Filipino Chicken Adobo
FILIPINO · PHILIPPINES

Filipino Chicken Adobo

Adobong manokMain

Soy, vinegar and garlic, cooked down until the sauce turns almost black and lacquers the chicken. This is the adobo every Filipino home argues about — and every version is right.

Total
65 min
Heat
1/5
Serves
4

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Flavour profile

Heat
Funk
Acid
Richness
Umami
  • Garlicky
  • Salty
  • Savoury
  • Sour

The real deal

Region
Philippines, cooked in every province; the vinegar-soy-garlic braise is the national dish by consensus.
Technique
Braise the chicken in vinegar, soy and crushed garlic, then reduce the sauce hard until it clings and goes glossy-dark.
We kept
Real cane vinegar, a whole head of garlic, bay leaf and peppercorns; no sugar-water shortcut and no thickener.

Ingredients

4 Serves

Braise

  • 900 g · bone-in, skin-on
  • 500 g
  • 120 ml
  • 180 ml
  • 120 ml

Aromatics

  • 1 · a whole head, crushed
  • 1 tbsp · cracked
  • 3

fry

  • 2 tbsp

finish

  • 1 tsp · optional · only if your vinegar bites hard

Garnish

  • 2 · optional · sliced thin

Method

  1. Smash with the flat of your knife — you want bruised, broken cloves, not a fine mince. Leave the skins on if you like; they sweeten the braise and get fished out later. Crack coarsely under a pan or with the back of a knife. You want shards that release heat slowly, not dust.

    Do not chop it fine. Whole crushed cloves perfume the sauce without turning bitter during the long simmer.

  2. Put the chicken in a bowl with 120 ml , the crushed garlic and half the cracked peppercorns. Turn everything over with your hands so every piece is coated, then leave it for 30 min. The chicken will darken and smell of soy and raw garlic.

    Keep the marinade — it goes into the pot. Nothing is thrown away.

  3. Heat 2 tbsp in a wide heavy pot over medium heat. Lift the chicken out of the marinade — keep the marinade — and lay it skin side down. Sear until the skin is deep gold and renders, about 5 min a side. Work in batches; crowding steams the skin instead of browning it.

    The pot must be wide enough to hold everything in one layer later. If it isn't, the sauce reduces unevenly and the bottom scorches.

  4. Pour in 180 ml and 120 ml plus the reserved marinade, and the rest of the peppercorns. Do not stir for the first 5 min — let the vinegar come to a boil and cook off its raw edge. Then drop to low heat, cover and simmer until the meat gives way at the bone, about 25 min.

    Never stir in raw vinegar and taste straight away; boiling it first is what makes adobo sour rather than harsh.

  5. Take the pot off the heat and leave the chicken in the sauce for 10 min. This is not optional: the meat reabsorbs liquid as it cools and comes out juicier, and the sauce deepens.

    This rest is the difference between good adobo and great adobo. Do not skip it.

  6. Lift the chicken onto a plate. Fish out the bay and the garlic skins and throw them away. Boil the sauce hard over high heat until it thickens to a glossy, almost-black glaze that coats a spoon, about 7 min. Taste it: if the vinegar still bites too sharply, stir in 1 tsp .

    Judge by the spoon, not the clock. The sauce should leave a clear line when you drag a spoon through it.

  7. Return the chicken to the pot and turn it through the glaze over medium heat for 2 min, spooning the sauce over the top until every piece is sticky and dark.

  8. Pile the chicken on steamed rice and pour over the rest of the glaze. Scatter if you have it. Eat with your hands or a spoon and fork, Filipino style.

    Adobo tastes even better the next day. Cool it fast, fridge it, and reheat gently with a splash of water.

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