Grandma's Pork Adobo
by Alexandria Cabacungan
It was a hot, boring summer day. I sat on the living froom couch with my grandma watching "The Three Stooges" while my parents were out working. After I watched three back to back episodes of "The Three Stooges", I fell asleep.
BAM! "Ugh, what's that smell?" I thought. It smelt like the vinegar was making its way up my nostrils and trying to suffocate me. "Mama! So stink! What you cooking?" I said as I made my way into the kitchen. "What you mean stink? Not stink. I cooking Pork Adobo." she replied. That was the conversation I could remember when I was a little girl and it was my first time hearing about pork adobo. As she cooked, she would always try to keep my older sister and I from arguing. Once she set down the Pork Adobo onto the kitchen table, I rememberd my sister racing to the Pork Adobo and start digging in. I would keep my distance from the food because of the weird aroma. Then, when I felt that I was going to die of starvation, I finally ate the Pork Adobo. "Mmmm! This is so good!" I thought these words once I put that one piece of pork into my mouth. Since then, I'm used to the smell and I really enjoy this dish.
Preperation for this dish takes time. But for my grandma, it's a piece of cake. She would just cut up the meat, place them in the pot, then add some black pepper, garlic, vinegar, water, shoyu, bay leaves and salt. I was really overwhelmed on how she doesn't need any measuring devices to prepare Pork Adobo and it tastes AMAZING! I guess it just comes naturally.
'Till this day, Pork Adobo is my favorite Filipino dish. I'm hoping my sister and I can be the ones who carry on this tradition in the future.
