About a month and a half ago, the website experienced an unusual spike in visitor activity, and I had no idea what prompted it. It wasn’t a particularly busy week of posts, I hadn’t said anything extremely controversial and frankly, most of my posts are so old they probably don’t appear on searches anymore. It turns out an interview I did with a writer for the Guardian newspaper/website in the U.K. months ago was published here. For the most part, the article includes my answers verbatim. But I must say it seems a bit out of place to put adobo under “street food” though I understand many of the dishes featured in that column aren’t necessarily strictly speaking, “street food”… and though I provided the recipe for my slow cooked adobo, I think it was edited for space issues. So if you are trying the recipe, please add the vinegar, leave the pot UNCOVERED (not covered immediately) until the vinegar burns off a bit then cover and simmer as stated in the recipe. Many thanks to the Guardian for featuring a much beloved Filipino dish, and to the ignorant person who left comments about the dish looking like poop, I agree with you it isn’t the most visually appealing, but it sure as hell tastes like heaven. It’s not like British stilton rife with molds smells any better than the cheese between that commenter’s toes after three days of hiking through bogs, but then again, Stilton tastes amazing. So there. And for the person who needed to know the exact kind of bay leaves, they are sweet bay leaves (I used fresh and dried) or laurus nobilis, and seriously, if they can’t find that in their grocery, I would like to know what part of the world or the U.K. they live in. :)
A few weeks after that Guardian article, the Asian Food Channel tweeted an old recipe of mine for Beef Sinigang…
Have we really run out of new material to keep the insatiable desire of social media for new sound bites or millisecond bites satisfied?
15 Responses
It is really nice to see that our Filipino food is taking on the food world. You are one of those who put us in the map. Good job and keep it up
Yeah. I proudly tell people that I (sort of) know you, and that I follow your blog everyday.
wow! thats awesome mm! keep it up
yey! the beginnings of a filipino food takeover! ….with the adobo comment, almost all foreign friends I cook for find it very tasty and would always ask for me to cook it again everytime I ask them for dinner or to bring it as a contribution for potluck dinners.. they dont mind or comment on the color either,they know its soya sauce :) …One thing they really love is what they call the ‘adobo gravy’ or the sabaw sa adobo…that they always make a mad scramble to be the first one to scoop a lot from the adobo that i serve.. one time a friend took almost all the sabaw and put it on top of his rice, and because it was so oily, he got stomachache! …He said that he really likes the gravy enough to hoard it but found out its better to share :)
Wow! Currently skimming through the Guardian article. I read the comments section first; boo to the commenter who said that adobo looks like turd! Why didn’t Guardian choose a better picture? We really should improve on the presentation of our dishes when serving it to international palates. I still believe, though, that one should not judge a book by its movie; and that the best way to judge a dish is by eating it and not by just looking at it.
Way to go MM!!
By the way, my aunt from Canada and I had a chance to eat in Zubuchon (Maxilom St. branch) for the first time when we went to Cebu this month. Great service! When will you have a branch in Manila?:)
“the cheese between that commenter’s toes after three days of hiking through bogs” – pure MM; only you can come up with a graphic description like this, hahaha!
Kristin, yeah, my American fiends prefer my “soupy” adobo, but I myself wanted it oily dry. they do top it in rice like gravy. My hubby does the same thing (and no bones chicken).
Bale po ang saya ko when at one of the Top Chef seasons, back in 2013, Chef Sheldon Simeon promoted well ,in his capacity as a Hawaii-born Filipino, Filipino food with his Restaurant Wars restaurant Urbano. Higit pa sa pagkadami daming smiley emoji na gusto kong ilagay dito. Kudos also goes to Chef Chrissy Camba, another well-meaning Filipino chef at Top Chef.
Good for you Marketman.
I believe The Guardian is the best newspaper in the UK. If you need tips on what nag to place a bet on, when you saunter down to the Bookie’s office on a Saturday afternoon, you might have to go elsewhere. The Guardian is a really solid newspaper and I hope the online venture here in the US is a success.
I’m surprised I missed this as I read The Guardian more than our local newspapers.
Great! I also liked the little elbow hit on “the ignorant person”.
This made me want to revisit your adobo recipe! Too bad I broke our palayok so I will try if cooking it in a teflon pan works.
I’ve always wondered why, for decades of colonizing pockets of now-established Filipino communities overseas, Pinoys have not made much impact on the world food stage. I don’t understand why foodies around the globe don’t call it ‘patis’ and still say fish sauce or the much trendier ‘nam pla.’ Our patis has much more depth in flavour than the other bottles found in Southeast Asia, and the fact that Pinoys like me are finding it easier to locate Filipino food brands in Asian/Filipino stores overseas, it’s about time we ourselves refer to patis rather than fish sauce or the droll nam pla.
It will be great to see Filipino food terms enter the global gourmet language. And it’s incumbent on all Pinoys who convert their foreign friends to Filipino classics such as adobo, dinuguan, and lechon, to use the Filipino food terms so the rest of their communities can take notice.
I already know you’d say no, but I would absolutely love it if I can work with you to bring Zubuchon to Australia. There is a severe shortage of Filipino restaurants in Melbourne and Sydney, and much less in the rest of this enormous country. Whilst the price range is fairly competitive, the quality is consistently less than what one would hope for. I’m fairly certain that a spit can be applied for so they are cooked on site. There are enough Greek spits with whole goat sacrifices around, that’s for sure. Also, and funnily enough, there has been a revival of meat eating in this increasingly gluten-free and organic food culture. The hipsters are making eating meat cool again, and the market here needs good meat that is shrouded in ritual and tastes like heaven.
Will try this next week….i am salivating downloading the recipe on the guardians, just got my charcoal kalan & black palayok,now i am back home (Phil.)Guardians ignorant commenter beware.. don’t try cooking this adobo for you will cravingMM Adobo for the rest of your miserable life.I rather eat our food than some your bland dishes.
And I *just* happened to come across this local online piece: https://www.rappler.com/move-ph/balikbayan/identity/89605-adobo-french-roots?utm_content=buffer2dd35&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
I’d comment to correct her pronunciation of the French term (as others already have) and to point out that the mention of soy sauce near the end gives her away, but the site wants me to sign in first, which seems too much to ask haha. Anyway, naturally, I’m biased in favor of the true expert here, who is certainly Marketman. ;)