How I Cooked Pork Adobo

I had a slab of pork meat sitting in the fridge for almost a week. I was afraid that it will spoil so I decided to cook the whole slab into one of the popular Filipino dish, which is pork adobo.

It is my first time to cook a dish that is more complex than instant noodles and boiled eggs. Thus, I used the power of the Internet and searched for a good pork adobo recipe. I discovered the Panlasang Pinoy website that has a pork adobo recipe that is easy to follow.

I read the recipe very diligently. I didn't want to fail (like what happened to my fried chicken drumstick) because I didn't want to waste a whole slab of meat because it is expensive. I just started cooking pork adobo when I became confident enough that I can cook it.
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My Ingredients for Pork Adobo

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Since this dish is pork adobo, the major ingredient is pork meat:

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Ms. Anney said that this meat is pork liempo or pork belly. I actually don't know what part of pork this meat is (ah such a noob) but I am glad that I got the correct meat. The recipe website said that I should use pork belly.

Other important ingredients are soy sauce and vinegar. Adobo will never be adobo if you don't have these.

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I had hard time looking for a bottle of soy sauce in the grocery. Aside from I can't understand Thai writing, soy sauce for sale are few. It seems like this condiment is not popular in Thailand.

I also needed garlic and pepper corn (pamintang buo).

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I can't find pepper corn (pamintang buo) in the grocery so I just settled for crushed pepper (pamintang durog). For this dish, the garlic should be crushed.

The remaining ingredients are bay leaves (laurel) and water.
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Let's Cook Pork Adobo

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The first thing that I did is to cut the pork meat into bite-sized pieces. I then crushed the garlic using my ladle.

The next step is to place the sliced pork meat and crushed garlic in one bowl. I then poured the soy sauce in the mixture. I made sure that the soy sauce covers the whole mixture. The recipe said that I marinate the meat for at least an hour but since I will be eating this for dinner, I marinated the pork meat for 3 hours.  I was preparing my pork adobo just after lunch.

The next is step is to place the pork-garlic-soy sauce mixture into a hot pan. I let it cooked in soy sauce for a few minutes.

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Marinated pork happily being cooked in soy sauce.

I then poured water when the garlic became brown. I also added the crushed pepper (pamintang durog) and bay leaves (laurel). I waited for the water to boil and then turned down the fire to make it simmer.

The recipe said that I should simmer the pork for 40 minutes to 1 hour. I intended to obey this instruction but I noticed that the water was almost evaporated after 20 minutes of simmering. I was in a dilemma. Should I follow the instruction or should I go to next step?

I checked the meat if it is cooked already by pricking it with a fork. I saw that the meat is already soft and not raw. With, this observation, I decided to go to the next step. That next step is to pour vinegar on the pork meat.

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My pork adobo is almost done.

I waited for few more minutes until I noticed that the sauce had evaporated. What remained is the oil from the pork. That's when I stopped cooking. My pork adobo is done! (Yey!)

Here is the finished product:

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My very first pork adobo.

This type of pork adobo is what we call as patuyot or dried adobo because there is not much sauce left. Most of the soy sauce and vinegar were either evaporated or absorbed by the pork meat. My father likes to cook the patuyot kind of adobo. My mother, on the other hand, prefers the pork adobo with lot's of sauce like a soup. My mother's pork adobo is perfect for our family because we are so many. Dried pork adobo can only feed few people.
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My Verdict on This Pork Adobo

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I think I did good for this pork adobo, though it was my first time to cook this. I think it tasted a little above OK. Although I tasted a hint of a pork meat that is about to be spoiled. This means that I cooked the pork meat just in time (which means I saved it from spoiling).
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Lessons Learned

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The major lesson that I learned while cooking pork adobo is this, “Do not follow instructions in cook books or recipe websites to the letter.”

The condition when the instructions on the cook book were written is different from the condition of my ingredients, stove, utensils, etc. The stove that I am using, for instance, had a problem. The fire go off whenever I turn the fire too low. Thus, I have no choice but to keep the fire beyond the "simmering level". This is the reason why the sauce evaporated in just 20 minutes of simmering.

I learned to treat instructions from cook books and recipe websites as guide only. A good cook knows how to adapt on what is happening to his or her cooking.
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Other Tips in Cooking Pork Adobo

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Some of my friends said that the pork don't need marinating. They said that I just saute the garlic then place the meat and then pour the soy sauce. I think their tip is perfect if you are in a rush. Marinating pork meat is important because it allows the pork to absorb the soy sauce.

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Pork adobo is indeed delicious! So, did you experience cooking this famous Filipino dish? Do you have a question on how to cook pork adobo? Tell me about it by leaving a comment on the comment box below..