with beans not onion.
Coney's are also great, and I feel like Coney Island
restaurants would make a good topic too, and so is
(28:51):
Skyline Dip. Like all good Midwestern party foods, you start
with a layer of cream cheese, then add a layer
of Skyline chili and top with shredded better and serve
with tortilla chips. My other regional childhood favorites are sugar
cream pie, and Buckeyes. Of course, I also agree with
the other listener that upstate New York foods would give
you a ton of topics to choose from. I love
(29:13):
getting the salt potatoes from the local barbecue place, and
I've seen tomato pie in my local grocery store, but
I didn't realize it was supposed to be eaten cold,
because I've never gone beyond vague curiosity about it to
actually buy one. I've only had a garbage plate once,
but it was at a conference in Rochester, so it
probably wasn't the best way to try it because I
wasn't a huge fan. Here are a few other popular
(29:34):
regional foods that I'd love to hear. The history of
Utica greens. Apparently there's an annual festival for them, Chicken
rig Riggy's Riggies, Let's and half Moon cookies. This is
so fantastic. Oh that's wonderful. All excellent topics. Yeah, I
(29:59):
want to try well again. Yes, yes, yeah, well we're
both we're both officially vaccinated now, mm hmm. So that's
a step. That's a step. It is Hopefully soon we'll
get to stuff our faces garbage plates and Nick Greens
and Chicken Piggy's Auberges. Oh yes, Skyline Chili. Yes, yes,
(30:29):
I'm excited. In the meantime, please keep these visional regional
suggestions coming so fantastic. Thanks to both of those listeners
for writing in. If you would like to write to us,
that you can. Our email is Hello at savor pod
dot com. We're also on social media. You can find
us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at savor pod and
(30:51):
we do hope to hear from you. Safer is production
of iHeart Radio four more podcasts my Heart Radio. You
can visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you listen to your favorite shows. Thanks us always to
our super producers, Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard. Thanks to
you for listening, and we hope that lots more good
things are coming your way.
Hello, and welcome to Savor production of I Heart Radio.
I'm Annie Reese and I'm Lauren Bogelbaum. And today we're
talking about Filipino adobo, Yes, which I have very little
experience with, but sounds amazing and I want it. I'm
determined it's so good. Yes, this has been a not
(00:28):
infrequent listener request. Yes, so I believe that we've read
um to listener emails from Catlin or Caitlin perhaps and
e J who specifically wrote in about um Filipino a dobo,
and I know others have, but I did want to
reread a section of e J's email because I feel
(00:50):
like if it's it's a good t l DAR for
this section. Yeah yeah, um so E G wrote, this
is the history of the Philippine means embedded in one dish.
Meat traditionally soaked in vinegar, evolved further when the Chinese
trade brought soy sauce and the Spanish colonization made more
spices available. I once promised a taco lesson literally make
(01:11):
tacos out of an El Paso taco kit to my
Japanese students, but it was my packed lunch of Filipino
chicken adobo that blew the minds of my students. It
goes so well with rice, they exclaimed. They are definitely
not wrong. Adobo is Filipino picnic food because it is
vinegar based, it does not spoil in our tropical climate
and travels well in the tupple ware. Oh yeah, I
(01:33):
have not had that much experience with it, but it
is one of the many very delicious dishes that I
had while visiting a friend out in Oakland, California, where
there is UH or traditionally has been UM, a relatively
large Filipino population, and a lot of really amazing restaurants. UM.
There is also here in Atlanta, just opened up, possibly
(01:56):
during the quarantine. A Filipino play is called Esta or
possibly Estalita UM over in Grant Park, right across from
Oakland Cemetery. So so, fellow a t L folks look
them up. They're doing amazing work. I when I was
looking up, where can I get my hands on the
(02:18):
san Antauh, they popped up. Yeah, but I'm also interested
in cooking it, because I did see. I looked at
a bunch of recipes for this, and while some of
them were complicated or maybe more complicated, than what I'm
used to anyway. Um, a lot of them were fairly easy.
