Adobong Baka
Beef Short Ribs Braised with Soy Sauce & Vinegar Served with Mash Potato
What is Adobo?
The word ‘Adobo’ is a borrowed Spanish word ‘Adobar’ meaning to marinade. When Spaniards came to the Philippines, according to the book Memories of Philippine kitchens by Amy Besa and Romy Dorotan, a dish braised with soy sauce and vinegar already existed and they named the native dish Adobo because it resembled their adobo. If we are going to get technical, the original Adobo didn’t have soy sauce. It was only when the Chinese introduced soy sauce to the Filipino people that we started cooking Adobo with soy. Originally it was cooked with salt and vinegar as a base. As an archipelago, each region has their own version of adobo and each household has their own take on Adobo too.
As you may have noticed in my blog, I already posted a few adobo recipes. Can you imagine how many adobo recipes 1 household might have and how many recipes the whole of Philippines might have? Crazy!
Here are some of my adobo recipes:
Adobong Kangkong – Morning Glory Adobo
Adobong Manok at Baboy – Pork and Chicken Adobo as seen on Buzzfeed
Reduced sauce 
Strained the bits in the sauce for a smoother sauce
SWAP IT AND COMMON QUESTIONS
Soy sauce – I’m using a Filipino brand, Datu Puti in particular but you can use any Filipino brand. This will make a huge difference when making adobo.
Vinegar – Filipinos use sugar cane vinegar when making adobo. There is a reason for this, one is that it’s locally abundant and the second reason is that when you braise for a long time the ‘asim’ sour in the vinegar doesn’t turn bitter unlike other vinegar.
Why don’t you have sugar in your adobo?
Short answer, it’s because it does not traditionally have sugar in the adobo. The sugar cane vinegar should provide a little sweetness in it when it’s cooked right. It’s hard to explain. Sugar shouldn’t be prominent in the flavour, to me it’s an after taste.
Mash potato – my recipe is just a guideline, cook your mash potatoes however you want.
Pressure cooker – I cooked my adobo ribs in my pressure cooker as it’s faster. I’m all about saving money and time without compromising flavours.
Pro tip – we usually cook Adobo the day before we serve it, we leave it in the fridge overnight. It tastes better the next day!
Don’t @ me! Make some rice if you prefer…HAHA!!
I would love to hear from you, please tag me on socials @foodwithmae OR comment below.
Ingredients
Beef Ingredients
Mash Potatoes
Instructions
In a large bowl, add beef, soy sauce, vinegar, half of the minced garlic and bay leaves. Mix them well until the meat is covered with the marinade, cover it and leave it to marinate for 1-2 hours or overnight. The longer you marinate it the tastier it is.
I’m using the pressure cooker but you don’t need to, you can use a pot too.
If you’re using a pressure cooker, close it and cook for 30 minutes. If you’re using a pot, bring it to a boil on high heat. When it’s boiling, turn the heat to low, put the lid on and leave it to simmer for 1 hour to 2 hours.
When the beef is cooking you can make the mashed potatoes. Boil the potatoes until it’s soft then drain the water. Using a masher, mash the potatoes then add milk, butter, salt and pepper. Mix them well until you get a soft mashed potato.
When the beef is tender and soft, continue to cook the beef until the sauce is reduced to half or very low & a little thicker. This is optional, depending on how you like the sauce. The lesser the sauce the more morish it is.
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