Chef Liza Dino-Seguerra – Multi-Talented Adobo Master

June 13, 2015

Spread the Love!

I was so glad to have been invited to an event featuring Chef Liza Dino-Seguerra. I don’t follow showbiz so I did not know anything about her before meeting her and I had no idea who she was.

My impression of her is that she is a very competent chef who knows her way around the kitchen. She cooked Squid Adobo and Winter Vegetable Adobo for us, and like any resourceful, reliable cook, was not fazed by less than stellar surroundings and made it work

Adobo Queen

Chef Liza’s specialty is Adobo – that quintessential Pinoy dish that every household has their own version of.

While making the Baby Squid Adobo and the Winter Vegetable Adobo (squash and green beans with coconut cream), Chef Liza shared some tips with us – for example, she makes sure to develop her sauce’s flavor, adding different layers by caramelizing onions, adding garlic, some vinegar, coconut cream, and shrimp. She blanches the vegetables separately in salted water and just adds them to the adobo sauce towards the end of cooking. This helps to retain the color and texture of the vegetables (we all know the veggies usually turn to mush when we cook them all in one pot ).

I really appreciated that she explained why she did things the way she did while cooking the adobo. I always love listening to chefs explain their cooking methods because I always learn something new!

For lunch, we were served an Adobo feast! There was the Winter Vegetables Adobo, the Baby Squid Adobo, Chicken Thigh Adobo, Pork Belly Adobo, Salted Egg & Tomato Salsa, and my favorite adobo of them all, the Beef Adobo with Spanish Chorizo in Achuete Oil.

Chef Liza’s adobo is not sour at all! The vinegar has infused into the meat, leaving the sauce full-bodied but not acidic. I think we should start making that a criteria for good adobo! Her meat adobos are cooked for hours on slow heat to develop amazing flavor.

After the meal, we were able to ask Chef Liza some questions and she was game. She was very friendly and like I said, knowledgeable about cooking adobo! She knows adobo inside out!

I also found out that Chef Liza has not only worked at Spago Beverly Hills (owned by Wolfgang Puck), but that she’s also an actress, a dancer, and a mom! She also has a YouTube channel where she shows us how to make yummy dishes.

And here’s a bit of news, too – Chef LIza and Aiza are planning to put up their own restaurant soon, to be called ADOBO PROJECT.

ORDER SOME ADOBO!

You can order Chef Liza’s adobo – she is selling them in jars, called Adobo in a Jar. I think only the Pork Belly Adobo is available right now, but I hope the Beef Adobo with Spanish Chorizo in Achuete Oil will also be on sale soon!