Did you know that one of the dishes served to celebrate the declaration of Philippine independence 108 years ago was said to be adobo? And presumably homesick in Madrid in 1883, Jose Rizal, together with 15 compatriots that included the famous painter Felix

Ressureccion, and Pedro Paterno, who would negotiate the Biak-na-bato Peace Treaty 14 years later, prepared a feast of fritada, lechon and adobo which they ate kamay-kamayan.

In The Adobo Book: Traditional and Jazzed Up Recipes, published in 2004 by Anvil Books in Manila, Reynaldo Gamboa Alejandro, New York resident and renaissance man, and Aristocrat scion Nancy Reyes Lumen, amassed 159 different variations of a recipe consisting fundamentally of vinegar, garlic, peppercorns and your choice of meat.

The book lists everything from classic CPA (chicken pork adobo) to yagit na adobo (adobong laman loob…ng bangus!) to American-style adobo (browned in the oven, and recalling the title of a movie shot in the United States a few years back called American Adobo!), to artist Anita Magsaysay Ho’s Cornish hen adobo to poet Virgie Moreno’s adobo á Paris (with fresh foie gras!) to something called my mother’s adobo to adobo sa beer to adobo aoili to adobo by intuition (by Paris-trained chef Anthony Yupangco who says, “I don’t follow precise measurements”).

In fact, New York Times food writer Mark Bittman described the dish as “the Philippine classic that has been called the best chicken dish in the world by a number of friends of mine.” Bittman’s own chicken adobo recipe appears in his book, How to Cook Everything.

“ Adobo is the noun derived from adobado, the name of a stewed meat dish in Mexico, from where (writer) Carmen Guerrero-Nakpil says the Philippine adobo comes,” wrote the late great food historian Doreen Fernandez in her essay, “Culture Ingested: Notes on the Indigenization of Philippine Food.”

She said that adobo, in Spain, meant a pickling sauce made from olive oil, vinegar, garlic, thyme, laurel, oregano, paprika and salt. “The Filipino has thus given the name adobo to a particular dish of chicken or pork-and-chicken, and derived from it an adjective to describe other foods using the same or a similar cooking process (adobong pusit). The term adobado has moved from the dish to the process of stewing in a spiced or flavored broth (e.g., ‘Ang itik sa Angono’y adobado na bago prituhin’), thus using the basic meaning—to cook in a pickling sauce.”

But before we all get into a pickle whipping up (and defending) our version of the national ulam, here’s the classic adobo recipe. But authors Alejandro and Reyes-Lumen happily remind us that adobo recipes are often “freestyle and personally owned” by those who share the “romance, uniqueness and tradition” of their own special way of cooking our pambansang ulam.

BASIC CHICKEN ADOBO

Adapted from Enriqueta David-Perez’s Recipes of the Philippines (1963)
1 chicken, cut into pieces
½ c. vinegar
1 clove garlic
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
½ bay leaf
lard

2 c. water 1. Add salt, minced garlic and pepper to chicken.
2. Transfer mixture to a stew pan.
3. Add bay leaf, vinegar and water.
4. Cover and simmer until chicken is tender and liquid has practically evaporated.
5. Add lard and fry meat until brown.
6. Serve hot or cold.

Adobo flakes
TRIVIA, TANONG, TIPS, ATBP.

From The Adobo Book
- Joseph Estrada’s mother, Doña Mary Ejercito, serves adobo as one of a trio of ulam consisting of kare-kare and kilawin.

- If adobo is fiercely relished by locals and foreigners alike, why isn’t it as famous as Thailand’s tom yum, Indonesia’s nasi goring, Mexico’s tacos and France’s coq au vin?

- Tip No. 5 from “10+ commandments in cooking adobo”: Always have salt in adobo. It helps balance the acidity.

- Tip No. 12: Do not stir vinegar till it has cooked. That is, when all the acid has evaporated. Your nose will tell.

- For the kusinerang nagmamadali who leaves a sour vinegary adobo: throw in a couple of potato slices to absorb the acids and if you’re really desperate, add a little sugar.

- Freshly butchered meat is best for adobo. The enzymes still present absorb the blended seasonings and spices and cures the flavors into its own juices. - Adobong kalabaw in strong suka and bawang was the baon of the Katipuneros. They kept the sun-dried beef adobo flat inside their thick belts and the lining of their sayas.