Why everyone should try making Filipino Adobo

0:00 Everybody knows that Filipino adobo tastes amazing.

0:03 But for me, what makes it life-changing isn't just about the flavor.

0:08 It's about the lifestyle behind it.

0:11 First, it requires low activation energy.

0:13 All you need to do is sear a few pieces of meat, add in some aromatics,

0:17 then pour in the soy sauce vinegar bracing liquid, and just let it do its thing.

0:21 Secondly, [music] it's great for a crowd or prepping ahead

0:24 of time to eat for the next couple of days.

0:27 This is one of those dishes where the leftovers

0:29 taste [music] just as good the next day.

0:32 And lastly, it's really versatile.

0:34 You can use different kinds of meat,

0:36 [music] switch up the aromatics, and really make your own version.

0:39 So, let's cook my version live,

0:40 and then I'll meet you back here for a final taste test.

0:44 [music] Okay, so a couple of things to talk through here, but yeah,

0:52 I mean chicken adobo such kind of a good just staple recipe

0:57 and kind of framework to know and have in your back pocket.

1:00 Now, I will say the one that I'm making today,

1:02 I'm making some of my own little tweaks on it.

1:04 It's maybe not a hyper traditional one.

1:06 Um, if you want to kind of find a really traditional recipe,

1:10 there is this really good uh YouTube video

1:12 of it's like a a mom and her daughter, they both cook their own version.

1:16 I think one does it with chicken, one does it with uh pork belly,

1:20 and you can kind of just see like there's some slight differences.

1:22 Obviously, they changed up the meat,

1:24 but I'm going to add some my own little tweaks in here a little bit.

1:28 Now, the core thing is we need a meat of some kind.

1:33 Pack of chicken thighs.

1:34 A lot of times you'll see um bone in chicken.

1:36 Um I'm just going to keep it boneless cuz I'm kind of going for like

1:38 a more of like a meal prep that I can kind of eat throughout the week.

1:42 Um busier week.

1:43 Just got back from a trip.

1:44 And then there's a mixture of soy sauce and vinegar.

1:47 Now, these are like the more traditional ones

1:49 that they do use in um in the Philippines,

1:52 but you can use any soy sauce you want.

1:54 I'm actually going to add a little bit of dark

1:57 soy sauce to mine um which is probably not super traditional,

2:00 but I want that kind of deeper, darker color in it.

2:04 And then for the spices, again, very simple.

2:07 Bay leaf is going to be kind of has to be in there.

2:10 And then typically they'll use some black pepperc corns.

2:13 Now, I'm going to use some chipotle or sorry, these aren't chipotles.

2:17 Uh chilies are bold today just because um I want something a little spicy.

2:22 I want to mix in a little spiciness.

2:24 Um again, that's just something I'm kind of doing.

2:26 It's just what I'm in the mood for.

2:27 It's not like not trying to be hyper traditional.

2:30 And this is kind of one of the things that we're

2:32 we're kind of building into um the app that we're building.

2:37 So we have these kind of frameworks.

2:38 So for example, the Filipino adobo braze.

2:40 And you can kind of see it's like you have protein.

2:43 You can choose from different proteins.

2:44 Chicken thighs, pork belly, tofu, cooking oil.

2:46 Um your aromatics is typically going to be garlic.

2:49 Oh yeah, I have to get the garlic out.

2:51 Good thing I I opened this up.

2:52 The bay leaves, the black pepperc corns, like I said.

2:54 Then our brazing liquid is the soy and the vinegar and some water to top it off.

2:58 And then you can add a little bit of dark soy sauce,

3:00 palm sugar, whatever you kind of want to mix it up with.

3:03 Yeah.

3:03 So, this is kind of a great example of like a framework based recipe.

3:07 And in these, we're actually making it so you

3:09 can kind of create your own specific version of it.

3:12 If you have like a if you want to start creating your own version,

3:15 you can kind of click through.

3:16 I'm going to use chicken thighs, garlic, bay leaves.

3:19 Um, I could add my chilies, our bowl here.

3:24 Add that to the framework.

3:25 And then you can kind of see it it updates and like

3:28 this will make my own version that then I can go back to.

3:31 We're also we're working on the ability to add custom photos too,

3:34 which I'm really excited for.

3:35 But anyway, again, very simple dish.

3:41 Um, so for the chicken, we're going to lightly salt it and then just sear it.

3:46 Um, you know, pretty pretty basic here because

3:54 the soy sauce itself is going to be fairly salty,

3:56 but we need some um salt added as well.

4:06 So, nothing too crazy here.

