The Adobo Book

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The Flippers with The Adobo Book author Nancy Reyes Lumen (center)

I must admit that I am one of the few people who are not fond of the Filipino dish adobo. I do eat it, but I don’t really enjoy it, and I think I know why — it’s one of the most recyclable dishes in Filipino cuisine because it keeps so well, and I am a person whose taste buds have a very short attention span. I don’t like repeating viands in subsequent meals, and when there’s adobo at home it does tend to be appear frequently on the table for so many days. Adobo was also a mainstay in our family excursions – whether it’s a day at the beach, or the times  we rode a Superferry (16 hours) to Bacolod or Iloilo when I was young). It was also standard baon (lunchbox) fare, and I specifically remember that I had a packed lunch of adobo during all the college entrance exams I took.

adobobook
Love the cover!

Today, as the Flippers discussed food, our guest speaker was the delightful foodie Nancy Reyes-Lumen, who talked about her book The Adobo Book, published by Anvil Publishing (book #101 of 2009), co-authored with Reynaldo G. Alejandro.

It’s a collection of various adobo recipes from a great number of contributors, with sections containing personal essays on adobo, cooking techniques and personal styles.

Aside from the interesting history of the book itself  (ten years in production), I learned a lot of things, like how Filipinos combined Spanish (adobado) and Chinese influences in creating the adobo we know now; how rock salt is a key ingredient in adobo, and how adobo should be named the national dish to define Filipino cuisine.

I like this book because I was surprised at the many interesting variations on the adobo recipe, which gives me a window of opportunity to actually find out if there is a non-traditional variation out there that I could really, really like.

I am especially interested in McCormick’s Nutty-Herbed Adobo, Nancy’s Scallops in Adobo Butter, Ronnie’s Adobo Tuna Puttanesca, Mol Fernando’s Calamansi-Lemongrass Adobo Sauce, and Paella de Adobo, and I hope to try out some recipes soon to find the right type of adobo for me. This should be good for several exciting experiments in the kitchen! :D

With Adobo queen Nancy Reyes-Lumen
With Adobo queen Nancy Reyes-Lumen

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My copy: newsprint edition, signed!

My rating: 4/5 stars

13 thoughts on “The Adobo Book”

  1. Looks like you had a really interesting gathering. The adobo author seems like a great person to meet. I wish I were in Manila for discussions like these. We sometimes lack stimulation in the provinces.

  2. @Johanna, yup Nancy Reyes Lumen was fab! :) Give us a holler when you’re gonna be in town, we can talk books with you anytime! :)

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