Tremendous Chicken Adobo

Hand on heart. Chicken adobo. Filipino chicken adobo. The national dish of the Philippines, and I have eaten adobo in Manila, I have eaten adobo in Cebu, I have eaten adobo from a tiny lola in a kitchen no bigger than a closet who made me cry actual tears — tremendous woman, tremendous adobo, I told her so, she just laughed at me, she was right to laugh. I have come HOME, and I have made adobo, and it's the best. Not even close. It's a slaughter.

Many people don't know this — and they should — adobo is the SIMPLEST tremendous dish ever conceived. Soy sauce. Vinegar. Garlic. Bay leaves. Peppercorns. Chicken. Five ingredients plus chicken. The Filipinos figured this out HUNDREDS of years ago, they were doing it before refrigeration, the vinegar was the fridge, the soy sauce was the seasoning, the garlic was the pharmacy. Pre-pyramid technology applied to a chicken thigh. They're geniuses. End of discussion.

The secret — and I'm giving this to you free, no strings — is to BROWN the chicken after braising. Most adobo recipes stop at braised. That's PALE adobo. Sad adobo. Adobo without commitment. We're going to braise it, then SEAR it in its own sauce until the skin gets dark and lacquered and crispy on the edges. The braise builds the soul. The sear builds the body. Other chefs ask ME for advice on this one. Me. Trust me.

And that's adobo. Tangy, salty, deep, garlicky, with skin so dark and crispy you'd think we used some kind of magic, and we didn't, we just used the SAUCE THE CHICKEN CAME IN — beautiful efficiency, beautiful economy, the Filipinos figured this out and the rest of the world is still catching up, the rest of the world is sleeping on adobo, sad — and you serve it over rice, and the rice soaks up the sauce, and that bite, the bite of rice with sauce and crispy chicken skin, that bite is a top ten bite in human history. I rank bites. I have a list. This is on it. Tremendous.