Lazy Recipe: Easy But Sophisticated Pork Adobo

I made this easy Pork Adobo using the slow cooker yesterday. It was good yesterday but it’s so much better today! Adobo really does taste better the next day!

This recipe is really easy. All you have to do is to mix the initial adobo sauce, put the meat in the slow cooker, add the sauce, the garlic, the black peppercorns, the bay leaves and rosemary. Mix it a little to make sure all the meat is coated with the sauce. Cover and turn on your slow cooker! Let it cook for 4-6 hours on high or up to 8 hours on low.

I used 1 kilo of Montana Adobo Cut Pork we bought from S&R, some balsamic vinegar, Del Monte Cane Vinegar, naturally fermented soy sauce, and red wine!

The sourness from the cane vinegar or the apple cider vinegar is cleaner tasting than good old regular suka. The balsamic vinegar adds some tartness and robustness to the sauce, and a slight sweetness. The red wine brings it all together.

The dish is partly inspired by the Chicken Adobo I had at Satinka Naturals.

Ingredients:

• 1 kilo Adobo Cut Pork
• 3/4 cup red wine
• 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons naturally fermented soy sauce
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons cane vinegar or apple cider vinegar
• 1 head of garlic, peeled (I leave the skin on, personal preference)
• 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
• 2 laurel leaves
• start with 1 teaspoon of sea salt, add more to taste (depends on how salty your soy sauce is and how salty you like your adobo)
• sprig of rosemary, rinsed to remove any dirt (if coming from your garden)

Note: 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons is simply 1/4 cup (full) + half of the 1/4 cup (half-full)

Instructions:

1. Mix the adobo sauce: in a bowl, add the red wine, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, cane vinegar or apple cider vinegar. Mix. Add a small amount of salt (start with half a teaspoon). Taste it to check if it’s salty enough for you. This is safe to taste since everything we added is safe to eat. Just make sure that your hands and all the utensils you used are clean. Add more salt until you feel that it’s salty enough. I ended up adding a total of 3 teaspoons of Pangasinan sea salt.
2. Clean the pork, or not, based on your preference. I prefer to rinse them and go through them and remove any unwanted parts. S&R’s meats are generally okay and don’t need that much picking through.
3. Put the pork in the slow cooker pot.
4. Add in the adobo sauce we just made.
5. Add the garlic, laurel leaves, black peppercorns and rosemary.
6. Cover your slow cooker and turn it on.
7. Let it cook for 6-8 hours on low. Or 4-6 hours on high.

After it’s done cooking, check the seasoning to see if you need to add a little more salt. If everything is fine, you can start eating it. The sauce might be a bit watery. You can take out the pork, strain out the sauce and thicken it if you prefer.

However, I find that if I just leave it as is, the sauce will thicken by itself the next day because some of the liquid will be absorbed by the meat. I really think next time, I will keep this adobo in the ref for at least a day before reheating & eating it!

Here’s my plate of Pork Adobo fresh from the slow cooker, with brown rice and cucumber slices.

The pork is so tender and flavorful. There’s a little sourness, but it’s very mellow. The sauce is dark and rich and tart. However, I really recommend having it the next day, it makes such a difference!

About Rosemary

We have a potted rosemary plant. Contrary to popular opinion, they are actually quite easy to grow. My trick is to buy 3 of them (they are usually 3 for P100) and put them together in one clay pot, so it looks like you have 1 bigger rosemary plant. I don’t know why, but doing this makes the plants survive better. Then I just leave it outside to the elements. Nothing special. I just move it to somewhere covered when there’s been heavy rain for several days. This way, I always have fresh rosemary whenever I want some!