Adobo like My Mother Made It.

Note: The meat(s) chosen for this preparation vary depending on the
time of year and the social or familial reasons for its preparation.
The most "traditional" are chicken or chicken and pork in combination.
For "feast days" - really "big" special occasions -- the combination of
chicken and pork was my Mother's choice - it pleased the most people.

This is really the beginning of the recipe:

1 chicken - approx. 4 lbs. Cut into pieces. In "western" cookery the
pieces of chicken are usually: 2 wings; 2 legs; 2 thighs; 2 breast
halves and the back. For this adobo, please cut each of the breast
halves into two smaller pieces and set the back aside for another use,
perhaps to make chicken stock?
When the chicken is cut up set it aside.

Approx. 4 lbs of pork. It depends what's on sale at the market near
you. You can use pork chops (with ot without the bones) you could buy a
nice pork roast and cut it up into gobbets of approx. 2" x 2". Some
prefer the pork loin, some the shoulder, in some parts of the country
the stores sell a "Boston Butt" roast which is a good shoulder cut.
There's another one called a fresh "picnic" ham (uncured and not
smoked) this is very good. After years of experimentation, I prefer to
use what they call here in California "Country-Style Ribs." These are
portions of pork which usually measure about 2" wide by 4" or 5" long.
I trim these to about 2" x 2". Oh, yeah, these "ribs" have no bones. Go
figure!
When the pork is cut up set it aside.

Get yourself a "thick-sided" "Dutch oven." The name of this pan varies
in different parts of the US as well as around the world. Mine is about
6 U.S. quarts in capacity and is made by a company called Calphalon. It
has a tight-fitting lid and is designed for slow, moist cooking. Other
manufacturers make similar pans. Please do not use one that is made of
"stainless steel." This type is designed for a much "faster" type of
cooking.

Into the 6-quart pan, layer the chicken and pork pieces "a little of
this and then a little of that" - don't try to keep the layers
"discreet." Continue until the pan is filled. Trust me. This is one
dish you will want to make and to keep for left-overs, I promise.

The next ingredients:
4 bay leaves
6 - 8 whole black peppercorns
3 - 4 whole cloves of garlic (peeled and "smashed" with the wide side of
a kitchen knife)
2 tablespoons of dried oregano (Mama said you could use dried sage -
same measurement if that was easier for you. I made it that way once
and it was "decent but no award.")
1/2 cup of soy sauce
1/2 cup of vinegar (I favor "apple cider" vinegar but "distilled white" is
fine.)

Place the bay leaves in four different locations in the pan.
Scatter the whole black peppercorns over the top of the meat.
Sprinkle the dried oregano over everything. (If you can't remember when
you bought your dried oregano you'd better use one more teaspoonful.)
Pour the soy sauce over the meat.
Pour the vinegar over the meat.
Pick up the pan and try to "swirl" the liquids around the meat gobbets.
Slowly so you don't splash. Put the lid on the pot.

Now, you can either leave the pot on your kitchen counter for the next 4
hours or you can put it into your fridge overnight. The meat has got to
soak in this marinade. It will only "taste something like adobo" if you
don't allow enough time for the marinating. During this waiting time,
you can go back and "stir things up" in the pan if you want to seem busy
but it's not really needed.

<After the passage of some indeterminate amount of time chosen by the
cook and the exigencies of day-to-day life.>

Put the pot on the stove top, uncovered, and turn on the heat. VERY
HIGH heat please until the liquids come to a boil. Then reduce the heat
to VERY LOW and put the lid back on. Come back in about 45 minutes and
check the "doneness" of the meats. It should almost be ready. The full
cooking time should be around 80 minutes plus or minus.

This is a good time to make the rice that goes with the adobo. I'm sure
you know how to steam or boil rice. Go ahead and do that now - Okay, if
you don't know. Here it is: Get the "little brother" of the big Dutch
oven you've got the adobo in - about 2 quarts. Measure into it 2 cups
of dry, raw rice. Rinse the rice under running water in the sink.
(Fill the pan with water and swirl the rice around until the water turns
milky. Pour off the water and do it again. Three rinses should do it.
After the final rinse, measure 4 cups of water into the pan and place it
on the stove top. High heat till it boils. Then stir the rice
thoroughly, put the lid on the pan and reduce the heat to very low. Iin
20 minutes the rice will be done.

When the adobo is cooked completely - fork-tender - do NOT make the
mistake of serving it -- yet. It needs to be "finished." There are
seveal ways of doing this. My Mother would take a stainless steel
frying pan or an iron skillet and put about 1/2 cup of vegetable oil into
it. When the oil was very hot - but not smoking - she would add several
pieces of the adobo to the pan. They only need to be "crisped up."
About 2 or 3 minutes for each piece. When they're one, place them on
paper towels to drain. While you're doing this, be certain that with
each group of gobbets in the pan you include a bit of the
marinade/cooking liquid from the big Dutch oven. This liquid will
reduce to little black "crumbles" in the bottom of the pan. When you
take out the meat, take out the crumbles and place them on one side on a
separate plate to cool.

An alternative to this is to "crisp" the adobo pieces under the broiler
on your oven. This is "dicey" because you don't want to dry it out -
just crisp it up. It is a worthwhile alternative.

When it comes timeto serve this: Scoop the white rice into the center
of a large platter. Arrange the pieces of meat around the rice.
Sprinkle the "crumbles" over the rice.

The "usual" accompaniment to this dish in my house is a light fruit
salad. Melons, strawberries, kiwi, you get it? It's all in the
contrast. By the way, if you like cranberry sauce or cranberry relish
or mango chutney, they all go very nicely with the adobo. They are not
"necessary" but they are nice.

If you're making more than one meal's worth. Don't crisp up the meat
until just before you want to serve it. Despite what my Patient Wife,
the Queen of Tupperware, says, you CAN leave the meat in the cooking pan
and put it into the fridge. It's easier for snacking.