Adobong Puting galo (White Adobo galo) special from Bocaue

There to many ways to the cook Filipino adobo.  Filipino hands cooking them.The long list of this Adobong Puti or White Adobo. White adobo is cooked without any trace of soy sauce. The most basic  ingredients: vinegar and salt. This variation is the most favored by the Filipino since it is our traditional way of cooking adobo. The Spanish marinades came to approach our shores, the ingredients of the Filipino adobo were already existent. Filipino natives, had already developed various methods of preserving food. Filipinos were known to cook their food through moist-and-heat techniques like steaming, roasting and boiling. And to retain the freshness of food and to keep consumable for a longer time, they used salt and vinegar. Acid and sodium, as science taught us, slow down the progress of spoilage-causing bacteria. When Chinese traders came to Philippines that soy sauce was introduced and found its way to our once nameless vinegar-braised dish, Ultimately taking the salt out of the scene.

This Filipino adobo could have been around for many years now. Simple cooking method and the use of minimal ingredients is a reflection of the simplicity of the life of the early Filipinos.

The absence of soy sauce does not make it less of a winner in the Filipino palate. The irresistible garlicky-vinegar sauce with mild piquancy of peppercorns slathered on fork-tender meat utterly makes a great companion for steaming hot rice.

Always true that the simplest dishes that have been passed on from generations to generations and cooked with pure love and affection are unquestionably the best.

The Filipinos, are family-loving people and we only want the best for our family. Adobo has become a benchmark of every Filipina homemaker who is learning to master the four corners of the kitchen and how good the dish turns out is how a matriarch would judge her future daughter-in-law.


Year 2002, a romantic comedy-drama movie named after this famous dish was released in the Philippines and in the U.S. and was entitled, “American Adobo”.

It was directed by a veteran Filipina film director, Laurice Guillen and co-produced by Kevin J. Foxe.

INGREDIENTS:

2 lbs. chicken or pork (or a combination of two) "sliced into adobo chops"
1 cup vinegar
1 tbsp. salt
2 cups water
1 head small garlic, chopped
1 thumb-sized ginger, julienned (optional)
1 tsp. black peppercorns, coarsely chopped
3 pcs. dahon ng laurel (bay leaves)
cooking oil

PROCEDURE:
Heat a small amount of cooking oil in a saucepan. The garlic and ginger (if you are using chicken) for 2 to 3 minutes.

Add the meat (chicken, pork or both) and cook until the color lightens, tossing occasionally.

Add the vinegar and pour in the water, just enough to cover the meat. Add peppercorns and bay leaves.

Bring to a boil and then set to simmer until the meat is tender, about 15 minutes if using chicken and 20 minutes if using pork.

Remove the meat and set aside the sauce.

Heat oil in a separate frying pan. The meat for 3 to 5 minutes or until light brown. Do it in batches so as not to overcrowd the pan.

Return the meat in the sauce and bring back to simmer. Continue cooking until the sauce is reduced and rendering fat.

Remove from heat and serve along with hot steamed rice or java rice.