So if anybody has any recipes, Oh goodness, yes, yes, yes, yes,
(02:44):
Oh my gosh, I'm so excited to try it. It It
sounds delicious. Um. But I guess that brings us to
our question. Filipino adobo what is it? Well, Filipino adobo
is a dish that can be many things, but at
its core, it's a stuff, usually protein, marinated usually and
(03:08):
then braised or stewed in a sauce or almost like
a brine of a vinegar, something salty, black pepper, probably
garlican bay leaves, maybe other seasonings, and often served with
that sauce over rice. And I know, I know that
is extremely in specific. Um. That's because this is a
(03:30):
highly adaptable, very personal dish. It's really more like a
cooking method, um than a specific type of food. Um.
They say that in the Philippines, every island, every neighborhood,
every household, every person has their own not just favorite,
but like correct version of a dobo. I love that
because that implies that you think everyone else's is increased incorrect, right,
(03:56):
like literally everyone else's only Yeah, yeah, I I read
a lot of I I read from a lot of
cooks and chefs that like, depending on the people who
they're cooking for, they will cook it differently because they
know that they have a specific preference for it. I
love that, though. I love the idea that you would
patron a restaurant enough or just like half that conversation
(04:21):
with the person the chef, and they'll be like, Okay, okay,
I got you brown sugar. Sure, but or like whatever
it is that it is or or that yeah, like
like you might choose a restaurant or that, Like if
you're a home cook and you're cooking for you know,
like one person versus another in your house, right, yeah, Yeah.
The star ingredient is often bone in skin on chicken
(04:44):
pieces at dark meat. Often I've seen many, many, many
recipes for but you can you can like adobo pretty
much anything. Pork squid or leafy greens are also real common,
but other seafood, chili, peppers or other vegetables pretty much anything, Yeah,
can be a do bode um, pork, pork ribs, pork belly, duck, tuna, octopus, shrimp.
(05:06):
I've seen so many different variations um. Other things like
potatoes and onions can be added for proteins and other
things that benefit from like a good browning. Um. You
pans here the stuff first and then cook it down
in the sauce, and sometimes might finish the dish by
taking that protein out in either broiling or frying or
(05:26):
grilling it before serving to provide a texture contrast of
a crispy and tender Yeah, right right. The vinegars used
are often like local area specialties, like a cane vinegar
made from fermented sugarcane juice or molasses, coconut vinegar made
(05:47):
from either fermented coconut tree sap or from coconut water,
or palm vinegar made from the sap from the Nipa palm.
Nipa palm. I didn't look that one up, and I'm
going to keep moving. Um. Vinegar is an important ingredient
and condiment in general in Filipino cuisine. UM. And the
word is succa, which I wanted to include just because
(06:08):
of the sheer number of I'm going to get you
succa puns that I came across while I'm doing the
reading for this episode. That's amazing, that's amazing. UM, And
I'm unfamiliar with all of these vinegar's personally but um,
but as one would imagine, they all have slightly different
levels of like acid and sweetness and other flavors. And
(06:30):
I've read that they're vaguely similar in vibe to um,
either apple cide or vinegar or rice vinegar, depending on
kind of what you're which one you're dealing with, or
what you're going for so um. If you are trying
to cook this in a place where those things are
not available to you, those could be possible substitutes. UM.
The salt element, maybe salt or soy sauce. Often it
(06:51):
is soy sauce. You can add a sweetener from brown
sugar to honey to a soft drink I saw like
sprite and Coca cola a dope bows um. You can
add coconut milk or mashed pork liver to give it
kind of a different creamy creaminess or texture. You can
add other seasonings, from ginger to hot peppers. And I
(07:12):
can hear some of you screaming through time and space
that that one of those things, or all of those
things that I just said is not a dobo. I'm
merely reporting what I have read that some people do.
And I want to assure you that your version is correct,
(07:32):
very diplomatic, lauren, very smooth, very wise. Oh goodness. UM
so yeah, yeah, you can have a lot of variation
in the final result, but the dish is just an
amazing comfort food UM, bright and tangy, salty, savory and
a little bit pungent, silky and tender, with pops of
(07:56):
whatever other flavors and textures you choose to add in.
Not to be confused with, however, Caribbean and Central and
South American adobo, which is a category of seasoning blends
used to make sauces and to season and marinate meats. UM.
There are a lot of variations on that too, but
the basic ingredients are similar a little bit different garlic, oregano, turmeric,
(08:20):
and black pepper, often mixed with a vinegar and or
a tart citrus juice. Both words do come from the
same source, though, uh, that being Spanish colonizers who observed
native peoples in these places crafting these marinated meat dishes UM.
