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Adobo As Next Gourmet Dish

Discussion in 'Culture and Food' started by Micawber, Feb 2, 2012.

  1. Micawber
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    Micawber Renowned Lifetime Member

    With a steady blend of heat, flavors, and love, Filipino cuisine has caught the eyes and taste buds of American food enthusiasts and experts, who see a dish as simple as adobo as the next gourmet dish.

    At last month’s Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco, California, news site New America Media reported: “Adobo is considered a signature dish in Filipino cooking, which, judging from the buzz at [the event], could be poised to ride the next gourmet food wave.”

    However, the craze goes beyond Adobo, the news site said, adding that veteran food writer Nancy Freeman “has been a long-time fan” of the Filipino cuisine.

    “I think there are so many hot Filipino restaurants now, and they have really helped get this food bubbling to the surface of the marketplace,” said Freeman, who is also the president of the Asian Culinary Forum.

    In the hit US reality TV show “Top Chef,” for example, Filipino American contestant Paul Qui whipped up a contemporary version of the staple dish, using quail and ginger rice. The dish sent him off to the next round and earned him admiration of kababayans who tune in to the show.

    Gourmet Pinoy food

    Freeman told New America Media that putting Filipino food forward to high-end dining lies in its presentation. For her part, she has been pairing Filipino dishes with wine—quite fitting, she said, because our cooking is influenced by Spaniards and they “drink wine all the time.”

    The freelance food writer-editor has paired Adobo with white wine and got favorable results.

    “Who would have thought that would be fantastic? It worked very well, none of us expected it!” she said.

    She also said that chefs should “consider veering away from ‘lutong bahay’ or home-style cooking.”

    “It can’t just be as my mom or grandma makes it. It can be however you want to make it, it can be a modern take, it can be fusion, it can be whatever tastes good, as long as it reflects its roots,” Freeman told the New America Media.

    Pinoy food transformation

    Several Filipino American chefs took to this train of thought as they competed last month in the second “Kulinarya: A Filipino Culinary Showdown,” a cook-off hosted by the Philippine Consulate General together with several agencies including the Philippine Departments of Tourism and Trade and Industry.

    Arlene Nuñez, for example, bagged the prize in the Amateur division for her menu that included Adobo Banh Mi—merging the staple dish with a classic Vietnamese sandwich.

    Chef Albert Rivera reigned in the professional division “with a sampling that included shrimp and vegetable fritters with a ‘Calamansi’ Ponzu Sauce” and the classic Filipino summer refreshment halo-halo, “a dessert of shaved ice, evaporated milk, and a mixture of various fruits and beans.”

    For her part, Gloria Ramos, who competed in the Amateur division, made a “veganized” Afritada, replacing chicken or port with tofu.

    “My daughter turned vegan and I had to create different things for her,” she said.

    Covering the Kulinarya event was newspaper editor Nicholas von Wettberg, who said, that Filipino cuisine could “break through the mainstream food scene by making it as healthy as possible, especially by cutting down on grease and sodium.”

    He said the Filipino dishes he saw reflected the creativity of chefs of Filipino descent, especially with desserts.

    “The way the chefs presented their dessert courses was very colorful and vibrant. It’s satisfying to know that there are young Filipino chefs out there who are thinking outside the box, there was definitely love and care for detail with these dessert dishes,” he said

    Source:-
    http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/246627/pinoyabroad/us-foodies-see-adobo-as-next-gourmet-dish
  2. Micawber
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    Micawber Renowned Lifetime Member

    There's plenty of Pinoy foods I really enjoy, and even cook here in UK.
    Sorry to say that Adobo is not one of them. I'm really not fond of that.

    There's very very few Pinoy dishes that would appear on my personal gourmet listing.

    No offence.
  3. oss
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    oss Somewhere Staff Member

    I must say that a well made Chicken Adobo the way our Nanay makes it is my favourite.

    One of the things that I fell in love with was the kind of slightly dull but spicy nature of a lot of the food, in an odd strange kind of way it reminded me of the slightly dull and not so spicy home cooking I grew up with in Scotland, stews and soups, stews and soups :) and I don't mind the substitution of rice for our potatoes.

    Next time I am over I am going to record Nanay's recipes, I don't think they are complicated but they are the best of home cooking that I have had over there, other families home cooking just tastes that bit different, Ana's cooking is good too and of course I cook sometimes when I am over there as well, usually Chinese as they don't really like Indian and it's hard for me to get the Indian spices anyway (I would have to travel up to Manila to get stuff like turmeric).

