Pork Adobo
An Adobo is a Spanish cooking method in which meat is marinaded in a vinegar based sauce. The Spanish came to the Phillipines and found that they also used a vinegar/soy based sauce for marinating meat and brought their name to the this traditional Filipino dish.
The dish is a mix of sweet and salty, spicy and bright. Pork is the preferred meat, and traditional Filipino cooks like it with lots of fat, so a pork belly or pork shoulder are the preferred cuts. It is first marinated, then fried and then slow braised in your wok. It’s bursting with flavor and it makes enough to feed a crowd.
Pork Adobo
Pork marinated, fried and braised in a vinegar/soy sauce, served here with hoisen bok choy.
Ingredients
- 3 # Pork Belly or Pork Shoulder Steak
- 1 Tbsp kosher salt
Marinade:
- 5 cloves garlic sliced
- 1 tsp coarse or cracked pepper
- ½ cup soy sauce
- ½ cup vinegar palm vinegar is traditional, but rice, apple cider or white vinegar would work too.
Cooking:
- 2 Tbsp oil
- ~3 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 white onion thinly sliced
- 10 gloves of garlic minced
- 3 Tbsp brown sugar
- ½ cup soy sauce
- ½ cup vinegar palm vinegar is traditional but rice, apple cider or white vinegar would work too.
- 1 cup hot water
- 1 cube chicken bouillon
- 4 bay leaves
- 9 cups cooked rice
- Sliced green onions for garnish
Instructions
- Cut the pork up into 1-1½ inch pieces – If your conscience forces you, you can trim some of the fat off but in true Filipino style no fat should be trimmed.
- Season and toss the cubes with the kosher salt.
- Mix up the marinade and pour over the pork, submerging the pork as much as possible. Marinade overnight if you can, 4 hours minimum. Stir a time or two to make sure the pork is evenly seasoned.
- After marinating, heat your wok or skillet on medium high and add the oil.
- Blend 3 tsp coarse black pepper with the brown sugar and set aside.
- Brown the pork in batches, removing each batch as it’s done. Don’t stir too much so that the cubes brown better. We’re shooting for crispy edges here.
- When all of the pork is browned, remove to a bowl and add the onion to the oil with a pinch or two of salt. Stir around, and the released moisture from the onion will deglaze the wok. Cook for ~5 minutes on medium high, and then another 6-8 minutes on low to caramelize the onions.
- Add the garlic at the end and stir until fragrant, then add the pork back to the wok and bring the heat back up to medium until the pork is heated through again.
- Add the brown sugar and black pepper and cook to caramelize, a minute or two.
- Add the ½ cup of soy sauce and the ½ cup of vinegar and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Add the cup of hot chicken bouillon and stir through.
- Add the 4 bay leaves.
- Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Remove the lid, stir through, and then simmer uncovered another 30 minutes to concentrate the flavors.
- Make your rice during the final cook.
- Serve over the rice and garnish with sliced green onions.