A Spanish word for marinate is ato bar and so
eventually uh folks took to calling both the Filipino dish
(08:42):
and the American sauce adobo yep, yeah, pip, yep. H.
Well what about the nutrition, Oh, it depends on how
you cook, it doesn't it doesn't it, but but yeah,
in general, it is a pretty hard the meal. Um,
it's gonna help fill you up and keep you going. Um,
(09:04):
you know, eat a vegetable always. Yeah, yeah, as you're
going through it, I'm trying to I feel like I
should start with a simple one, like to get the
clear yeah taste, but I do I do love a vegetable,
So I'm trying to think of what would be either
like a good side with it or something I could
add in. I think the first one I want to
(09:25):
try like a really basic Yeah. Yeah, I think that's
probably a good a good way to start getting a
handle on it. Um. I did read a lot about
like um, kale type grains getting mixed in care or
you can always steam of vegetable or or otherwise cook
of vegetable as a side dish um to consume with
(09:46):
your just protein adobo. Yes, I've got a lot of
I feel like I'm gonna choose your own adventure, and
I'm trying to make the right choice. That is totally
what a doobo is. Yes, absolutely, I don't want to
flip the page and it says you were in a
plane accident and you're lost in the woods. That's the end.
(10:13):
You read very different recipe books than I do. My
my cookbooks would be some weird adrenaline. And now your
cake is on fire. Your cake is made of acid,
and it's trying to eat you even better than you
(10:36):
become the recipe. Okay. Um, well, as you might imagine
with something that is often more of a process or
method of cooking than actually like a dish, traditional dish, dish. Um,
it's hard to track down numbers, yes, yes, but I
(10:59):
will say it's sort of the unofficial official dish of
the Philippines and a really prominent piece of pop cultures.
To learn the way you might see, um, people wearing
sarata shirts like a Doobo shirts. Um. And there is
a move to make it the official official dish, which
we'll talk about a little bit more later. Yes, yes,
(11:21):
uh yeah, because right there there are over seven thousand
islands in the Philippines and plenty of local takes on
regional cuisine. So um, so let us let us get
in to the history of how this all came to be. Yes,
let us. But first we're gonna pause for a quick
break for word from our sponsor, and we're back. Thank
(11:51):
you sponsored, Yes, thank you. So. Like many foods we
talk about, Filipino dobo's origin story is a very a
murky one. Um. It's a meshing together of multiple cultures
and histories ingredients. Like e J said in the letter
at the top. Uh, and this is one of those
episodes that um almost got overwhelming because there were so
(12:12):
many pasts. There are some new pasts that could be
traced back as to how each specific ingredient ended up
in adobo. Lauren went through a million ingredients a little exaggeration,
but a lot of ingredient number. Yeah. Yeah, So it's
kind of like oh and like many things we talked about,
historians believe that Filipino adobo may have started out as
(12:35):
a way to preserve food, to make it last longer.
I think that is something we talked about quite frequently.
The high salinity of soy sauce or salt, combined with
the high acidity of vinegar creates a very unfriendly environment
for bacteria. Adopo was also traditionally made in clay pots.
(12:55):
Yeah yeah, um, and uh, what's going on with the salt,
and the A is that salt is is real hard
on microorganisms, which generally need water to live. Many things
do UM, and salt crystals absorb water molecules, tying them
up UM and eventually UM those those salt crystals will
(13:16):
dissolve into a salt water solution, which, thanks to osmosis
UM means that UM some of the salt molecules are
going to seep into the microorganisms where it'll disrupt the
activity of their enzymes and even like weaken the molecular
structure of their DNA, making it harder for them to
to thrive and reproduce and spoil your food. UM Vinegar
(13:38):
is also difficult on many microbes because in general, living
things need their environment to be within a particular range
of pH level in order to survive and thrive. UM
vinegar is tasty to us and like you can pour
it on your skin with no particular ill effect. UM.
But but it's basically the my grew up equivalent to
(14:00):
like a vat of acid. So it's so funny you
say that, because I was just thinking to myself, as
someone who yes, has seen way too any horror movies,
what if I started carrying around salt and vinegar just
in case. And then for some reason I thought of
the image of like the alien to Zeno morphine, Like,
(14:22):
what would happen if I threw like a lot of
vinegar and salt on there? I mean salt. I don't
you know, I don't know, I don't know. Did they
very important question, did they try salt? No, they never
tried salt. You know that would be like the most Yeah,
(14:46):
because I have I um, I asked for one of
my good friends was at the grocery store and she
asked me, like, do you need anything from the grocery store?
