Burnt Lumpia: Filipino Food | Filipino Recipes | Culinary Hijinks

Chicken Adobo and 40 Cloves of Garlic

Whoever said, "Too much of a good thing is never good at all," has probably never been to a wedding with an open bar, has not found a go-to all-you-can-eat sushi joint, nor has ever had Chicken and 40 Cloves of Garlic. Unlimited alcohol, unlimited raw fish, and a chicken that seemingly threw itself on a garlic grenade are all good things.

Although the first two items in that list may be subjective (you know, if you're a teetotaling fish-o-phobe), there is no arguing the third. In today's post-BAMmage culinary landscape, who doesn't like a shizzload of garlic thrown in their food--especially garlic that's been sauteed in chicken grease and butter, and then slowly braised until buttery, sweet, and soft?

Such is the case with Chicken and 40 Cloves of Garlic--a dish of Provencal origins that features a whole chicken roasted along with, yup, you guessed it, 40 whole cloves of garlic(!).

Why 40 cloves of garlic? I have no clue. Perhaps it's because "Chicken and 40 Cloves" sounds a bit more impressive than say, "Chicken and 3 to 4 Heads of Garlic" (which might make for an awesome band name). Who knows?

But what I do know is that there is perhaps no other chicken dish that takes such great advantage of the more mild and sweet qualities of garlic. Well, except of course, Chicken Adobo. So why not combine the two dishes?

And that's what I did. Chicken Adobo with 40 Cloves of Garlic.

Filipino Food Bloggers Featured on "Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho"

Last Saturday, four Filipino food bloggers were featured on the "Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho" television show on the GMA network in the Philippines.

Along with MarketMan of Market Manila, Anton Diaz of Our Awesome Planet, and Lori Baltazar of Dessert Comes First, I was lucky enough to be one of the featured bloggers on the program.

Because of the time difference between Manila and the Burnt Lumpia Worldwide Headquarters in SoCal, I was asked to simply film myself cooking something for my blog in lieu of an actual interview with host Jessica Soho.

I gladly obliged to this request and decided to cook something that I thought would catch Pinoy viewers off guard: Bell Pepper Adobo (egads man, an adobo of vegetables?!!)!

Yup. Bell Pepper Adobo.

Of course, much of the footage I filmed was left out of the final show, so my Bell Pepper Adobo recipe will have to wait for another post (or perhaps another medium altogether...) for another time.

I am happy to say that despite much of my own footage being cut, the producers of the show managed to sneak in some existing Sasquatch-esque film of me cooking on The Manila Machine. Very cool, to say the least.

And if you missed the show, check out the video below. I'm featured at the 10:20 mark, but I urge everyone to watch the entire video to get a glimpse into the lives of the four different Filipino food bloggers. The video is all in Tagalog, btw, and because my Tagalog is spotty at best, I can only assume nice things were said about me;)

Many thanks to the kind folks at GMA, KMJS, as well as to MarketMan!

Adobong Sili (Chile Pepper Adobo)

It's been said a few times before in this space, but it bears mentioning again: almost anything can be made into a Filipino Adobo. As long as you have a braising liquid consisting of vinegar, soy and/or salt, garlic, bay leaves, and black peppercorns, a tasty adobo you should have. Of course, we Filipinos veer toward the meaty side of things when throwing something into the adobo braise.

In fact, you might remember adobo from such meaty blog posts as Chicken Adobo (Yes, Again), Unforgettably Fatty, and the Burnt Lumpia classic, Wingin' It, Filipino Style. But even things like squid and water spinach do a good adobo make.

And, as I discovered at my grandmother's most recent Thanksgiving feast, even chile peppers can be adobo'd!

Wingin' It, Filipino Style!

Like most sports-watching, bar-hopping American males, I can ingest copious amounts of poultry flight appendages in one sitting--even more so when these appendages are varnished with a spicy glaze. Yes, I'm a chicken wing fiend. Buffalo wings, red hots, hot wings--whatever the moniker, I'll stuff my face with them.

In fact, I've found that my chicken wing consumption is directly correlated with the amount of televisions in my immediate vicinity. For example, I have a modest-sized television at home, so I eat a modest amount of hot wings as a couch potato--about 2 pounds worth (that's modest for me). But when I'm at a sports bar or other such venue and am surrounded by dozens of giant flat-screens, I tend to overindulge a bit--perhaps all the blinky lights distract me from the burgeoning pain in my belly.

Anyhizzle, with Super Bowl Sunday fast approaching, I figured now was a good time to unleash my Adobo Chicken Wing recipe upon the masses--or at least for the Filipino-philes that are also football-philes--who need a new hot wing recipe for their Super Bowl party (or for any occasion, really).

In all honesty though, this isn't a true adobo recipe (i.e. the chicken isn't braised in the necessary adobo potion of garlic, black pepper, bay leaf, vinegar, and soy/salt). Rather, it's a recipe for Crispy Chicken Wings in a Spicy-Sweet Adobo Glaze (the glaze does contain the necessary adobo potion). Despite the lack of a braise, these adobo wings are simple to prepare and tasty to boot. Trust me.

Steamy Kitchen's Chicken Adobo

Since welcoming our new son into the world this past summer, the wife and I have seemingly fielded 101 different variations of the same question:

"Are you getting enough sleep?"

I'm sure every new parent knows what I'm talking about, but after you have your first kid, someone with pitying eyes will inevitably look upon you as you're tending to your crying/wailing/crapping baby and inquire as to whether or not you are getting any shut-eye.

For example, when seeing me for the first time after my son was born, a buddy of mine said to me, "Geez dude. You look like a bowl of sh*t warmed over. You getting any sleep?"

As the saying goes, when a friend compares you to temperate poo, enemies are unnecessary. Or something like that.

Anyways, while a lack of rest may have had an (obvious?) effect on my haggard appearance, I think there are more factors at play here. Sure, everyone warns new parents about sleep deprivation, but no one ever talks about kitchen deprivation. Eff sleep! I've got no time to cook anymore!

So as much as I find solace in slumping into bed and face-planting into a pillow (if only to nod off for just a few minutes), I also cherish each and every convenient and quick-cooking recipe I come across since time is now at such a premium.

And that is exactly why I was so excited to finally get my hands on Jaden Hair's The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook: 101 Asian Recipes Simple Enough for Tonight's Dinner. As I'm sure everyone knows, Jaden is the author extraordinaire of the Steamy Kitchen food blog.

But in addition to being a superstar blogger, Jaden is also a supermom with kids of her own. If Jaden could write an entire cookbook while simultaneously raising a family, I figured I could bang out one of her recipes while simultaneously propping my baby up in front of the TV my wife played with our son.

I was right.

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.