Burnt Lumpia

I'm Gonna Git You Suka

Vinegar, or Suka (as it is known in the Philippines), is one of the most used ingredients in the Filipino kitchen. The prevalent use of Suka is due in large part to the extended shelf life bestowed upon goodies cooked in vinegar--a necessary culinary "voodoo" needed for tropical climes during the days of pre-refrigeration. But aside from its preservative powers, we Filipinos also just happen to like the elevated flavor punch that vinegar provides--that certain Asim (sourness) that we love oh so much in our food.

For instance, vinegar is the key player in many Filipino dishes like Paksiw, Kinilaw (raw fish "cooked" in vinegar, kinda like a ceviche), various dipping sauces, and a variety of different marinades. And of course, Adobo is perhaps the prime example of a vinegar-based Filipino dish. Heck, as I've shown here in the past, with a good bottle of vinegar you can Adobo most anything: Chicken, squid, water spinach, pork belly, and even ribs.

Mmmm. Ribs. I sho' am hungry...

Ah, I'm Gonna Git You Sucka. It's a classic.

Anyways, while I've demonstrated a few different uses of vinegar before, I've never really explained that there are also quite a few different types of vinegar that may be found in the Filipino pantry. Seeing as how vinegar is such an integral part of Filipino cuisine, and because there's such a wide spectrum of Suka in use in the Philippines, I thought I'd take the time to compare and contrast some of these potent potions (at least the ones that are readily available in my neck of the woods). Keep in mind though, that the vinegars I tasted are commercially made and probably can't compare to the artisanal and local vinegars made in the different regions of the Philippines.

Unforgettably Fatty

There are quite a few food-related stories from my childhood that I have long forgotten, yet have remained firmly entrenched in the memories of the rest of my family (they never fail to remind me, and everyone else, about these supposedly "true" tales).

For instance, one of my aunts claims that I once poked my index finger through an entire carton of eggs that my grandfather just brought back from the market (since there's no memory of an ass-whoopin' that my grandpa would have surely given me, I don't believe this story for one second).

Also, according to my younger brother there was a time that I was so pissed off at him that I allegedly dumped a family serving of shrimp onto my own plate and quickly ate them just so he wouldn't have any (again, because I have no recollection of the smackdown my shrimp-loving father would have certainly laid upon me had this really happened, I don't believe this story either. And besides, I wouldn't have eaten ALL of the shrimp--leaving only one lone shrimp behind sounds more like my style).

And then there's the yarn that my mom often spins about how when I was a wee lad I used to eat only the chicken skin off of my chicken, or just the pork fat from my pork and not the meat. Although the image of a 5-year old stuffing his face with animal blubber is kind of disturbing, I do have some faint recollection of this actually happening (perhaps because a violent spanking wasn't involved, I didn't have to repress anything in the deep recesses of my brain).

Although these memories of fat indulgence were fuzzy at best, they all became crystal-clear after recently making my own adobo from fatty pork belly. After my first bite of jiggly pork fat layered between meat and skin, the memories of my lard eating youth came rushing back like an Anton Ego/Ratatouille-like epiphany.

Needless to say, it's been a while since I've eaten pork belly adobo.

Kangkong vs. Kale

As I've demonstrated a few times within this space, the Filipino cooking method of Adobo is quite versatile. So far I've made duck adobo, pork ribs adobo, squid adobo, and two kinds of chicken adobo. While all of these adobos have leaned towards the protein side of the meal, all manner of vegetable adobos can be prepared as well.

Yup, you can pretty much adobo-ize anything so long as you braise it in a mixture of vinegar, salt and/or soy, black peppercorns, and bay leaves.

One very common vegetable adobo is Adobong Kangkong. Kangkong, also known as rau muong in Vietnam or ong choy in China, is a leafy green vegetable eaten all over Asia. Kangkong have long hollow stems, and long, narrow, pointy leaves. Both the stems and leaves are edible.

What the Duck?!!

After concocting a batch of duck adobo confit a few weeks back, I've had quite the surplus of duck fat sitting idly in my fridge. In addition to the tub of duck fat that was still protecting my last two legs of confit from the harsh elements of the outside world, I had another tub of duckboob grease at my disposal as well.

As I mentioned in my confit post, I've used some of that fat to fry some garlic-fried rice. But for the last few weeks I've also used duck fat for sauteeing veggies, whipping up vinaigrettes, browning chicken, rubbin' on my elbows (I get ashy), and silencing squeaky door hinges (it's the WD-40 of the kitchen). It's been an absolute cluster-duck for me these past few weeks.

