Adobo Daze

If there's one dish I'm critical of, it's this one. When I think of home, I think of food. Being Filipino means I think of Adobo. It's done one way: home cooked, the way your grandmother makes it. Everything else feels fundamentally wrong. When we decided to make adobo though, I felt that maybe it was a chance to try something new. So we did...

Pork Adobo:
Drawn mostly from here (1). The dish was... ok. My brother and I agree that it was too vinegar-y and needed more soy sauce. The rest of the people eating said it was good, but then again they haven't had my grandmother's adobo. Next time I'll give her an international call to show them true adobo.

• 4 lbs Pork Loin (1" cubes)
• 2 heads Garlic (minced)
• 1 Onion (minced)
• 1 cup Soy Sauce
• 2 cup White Vinegar
• 4 cup Water
• 12 Bay Leaves
• 4 tbsp Cornstarch

In a large pot heat oil on medium-high. Saute the minced garlic and onion in the bottom of the pan until golden brown. Add the rest of the ingredients, stir, and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 mins. Heat oil in a large pan on medium high. Remove the pork from the pot and fry in the pan for 5 minutes. Return to pot with the cornstarch (mixed first in water) and bring to boil again. Reduce heat and simmer for a few minutes before serving with rice.

If I were to do this recipe again, I would even out the amount of soy sauce and vinegar used (1 1/2 cups each) to cut the sour and increase the salt. I'd simmer it longer too and not quick fry the pork. The longer cook time would soften the pork more and let in more flavor. It was also a pain to remove all the pork just to put it back in. Total ingredients cost was $8 for 5 people and some lunch the next day. Took around 1+ hr to cook with preparations.

Cites:
(1) http://www.filipinofoodrecipes.net/adobo.htm