Beef Adobo from the Philippines
Adobo of any kind in the Philippines is usually very good, beef being my favorite. Adobo is basically the sauce that comes with the little strips of meat, which can be beef, pork, squid … the list goes on. Adobo sauce itself is a mix of garlic, soy sauce, vinegar and pepper. It’s a delicate yet very nice flavor.
One of the things about beef adobo that I always found a little amusing is that it’s also often referred to as beef steak. Which to me is a might big clump of meat. So watch out if you order in a place without seeing it and end up getting beef adobo.
Adobo is available all over the Philippines in many cantina’s and restaraunts. Prices vary from a local dish of 30 pesos all the way up to 100 + in more expensive places. I’ve had both, and prefer the local as it seems to have a little more kick.
This is an additional post and one of a series highlighting Food in The Philippines
hi! it seems that the picture is a “bistek” (a colloquial term for “beef steak”) tagalog. it is beef marinated in soy sauce, pepper, calamansi (a small citrus fruit), and sugar. it is stir fried. the marinating liquid is then added and thickened with cornstarch. it is usually topped with fresh or fried onion rings. sometimes vinegar is used in place of calamansi, specially when it is not in season and maybe quite expensive. sometimes pork is used and it maybe called pork steak or “tinoyo-an” (soyed).
abobo was traditionally a hunters stew of meat or poultry or a combination of both, cooked in garlic, soy sauce, peppercorns, bay leaf (optional) and vinegar. it may last unrefrigerated for about 2 days. Squid adobo is cooked differently.
Great history of bistek and Adobo there, very interesting. Though, I must say I’ve never seen Calamansi out of season these days! Maybe it’s imported
wow thanks for all the tips on food from philippines food hope to go out for 4 weeks going from place to place given me great insite to it any tips on jabs i need ,from england and hope to travel all round luzon ,pangasinan, thanks for this site ilove to cook ,yours martin.
Thanks, enjoy the Philippines, there’s lots to see and do out there. 4 weeks is a great amount of time to spend there!