4:11 So, I'm just going to add salt to one side.

4:14 And then, again, this doesn't really matter too much.

4:18 Um, like you don't need to really about worrying about thinning

4:21 these out cuz they're going to cook down um in that liquid.

4:25 So, I'm going to salt one side, put them face down in the oil,

4:32 and then I'll kind of salt the backside of them as well.

4:37 And yeah, I mean, one of the best ways,

4:39 like I think this pack cost me like 10 bucks.

4:42 Um, like $10 of chicken thighs.

4:45 Uh, you know, can get several meals out of this.

4:48 So, a little bit of salt there.

5:22 Then yeah, like I said, so for the aromatics,

5:25 I'm going to grab out like two chilies,

5:27 our bowl, some garlic, um, and then a little bit of bay leaf.

5:32 And this is one of those dishes where if you have super fresh bay leaves,

5:35 you probably want to be careful so you don't overpower

5:38 it and it ends up tasting just like bay leaf.

5:40 Um, I'm just going to kind of finish up these last two leaves that I have.

5:46 And this is a reminder, I need to run to the grocery store and grab some more.

5:53 And then as well for the garlic, I think I'm just going to keep it whole.

5:55 You could dice it, mince it, whatever you want to do.

5:58 Um, if you kind of want to make it more garlicky.

6:00 I just want to kind of have it there as more

6:02 of a I guess more of as like a background ingredient or something.

6:16 So, garlic.

6:25 And basically after this chicken um browns up,

6:30 I'm going to toast all these aromatics.

6:32 And then we'll just pop the I'll pop the chicken like out on a plate.

6:37 And then we'll add our brazing liquid over top.

6:38 And then you can finish it on the stove.

6:40 You could do pressure cooker.

6:41 You can do whatever you want.

6:43 I kind of like just tossing stuff in the oven.

6:45 So, I've got the oven at like 300° right now.

6:47 And then it kind of just sits in there for like an hour or so.

6:50 Um, the the vinegar will kind of help everything break

6:54 down and make the the chicken really nice and tender.

7:04 So, we've got our aromatics here,

7:07 and I'm just going to do little snips of this uh this chili.

7:18 And again, yeah, just one of those dishes where it's fun to play around with.

7:22 Um, mix up your aromatics and then, yeah,

7:27 I mean, the the leftovers for this are so good.

7:29 Um, perfect thing to make ahead of time, like if you're trying to serve a crowd.

7:35 Um, and I I assume that's probably why it's pretty popular, you know,

7:39 in the Philippines is is that like you can make it ahead of time,

7:43 you can make big batches.

7:45 It's kind of that I mean, it just makes sense.

7:48 Like from a home cooking perspective,

7:50 that's that's a thing that I think about a lot.

7:52 Like when I think about c why certain dishes become popular,

7:56 it's like okay the flavor and like how it tastes is definitely part of it.

8:01 But two, it's like a lot of times it's from like a lifestyle perspective,

8:05 you know, like was it is it easy to make?

8:09 Can you make big batches?

8:11 Um all these sorts of things um are also really important.

8:15 And oftent times you'll see like oh like I get why it's so popular.

8:20 Like obviously it tastes good, but two it's like, "Oh,

8:23 this is really easy to make." Um, you can use any type of protein.

8:29 This cast iron's sticking on me a little bit.

8:31 Didn't quite get it hot enough, but it doesn't really matter for this recipe.

8:35 It'll it'll all be good.

8:37 So, you see we got some little browning in there.

8:44 Put all the spices away.

8:47 Then while this is searing too, um I will say uh this is like a a cane vinegar

8:54 and I was actually kind of testing it side by side some other vinegars.

8:57 So if you don't want to like order this specific bottle,

9:00 um this does have like vinegar um cane vinegar,

9:04 water, and a little bit of caramel color.

9:06 And it's 5% acidity, but to me it tastes closer to like I think

9:12 it's like in between a rice vinegar and a distilled white.

9:18 like it's not quite as harsh as distilled um but not

9:25 quite as like subtle as a rice vinegar would be.

9:31 So if you again it it's going to be good regardless of which one you use.

9:36 If you happen to have rice vinegar

9:37 and distilled I'd maybe do like a 50/50 blend.

9:40 If you want to get this just you know obviously you can go out and buy it.

9:43 Um or just use distilled white.

9:45 Like like I said, it's going to be good.

9:47 Um don't let that hold you back from like making this dish in some way.

9:56 Okay.

9:56 So, I'm just going to kind of shift all the chicken to one side.

10:04 Let that oil go down that way.