In fact, duck hasn't been this prevalent in my life since Webby Vanderquack and Doofus Drake chilled with me on weekday afternoons.

Ah, DuckTales. It's a classic.

Anyhoo, I decided to put a stop to all this here-and-there use of duck fat and put the magic grease to the test on a larger scale--I broke out the cast iron pan and was ready for some fryin'! Oooh-whoooo-hoooo!

Of course, the first thing that may come to mind when mentioning frying and duck fat is perhaps potatoes--as I'm sure duck fat fries are quite tasty.

But I had something else in mind--especially after doing some reconnaissance on Ilocano Empanadas during my recent trip to the Philippines.

Empanada vendor in Batac Ilocos Norte, Philippines.

Quack Pot

Throughout the ages, many cultures have adapted and created their own forms of food preservation. For instance:

• Filipinos use vinegar and salt (or soy) to preserve various meats in an Adobo.
• The French use fat and salt to preserve various meats in a Confit.
• The Galactic Empire used Carbonite to freeze various smugglers in suspended animation.

Although Darth Vader did not use carbonite in a culinary fashion, per se, I can only imagine how long a side of beef would last if frozen a la Han Solo. And since freezing things in carbonite does quite a number on my energy bill, I decided that it would be a more worthwhile, and tasty, endeavor to research the wonders of confit in conjunction with what I already know about Adobo.

Ah yes, an adobo/confit experiment! A fusion of Filipino and French food to yield a quacktastic pot of Duck Adobo Confit.

Squid 'n Play

As I've mentioned before in this blog, Adobo is the Filipino method for cooking anything in a mixture of vinegar, salt (and/or soy), garlic, black peppercorns, and bay leaf. Any good Filipino adobo should have that perfect balance of tang and saltiness. Now mind you, this "balance" of vinegar and salt is purely subjective of course. But having prepared a few different adobos for this blog, I've been able to refine my palate bit by bit and have begun to develop my own preference for what a good adobo should taste like.

As such, I can now crank out a delicious pot of chicken adobo at the drop of a hat with nary a glance at any printed recipe. Preparing chicken adobo has become second nature to me. The problem with this though, is that I was becoming a one-trick pony.

To me, knowing how to cook only chicken adobo is like knowing only one kind of dance. Sure, the Running Man may make you the life of the party for maybe the first couple of songs, but after awhile, the once-awed crowd will realize that the Running Man is pretty basic and they'll surely stop yelling your name and telling you it's your birthday.

What's that you say? Nobody does the Running Man anymore? Really? OK, how about the Cabbage Patch? No, again? Crap.

Alright, so maybe I'm horribly out of touch with the moves of today's house party goers, but you get the point right? There are many other types of adobo besides that of the chicken variety. Yes, I've made a pork ribs adobo before, but the procedure for that recipe is essentially the same for any chicken adobo recipe.  I wanted to try something else. And since chicken and pork were done, the next logical adobo for me to try was squid adobo, or Adobong Pusit as it's known in the Philippines. And, depending on where you are in the Philippines, squid adobo may actually be more popular than chicken or pork.

If chicken adobo is akin to the Running Man, then Squid adobo is like the Kid 'n Play--awesome when done right, but downright grotesque otherwise.  As such, learning to cook squid adobo is like learning to do the Kid 'n Play--dedicate enough time to either activity and you are bound to impress all the ladies (well, at least the ones that enjoy adobo and/or cutting a rug).

Don't believe me? Here's proof...

Baby-Back Ribs Adobo

According to my handy-dandy copy of Memories of Philippine Kitchens, the word "Adobo" refers to a condiment of oil, garlic, and marjoram in Spain.  For Mexicans (Oaxacans to be more specific), "Adobo" is a marinade of guajillo chiles, garlic, cider vinegar, thyme, bay leaves, avocado leaves, oregano, black peppercorns, and cinnamon.  For us Filipinos, "Adobo" is not a condiment or marinade, but instead the word refers to a method of cooking anything in a mixture of vinegar, salt (and/or soy), garlic, black peppercorns, and bay leaf.

Filipino Adobo, like many many other things in our culture, has a Spanish name. When the Spanish rolled into the Philippines a few hundred years ago, they saw our adobo, thought it looked a little bit like their adobo, and ultimately imposed their name onto our dish (among other things). That's hegemony for you. In addition, the use of soy sauce is of Chinese influence--the oldest forms of adobo were made with salt and no soy. And on top of that, the use of Heinz apple cider vinegar (a relatively new staple in many adobo recipes) can be attributed to the arrival of Americans to the Philippines at the start of the 20th century--although Filipinos have always had vinegars of their own.

