A Reason for Riesling Part 4: Childhood Classic Dish with Austrian Flair

This is - unfortunately - the last part of my riesling series. Of course, it was only appropriate that I ended with the best Filipino dish of all time and riesling that’s got a little more “umph” compared to its German, Australian, and even New York friends. Enjoy.

Give me the name of a Filipin@ who does not like adobo. Even vegetarians/vegans have their form of it because you just can’t avoid the marriage of soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, onions, bay leaves, and pepper in a juicy sauce. I swear we were first fed this dish the moment we grew a tooth (or at least the sauce and rice). It’s that good.

Photo Credit: Myrecipes

Every Filipin@ has their own memory and recipe for adobo, and I’ve tried them all — braising for 30 minutes per side, adding brown sugar and water, baked with apples, served with potatoes, doing both chicken and pork. It was during Memorial Day weekend last year that I ate the best version of chicken adobo to date.

I asked my aunt, who I was staying with, for her recipe. She said it was from a friend - whose name is coincidentally Jordana, and her secrets were the following: a lot of garlic, low and slow cooking, and pan-searing the chicken thighs in their own fat after braising. My aunt then mentioned how she recreated it using orange muscat vinegar for a tangy, sweeter profile. Since then, that’s how I’ve been cooking it.

This past Thanksgiving, my aunt told me how she recently added melted butter at the end to cut the overwhelming sauce flavor. Inspiration struck: I wanted to do brown butter at the end. But then more inspiration from work hit, and I decided to do my own version of beurre blanc (herbed butter sauce primarily made with white vinegar, neutral white wine, really cold butter, and shallots). My version ended up a little sweeter and more herbaceous since I used the riesling I was drinking that night as well as rice wine vinegar.

Savory with hints of sweetness in the dish is why adobo is a childhood favorite, and one of the first dishes I learned to cook when I moved into my first apartment. The glass of Austrian riesling added more crisp herbaceousness to the overall experience. Just plain awesome!

Tita Jordana’s Chicken Adobo (Serves: 8)

Ingredients

• 3 lbs Chicken thighs, bone-in and skin on

• 1 cup Low-sodium soy sauce

• ¾ cup Orange muscat vinegar (You can substitute apple cider vinegar, but you would need to add 2 tbsp of light brown sugar to balance out the acid and salt)

• 1 Yellow onion, sliced

• 1 Garlic head, minced

• 4 Dried bay leaves

• Salt and pepper to taste

• 3 cups Cooked rice

• Beurre blanc

  • 2 tbsp White wine (I used the Hogl because I thought it would be fun to experiment with the wine I was testing with)

  • 1 tbsp Rice wine vinegar

  • ½ Shallot, chopped

  • ½ tbsp tarragon, chopped

  • 1 stick of butter

  • Chopped herbs for garnish (I used tarragon, but you can use oregano, thyme, whatever you have in stock)

Instructions

1. Place chicken (seasoned with salt and pepper) skin side down in a large stockpot over low heat. Put all ingredients in the pot and cook on low for 1 hour.

2. After 1 hour, flip the chicken and continue cooking on low for 1 hour.

3. Take the chicken out of the pot and sear in a wok in it’s own chicken fat. While searing, let the sauce reduce halfway (or to desired consistency depending on whether you want more soupy sauce or a thicker sauce) and remove bay leaves.

4. Once chicken is seared, shred chicken with tong and forks. Once sauce is reduced, return chicken to the pot without its bones/cartilage. Turn off the heat and mix together.

5. Make beurre blanc*. Serve chicken with rice, and finish it with beurre blanc and herbs.*Recipe cred: Cook’s Info

About Hogl

The terrior-driven philosophy of father and son team Josef and Georg Hogl showcase the beauty of the westernmost and highest situated part of the Wachau - the Spitzer Graben -  in their gruner veltliners and rieslings. With its steep trenches, little wind, and cool climate, these wines tend to be mineral driven and require a long time to ripen. This particular riesling is grown close to the Danube river on sandy soils and boasts notes of wisteria, blossoms, and crisp green apples. Additional pairings include baked salmon and asparagus (when in season of course) and chicken satay.