Chances are, each of us pictures a different thing when we hear the word “adobo.” In Spain and Portugal, adobo is a marinade or seasoning, made with mild chiles, vinegar, garlic and spices. In Latin America, adobo is often seen as a marinade for smoked chipotle chiles. And it in the Philippines, it is a cooking technique whereby just about anything — meat, seafood, vegetable — is braised in a tangy mixture of salt, vinegar, garlic, pepper and bay leaves.
Filipino adobo is indigenous to the islands — cane vinegar and salt are both crucial preservatives in the tropical climate — but it didn’t gain its now-common name until the Spanish arrived and saw similarities to their acidic marinades. Today, Filipino adobo can take on many forms; it can be made with simply vinegar and aromatics, or it can include anything from soy sauce and ginger to coconut and lemongrass. As Filipino food writer Marvin Gapultos writes in his “The Adobo Road Cookbook,” “adobos are like snowflakes — no two are the same.”
Luckily, the simplest adobos are often the most delicious.
What you’ll find below is a lightly modified version of Gapultos’ classic chicken adobo, made with bone-in thighs, vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, bay leaves and pepper. To cut down on tedious garlic-peeling time, pick up a jar of the pre-peeled cloves. They’ll work just fine here. And while the original calls for whole peppercorns, using the freshly ground stuff will get its flavor into the chicken that much quicker.
From there, the recipe is simple: Combine everything in a Dutch oven or other pot with a lid. Leave the chicken skin-side down so it renders its fat quickly, and so the skin takes on a browned sheen in the sauce. Bring the sauce up to a simmer and let it do its thing until the chicken is mostly cooked. To finish, simply remove the lid, bring the sauce to a boil, flip the chicken, and baste the skin as it comes up to temperature.
A final note: The amounts of vinegar and soy sauce below are correct. It will seem like far, far too much. However, as chicken thighs rapidly simmer in the potent liquid, their fat melts in and emulsifies with the mixture, forming a lip-smacking, umami-filled sauce that is perfect on steamed rice, roasted vegetables, and just about anything you can dream up. Don’t waste it.
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