In spite of its Spanish name, Chinese soy sauce, and American vinegar, a dish of adobo is inherently Filipino: we've been stewing meats in salt and vinegar throughout the ages.

Although Filipinos have probably been making adobo for millennium, there isn't really a standard recipe written in stone--every household has their own version.  For me, I'm most used to chicken, pork, and squid adobos, but there can also be adobos with vegetables and other types of meat.

I've attempted an adobo recipe from Memories of Philippine Kitchens before, and I wasn't too pleased with the results. That chicken adobo wasn't terrible, I just wasn't used to coconut milk in my adobo. With that said, I decided to give the "Memories" cookbook another try with another one of its adobo recipes: Baby-Back Ribs Adobo.

This recipe had no coconut milk but had plenty of vinegar, garlic, black pepper, and the unusual addition of jalepeno peppers. This version of adobo was tangy, piquant, and just a bit spicy. It was perfect.

Filipino Pantry Chicken Caesar Salad

Imagine, if you will, a Chicken Caesar Salad.

Cool. Crisp. Creamy.

Chickeny.

A classic dish, some may say.

Behold!

A Chicken Caesar Salad!

It looks innocent enough doesn't it? But, that is no ordinary Chicken Caesar Salad.

Look closer.

Closer.

Closer still!!!

That is a salad that has traveled the space-time continuum. A salad, constructed from the unusual. A salad so familiar, yet... so... strange.

What's so strange about it you ask?

This salad was created from the following ingredients...

Behold!!!

Gasp!

Those things can't combine to create a classic chicken caesar salad can they?

Oh, yes they can. Yes they can!

Mwahahahahahaaaaa!

Ladies and Gentlemen. You've just crossed over into...

The Filipino Pantry Zone!

Chicken Adobo (Yes, Again)

As my thousands of two regular infrequent readers may recall, I have attempted to make Chicken Adobo before.  The results from that previous attempt?  Eh, I wasn't too pleased.  But I wasn't disheartened either.  In fact, after making that not too satisfying dish of Chicken Adobo, I vowed to keep trying different recipes until I found something I liked.

So while partaking in the Penny-Wise Eat Local Challenge almost two weeks ago (yes, I'm behind on my blogging, I know) I purchased a couple of pounds of chicken thighs not really knowing what I was going to do with them.  As I was pushing my cart around Henry's that day, I walked past a display of local organic  cider vinegar which triggered a flickering light bulb above my head.  As this light bulb buzzed and pulsated above my noggin, I bit my lip, cocked an eyebrow, and slowly started remembering something about chicken and vinegar.

Duh! Chicken Adobo!

After I had finally flipped the A-HA! switch, I knew I had seen a chicken adobo recipe specifically for chicken thighs in one of the many foodie mags I had back home.  I just had to figure out which magazine it was in.

Not Your Mother's Chicken Adobo

I first heard of Romy Dorotan, a Filipino chef and restaurant owner in New York City, a couple of years ago when he appeared on the Martha Stewart show. This episode of Martha caused me to go through three stages of increasing shock:

Holy shit! There's a Filipino on TV!
Holy shit! There's a Filipino on TV, and he's on the Martha Stewart Show!
Holy shit! There's a Filipino on TV, and he's on the Martha Stewart Show, and he's cooking Chicken Adobo!

Strange, that.

After getting over my initial disbelief that Chicken Adobo was being prepared on national television by an actual Filipino, I remember thinking "I am definitely going to try and make that recipe." Hmmm, so much for watershed moments -- quite a bit of time passed before I was even reminded about that Chicken Adobo recipe.

In fact, it was this post by the Amateur Gourmet that did the reminding.  The AG gave a glowing review of Dorotan's restaurant, Cendrillon, and proclaimed the Chicken Adobo at Cendrillon his "#1 favorite chicken dish for 2005."  After reading that post, I remember thinking "I am definitely taking The Wife to Cendrillon on our upcoming trip to New York."  So much for to-do lists -- we did go to New York, and Cendrillon was on our itinerary, it just never got crossed off.

So when Dorotan, and his wife Amy Besa, released their first cookbook on Filipino cuisine entitled "Memories of Philippine Kitchens," I had to buy it. And buy it I did a couple of months ago.  But would I ever cook from it?