And I said salt and she bought me like a
ridiculously huge thing of salt, so hard to cook with.
I love her so much. I've so thankful. But it
is like now I feel like salmon Diane, Yes, every
time I get it out. Um. So I have started
thinking more in terms of that with salt. But I
(15:08):
think that would be the most hilarious anticlimactic death in
the Alien movies. I was like, yeah, did and it
just went yeah, have you getting it's all or something?
I don't know? All right, um, but anyway, let's back
up a step, speaking of kind of that salt element um.
(15:31):
At first, the indigenous peoples of the Philippines relied mostly
on vinegar and salt to accomplish create this preserving of
food um and or perhaps specifically coconut vinegar and cane sugar.
There's a long history of similar recipes and methods and
hot tropical areas using vinegar and salt preserve foods. When
(15:52):
Malat settlers arrived on the islands, this was the method
they used to increase the longevity of their foods. The
style of cooking in the philip means at the time
leaned more towards simple preparations like boiling, steaming, are roasting,
and yes, meats and other ingredients preserved in salt and vinegroup.
A lot of these recipes were passed on orally, so
written records are really sparse if they exist at all.
(16:14):
When the Spanish arrived, they may have destroyed these records
to renaming dishes and methods. More on that in a second. Yes,
But before then, around the ninth century CE, Arabic traders
began bringing spices such as black pepper to the Philippines.
The soy sauce didn't come onto the scene until Chinese
(16:36):
merchants looking to sell their products ended up settling in
the area. This would have been circa the freds. And yes,
they introduced ingredients like soy sauce, and for many soy
sauce became the go to replacement for salt and a
key ingredient in adobo, though some people did and still
do use salt over soy sauce. Um. I even read
(16:57):
and I would love if any bay can confirm this
that it's not uncommon to not have like salt on
the table, but to have soy sauce on the table,
it's like you're salt ingredient. When Spanish colonizers landed and
settled in the Philippines in the sixteenth century, they called
this cuisine tradition that they witnessed adobo. Um yes, the
(17:18):
Spanish word for marinader, seasoning like laurence, said Franciscan missionary
Pedro descent Bueno Venta, pinned the first known European record
of adobo de los naturales or marinade of the locals
in six On top of that, the Spanish also introduced
new ingredients to the Philippines, like spices that were incorporated
(17:41):
into some varieties of adobo. The Spanish ruled the Philippines
for three centuries, which impacted the cuisine and many many ways.
Some argue that adobo is distantly related to the Spanish
recipe for adobado a pork loin cured with olive oil,
vinegar and some spices for several months. But it sounds
to me and you a bunch more folks are a
(18:04):
boy more dodual than me, Like the foundation of Filipino
adobo was already there, long, long, long before the manshrived. Yeah, yeah,
I would, I would say so, yes, um but but
but again, Yeah, you've got this melding of cultural traditions
and culinary traditions, and so certainly, um within some some
families or or locals, you're going to have that greater
(18:26):
Spanish influence and um in a little bit more of
those types of flavors or methods in there so rights
and as these ingredients were introduced, this dish or method
of preparation was customized, um to taste. An availability of
things all across the islands, seafood, coconut milk, chilies for heat, potatoes, liver, yes,
(18:47):
all all kinds of things in the work keeni lao.
Food writers Adrene Fernandez and el Delberto L. Gray wrote
the Spanish word adobo is actually a pickling sauce rather
than a dish. The Spanish dish auto batto is pork
marinated for weeks in adopo sauce made of vinegar, olive, oil, garlic, time,
laurel leaf, rigano paprica, and salt. The Philippine dish we
(19:10):
call adopo today is the opposite a dish rather than
a sauce, but pickled or cooked in a sauce of vinegar.
