To FINALLY Try That Recipe: Filipino-Style Chicken Adobo

 

Sometimes, I hear about recipes and put them in my noggin to try and then it takes me forever to actually get around to making them. That's what happened with chicken adobo. So, maybe it was all the hype I had built up in my head, or maybe it's the fact that I didn't care to find palm vinegar like I was told to do. But, eh.

My hopes remained high when I was making this marinade. The tomatoes, soy sauce, garlic, bay leaves, and vinegar gave my nose a savory salty rich smell to inhale. 24 hours later the chicken was ready.

Then, we served it over coconut-ginger rice. And, I was so thankful for the sweetness of the rice because otherwise this was an acidic, sharp, almost sour sort of chicken. It wasn't horrible, but duuuude unless I'm eating salt & vinegar chips, I'd rather not have my tongue react to the amount of vinegar in a dish.

Oh well. I wonder if it's me -- did I do it wrong? Am I vinegar wuss? Maybe someday I'll try it in a Filipino restaurant.

To Recipe Test: Popovers (Test #1 = Fail)

photo from Williams-Sonoma//link

I grew up in New England eating popovers or yorkshire pudding on New Year's day alongside a beautifully rare prime rib. My father mastered the whole meal and its a combination of flavors that really brings me home.

Saul abides by the Fannie Farmer popover recipe. I always associated her with New England style cooking, and that seems like a fair assessment, but apparently she was also one of the first to include real measurements in her recipes. And Saul's FF popovers were usually a hit!

To me, a perfect popover is crusty brown and practically air filled on top but any doughy substance that IS present is soft. Then, the bottom is bit denser and eggier, almost like sheets of velvety baked custard. Obviously, you eat it piping hot and obviously, you put several thousand pats of cold butter that mostly melt, but sometimes, you get a bit that has hot dripping butter with a little globule of cold salty butter sandwiched between the custard layers. OGMOGMGGMGMGGGGGGGGGGg.

So, of course, I know that Fannie Farmer works for my father. But, I need to try it for myself. And as I was searching for popover recipes to see how they differed, I noted a HUGE difference.