http://joyposadaswrites.blogspot.com/2015/11/evaluating-sam-siftons-nyt-chicken.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/magazine/09Food-t-001.html?_r=0
In my part of the world, we cook adobo without coconut milk. The meat is browned prior to boiling and a little sugar is added. The sauce is reduced to a bare minimum. Then the meat is browned again to a light crisp. We tend to use a bit more of the soy sauce and less of the vinegar (or sometimes a balance of both).
It was also my first time to encounter an adobo recipe that required broiling chicken pieces in an oven.
In a more recent article, I explored the idea why Filipino adobo is cooked in a single pot.
When I got confirmation from Amy Besa on Facebook that the recipe was indeed provided by them, I set out to test the delicious idea in my own kitchen. Amy’s recipe called for coconut milk, more vinegar, and no sugar.
I got the chicken thighs the recipe asked for. Due to time constraints, we simply used the store-bought Datu Puti vinegar. Having attended her workshop in the past, I knew that there were more superior vinegar varieties that were not easily found in the grocery. Also, instead of fresh chili peppers, I decided to use dried chili pepper flakes.
We marinated only for an hour. We followed instructions to immerse the chicken pieces in the sauce. Instead of using a separate non-reactive container, we simply placed the marinade directly on the pot since we planned to cook immediately.
The instructions were easy to follow. Broiling the chicken gave it a very nice charred color and it only took a few minutes. Reducing the sauce seemed to take longer than expected, beyond ten minutes, so we didn’t really wait to see the sauce completely thickened. I figured that constant reheating would eventually thicken the sauce.
Adobo flavors
Surprisingly, the adobo flavors didn’t come out very far from what we were used to except that Amy’s recipe turned out less sweet. The coconut milk also gave a creamier texture. Plus, the extra spice added some spunk.
I realized that adobo is really the Filipino man’s dish. As long as you have the basic soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, bay leaf, and peppercorn combination, the concoction somehow still turns out to be adobo, even with a few changes.
Notwithstanding our multicultural heritage, we have managed to carve a unique Filipino identity. And considering the different kinds of adobo available, this somehow reminds me of our national identity.
Going back to Amy Besa’s chicken adobo recipe published in the New York Times, it is worth trying at least once in your life. The chicken adobo with coconut milk recipe is one version of adobo that you would want safely tucked in your kitchen files.
POSTSCRIPT
After the above kitchen experiment, I decided to look deeper into the question of what constitutes a typical adobo recipe in the Philippines.
The findings are reported here:
http://joyposadaswrites.blogspot.com/2015/11/evaluating-sam-siftons-nyt-chicken.html
Postscript: The above recipe was kitchen-tested with a Filipina who hailed from a province that uses coconut milk (gata). According to her, some people in her province do not always use coconut milk anymore. My understanding from her was that in the modern times, some people find it tedious to prepare coconut milk from scratch. In the end, I think it is also a matter of personal preference and taste.