Small wonders then that the Spaniard Bueno Ventura should see
the fish or meat cooked in vinegar as a dobo
of the native people's See, these are the complications when
you're trying to get to the bottom of food histories. Yeah,
(19:31):
and um, and and they're right. There is some speculation that, um,
the dish that Buenaventuro was talking about was not adobo
as we would call it today, but rather kenny law right, right,
We're right, um and kenni lau yes, being a pre
Hispanic Filipino dish perhaps poor clever cooked in vinegar, garlic,
(19:53):
and pepper, related to you, but not exactly adopo nowadays
Keno law. Usually you're is to a seafood cooked in vinegar,
not something that would be classified as adobo. And we're
like a Savich style thing kind of is or almost
like a poque. Yeah, right, and all of this is
part of an ongoing argument about whether or not to
(20:13):
change the name of Filipino adobo. Until her death in
two thousand two, Fernandez, the food writer we just quoted
um or tirelessly to reclaim adobo's history as an indigenous
Filipino food. Christ the comber Ford, the Filipino American executive
chef during Obama's time as president, was known for her
(20:34):
chicken adovo, and President Obama was very vocal about his
love for it. Food writer Andrew Zimmerman predicted that Filipino
food would become quote the next big thing. In twelve
and in Filipino American chef Sheldon Simeon made porkadobo on Top.
Chef Bloomberg reported that searchers for Filipino food doubled in
(20:56):
the US from twenty twelve, so and preasing popularity in
the first representative of the whole introduced the Philippine National
symbols act proposing to make adobo the country's official dish. Yeah,
(21:17):
I mean, I have no skin in this game. Do
whatever you want. Do you have a dinosaur? That's what
we really care about here on our food show is
whether or not you have a official dinosaur m That's
(21:37):
sort of the hidden backbone of Savor is a dinosaur podcast. Specifically,
do you have one to represent your country or see
or other municipalities? Sure? Sure, um yeah, yeah, so it's
(21:58):
it's it's it's I don't know, like I read, I
read so many different things about different ways to prepare
adobo and different um, different ways to to use it
once you have prepared it, like um, yeah, like taking
the meat and using it as like a pizza topping
or something like that, or like in in sushi rolls
or I don't know, and I want and I want
(22:20):
to eat. I just want to eat everything I do too.
The options are endless. We hilariously enough listeners. We usually
record this around like eating time, um, later in the day,
yeah yeah, like like creeping right up on Annie's dinner
time for sure. Yeah. So always by the end, why
(22:43):
didn't I prepare like some smart lists have written in
said they look at our episodes and then go to
the store. That's what I need to start. Oh wow, Yeah,
that would be so much smarter than I am. Heck
right now, me too, me too. Um, but yes, I'm
so excited to try again. At least send any any
(23:05):
recipes are away. Um. In the meantime, we do have
some listener mail for you, we do. But first we've
got one more quick break for a word from our sponsor.
And we're back. Thank you, sponsors, Yes, thank you, And
(23:26):
we're back with listener ma male comforting stretch. Yeah. I
did read a lot of accounts about how Filipino adobo
is like a very nostalgic comfort food. Yeah. Sure, m oh,
we're speaking of. We've got some more listener mail about
(23:49):
regional foods, yes, which, as you know, we love. Gabby wrote,
he guess I told my husband that I am doing
bills and I just heard the listener mail at the
end of the Statue episode. I'm from upstate New York,
north of Syracuse, and I was thrilled to hear about
salt potatoes, garbage plates, and tomato pie. I grew up
military and my dad is from Syracuse. I never knew
(24:11):
salt potatoes to be regional. We just always ate them,
and so do many people up around here that I
just thought that they were quote normal. At one point
we shared some with a coworker from Australia. She was
incredibly under well. I too, have tried a garbage plate
while in Rochester, and it is something that is strongly
(24:32):
associated with the nights where one drinks less than responsibly.
It's a drunk food. I don't remember hot sauce, but
I do remember potato salad, max salad, some sort of
meat and grease being labeled over the whole thing. I
think I also thought it needed salt, but I don't
remember a whole up more from that night. I've never
had tomato pie looks like yuck, but we do eat.
(24:55):
Utica greens and chicken Riggies are Ricky's. I tried to
look it up, could not find it. Let me know, um,
both from Utica, New York. The greens are probably wilted
Swiss shard with garlic, cheese and bread crumbs, not low
fat and so delicious. Chicken Riggy's I'm Gonna Stay Ricky's
(25:15):
Chicken Piggy's can be found all over the internet. But
the time I loved them best, they were not in
a cream sauce, just tomato and oil and lots of
hot peppers. It was amazing. We also have krog Krogan
Bologny throws me every time. It is a very strange
(25:40):
looking word. Yes, um, a local bologny, ridiculous amounts of
maple syrup. And my husband and I have friends that
something that sounds like it came right from a little
house on the prairie. Johnny cakes. They're basically cornbread cooked
in around tin. Some people eat them with fresh maple syrup,
and our friend also pours hot coffee on his. I
(26:03):
guess to each their own. Lastly, at the State Fair,
the Great New York State Fair, the food is famous.