    The article sounds interesting but while I like Filipino food, I do kind of agree that it is hard to see it at the height of Gourmet cooking :D
  4. subseastu
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    subseastu I'm Bruce Wayne Lifetime Member

    I was never a fan of adobo (to plain and salty from the soya sauce) until my wife found a recipe that uses pineapple juice. Really really nice. Her lumpia are excellant as well made better by using rasins. Not keen on pancit canton though, it never really tastes of very much to me and I get bored after a few mouthfulls.
  5. guenther
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    guenther Member

    Well, there are several kinds of Adobo anyway. In NCR Region they cook it "saucy" in the Visayan parts more dry. Ad then of course a kazillion variations.

    However, even when i said otherwise in the (long ago) past, Filipino food isn't that bad actually.It really depends who prepares it and how much money he invests in the ingredients. With other word, try to cook some European Sinature dishes with basic and lower quality vegies or meats. It will be a disaster too. And if one looks at any nations cook book, how often they start with "take 300 gram of Tenderloin...".
    Something people just can't afford in the third world.

    I had some surprising expereinece with a Filipino Restaurant in Munich and later in Frankfurt. Both where run by Chefs which had Pinoy wifes and just "westernized" the dishes by using fine ingredients and a bit more effort in presentation. One should not forget, that most Pinoy food in the P.I is cooked once a day and then hangs around in the pot for hours, certainly its overcooked (sterilized) and not that tasty anymore.
    But fresh and "au pointe" prepared its not bad at all.

    Well, and when one eats the original traditional foods of any given country, he would not be very delighted either, except Italy maybe.
    Its only since WW2 that Cuisine got better and better and efforts being made "gourmet", before that we also just cooked to fill the tummy.
    Interesting in this context the often heard complaint by tavellers in the old days about Chinese food when they first tasted it in HKG. They were all disappointed because all they knew were mostly the Western Varaince in their home country.
    (I admit i was one of them too, but now i accustomed to the original Chinese food as well, not that i like it very much, i still prefer our European or US variation.)

    So in the context of Pinoy Gourmet food... I see it coming, after all, we have Eritrean and Ethiopean Diners in Germany. And come on guys, have you ever eaten in those countries? Its a disaster there, not to mention the scarcity of foods available in General. But in germany they got good critics. (LOL, most dishes were actually Eqyptian, but who cares.)
  6. Stewart
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    Stewart New Member

    I have to say that I like most food, but when i visited my mahal in Pinas chicken adobo was a very good start, in fact i loved it, also my partners auntie made the most staggering atsiara -hope i spelled that right- i even ate some with spaghetti -cue funny looks!!!!!- but my favourite with Bicol express cooked another of my love's auntie, maybe the hottest food i have ever eaten and also stunningly tasty. i have tried making adobo myself but so far failed!!!
  7. Stewart
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    Stewart New Member

    Also -forgot to say this-
    as i like atsiara so much i was sent home with a large sandwich box sized container full of beautiful atsiara which was devoured speedily, breakfast -with toast- (c'mon i am british (Welsh) lunch with sandwich or anything, and dinner, with er anything!
  8. Micawber
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    Micawber Renowned Lifetime Member

    C'mon Stewart, can you explain this "atsiara"?
    I've tried doing a google search, and you really don't want to know what keeps coming up:D

    Can you describe the ingredients and how it's cooked?
  9. Stewart
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    Stewart New Member

    Micawber

    Sorry have I spelled it wrong, atsara as far as i can remember its something like a coleslaw made with pickled shredded papaya with ginger and peppers and onions, beautiful.....
  10. oss
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    oss Somewhere Staff Member

    Yep I had some here, you can get it in Chinese grocers in the UK, not bought any for a long time it's a wonderful side.

    Atchara is the correct name although the Chinese spell it slightly differently, the Korean version is wonderful as well.
  11. Stewart
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    Stewart New Member

    OSS

    Chinese grocers! I will try and hunt it out see how it compares, yes I have seen it spelled so many different ways
  12. Micawber
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    Micawber Renowned Lifetime Member

    Ah, I see. Papaya pickles. Now I know. Yep, I lreally ike that too.

    Actually my wife is a big fan of Kimchi (korean spicy).
  13. norm17
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    norm17 Banned


    nice...can't imagine that a simple adobo see as next gourmet dish...

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