10:07 And like I said, just toss in the aromatics.

10:11 Grab my bay leaf and my chilies and see and really just

10:29 letting that sweat in those aromatics just to get infused by the oil.

10:35 You know, nothing crazy.

10:36 Just like 30 or so seconds.

10:41 And then we'll just mix it all together.

11:04 And then for our container here,

11:08 I'm going to do basically just one ratio of the vinegar to the to the soy sauce.

11:27 So do like a 100 grams 100 grams of each.

11:38 Oh, spilled some.

11:49 And then I'm going to add the uh the dark

11:52 soy sauce separately just so you guys can kind of see.

11:58 how it kind of changes the color.

12:00 So, bring that up to a boil.

12:10 And the chicken's not cooked through at this stage.

12:12 Obviously, we're going to finish it.

12:21 And then I'm just going to do a little drizzle over the top of the dark.

12:29 So I'm going to guess that was maybe 15 g or so.

12:32 But that's really going to give us like look at that.

12:34 I mean that deep dark color.

12:40 Again, in this amount,

12:41 it's not going to like drastically change the flavor profile,

12:44 but it is going to give us like a clear darkness um and you know,

12:49 a slight gloss to the to the chicken.

12:57 And this is one of those dishes probably looks a little

12:59 bit better if you use like skin on and really,

13:02 you know, get it um get those like pieces fried up really nicely.

13:09 Um, for me, I'm kind of going more the utilitarian route today.

13:12 Um, I just want to have this in my fridge and I can eat it right away.

13:16 I don't need to worry about bones or skin or anything like that.

13:20 And then I'm going to add a little bit of water

13:22 to this and actually a little bit of sweetness as well.

13:27 So, you could add sugar, you could add whatever you want.

13:32 Um, this is a little agave syrup I've been trying to use up forever.

13:36 So, I'm going to give this a little drizzle.

13:39 probably 20 to 30 grams.

13:45 And that's it.

13:46 So, all I'm going to do is just toss this into the oven.

13:50 Um, probably with the lid on and kind of just like slightly open and then

13:54 I'll kind of sear it and then I'll let it I'll let it cook down.

13:57 And I want to get this a little saucy.

13:58 That's just kind of how I like it.

14:00 But, um, sometimes you'll see it more watery.

14:02 It kind of just depends on on what you're looking for.

14:09 [music] [music] Okay, so after just an hour or so, I mean,

14:24 this is just an incredible amount of flavor that we have created.

14:29 The chicken thighs are absolutely falling apart.

14:31 That vinegar helps kind of soften all the muscles.

14:33 And let's give it a quick taste test.

14:35 But I am going to actually store

14:36 this for later before we do our final taste test.

14:41 Man, the depth of flavor on this is just nuts.

14:44 And that's another reason why I think specifically chicken adobo

14:47 should be in your repertoire because I mean if you're doing

14:50 like a big brazed chuck or or something like that, you

14:52 kind of need 4 to 6 hours in the oven.

14:54 But like in just an hour, we have created super shreddable chicken.

14:59 Little spicy from the chilies in our bowl.

15:01 And then man, just a great great dish.

15:03 So, what I'm going to do is actually store

15:05 this in the fridge because it's like 2:00 for me.

15:07 I already ate lunch.

15:08 I'm eating this for dinner.

15:10 And like I said, the leftovers when heated up,

15:13 I feel like are just as good as it is fresh out of the pan.

15:16 So, I'm going to pack all this up and I'll meet you guys back

15:18 in a few hours when I'm just heating it up and we'll do our final taste test.

15:23 [music] [music] [music] [music] [music]

16:19 Okay, I am so ready to dive into this again.

16:22 Just like shreddable chicken, super flavorful.

16:30 Also, I will say for reheating purposes,

16:33 I kind of like storing the sauce in a separate jar and then

16:36 you can heat it up and kind of spoonful it over the top.

16:38 Kind of gets down into the rice.

16:40 The fresh scallions, the spiciness from those chilies I added,

16:44 the bay leaf totally comes through too as well.

16:46 And then, yeah, the the sour and salty mix of the soy sauce

16:50 and the bear is just a super unique but really really good flavor profile.

17:06 This is also one of those dishes just really kind of addictive

17:09 and feel like you just want to keep going in bite after bite.

17:12 But anyway, I'm going to finish this.

17:13 That will wrap it up for me in this video.

17:15 Hopefully you guys try this recipe.

17:17 Link will be down below if you guys want to check it out.

17:19 But that's going to wrap it up for me in this one.

17:20 I'll catch you all in the next one.

17:22 Peace y'all.