There is a fried at dough place that always has
lines miles long, and Dinas serves barbecue, a biker place
that serves barbecue. I only think it is okay, and
my mom insists that it is the tradition for Fireman
(26:23):
Days to eat ketchup and mustard on sausage, peppers and onions.
Bless I'm a master only kind of person, but I
put mustard in my mac and cheese, and when I
told my students. I'm a teacher. They decided my cooking
must be awful. I'm sure there are one hundred more
things up here. We're practically in Canada, and I'm unimpressed
(26:43):
with poutine. But these seem drill avant and fun. Oh
my goodness, so all of it. I want to know more.
I want to try it. Yes. And I forgot to
mention in the last listener mail where we read some
of these regional specialties. Um, I forgot to mention that
(27:04):
in the South, tomato pie is something different, uh than
what you both described, which sounds like a cold pizza.
I guess it could be up, but it's often cold.
It's often or like room temperature, yeah, but without the
cheese maybe right. But in the South tomato pie is
like a pie. It's a savory pie that you make
(27:26):
the tomatoes. Yeah, And it can vary. I in my experience,
that can vary pretty widely. Where sometimes as a like
pie crust um on the bottom, and sometimes it uh
has like kind of a layer of cheese and um
crackers on the top and no pie crust and lots
(27:47):
of yeah, tomatoes and sometimes squash and uh cream cheese
and sour cream um different. So that's something I love though, Like, yeah,
I would say tomato pie and you different understandings of
what that is, and much delicious confusion would ensue, right
or I don't know, Like I've read a lot of
(28:08):
conflicting information on people's opinions about that first kind of
tomato pie, so it could be not delicious confusion. Yeah,
it depends all We're all entitled to our opinions. And
being very diplomatic today, I haven't had enough coffee. Megan
(28:29):
wrote as an Ohio and who now lives near Utica,
New York. I wanted to write in to say how
much I love all the recent suggestions for podcast topics.
Cincinnati's style chili is so good. Skyline is my preferred brand,
and I like a four way with beans not onion.
Coney's are also great, and I feel like Coney Island
restaurants would make a good topic too, and so is
(28:51):
Skyline Dip. Like all good Midwestern party foods, you start
with a layer of cream cheese, then add a layer
of Skyline chili and top with shredded better and serve
with tortilla chips. My other regional childhood favorites are sugar
cream pie, and Buckeyes. Of course, I also agree with
the other listener that upstate New York foods would give
you a ton of topics to choose from. I love
(29:13):
getting the salt potatoes from the local barbecue place, and
I've seen tomato pie in my local grocery store, but
I didn't realize it was supposed to be eaten cold,
because I've never gone beyond vague curiosity about it to
actually buy one. I've only had a garbage plate once,
but it was at a conference in Rochester, so it
probably wasn't the best way to try it because I
wasn't a huge fan. Here are a few other popular
(29:34):
regional foods that I'd love to hear. The history of
Utica greens. Apparently there's an annual festival for them, Chicken
rig Riggy's Riggies, Let's and half Moon cookies. This is
so fantastic. Oh that's wonderful. All excellent topics. Yeah, I
(29:59):
want to try well again. Yes, yes, yeah, well we're
both we're both officially vaccinated now, mm hmm. So that's
a step. That's a step. It is Hopefully soon we'll
get to stuff our faces garbage plates and Nick Greens
and Chicken Piggy's Auberges. Oh yes, Skyline Chili. Yes, yes,
(30:29):
I'm excited. In the meantime, please keep these visional regional
suggestions coming so fantastic. Thanks to both of those listeners
for writing in. If you would like to write to us,
that you can. Our email is Hello at savor pod
dot com. We're also on social media. You can find
us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at savor pod and
(30:51):
we do hope to hear from you. Safer is production
of iHeart Radio four more podcasts my Heart Radio. You
can visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you listen to your favorite shows. Thanks us always to
our super producers, Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard. Thanks to
you for listening, and we hope that lots more good
things are coming your way.
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