Prelude To The Adobo Showdown

One of the popular television shows that captured my interest was the Iron Chef. It was a Japanese TV cooking show featuring guest chefs that challenged the resident "Iron Chefs" in a cooking competition centered on a specific theme ingredient. Host was Chairman Kaga and some of the ingredients that were featured were really unique like Jinhua Pork, Horsehair Crab, Dried Abalone, Sturgeon, Mishima Beef, Matsutake Mushroom and others. Over 300 episodes were aired and the majority (40 gigabytes) are now part of my personal collection, thanks to friends who made me comfortable using the torrents software.

The show became a favorite in the United States and Iron Chef America was born. Very soon we will have our own version of "Iron Chef Philippines" and it will feature four Filipino guest chefs and the cooking competition will highlight one popular Pinoy dish, the Adobo. The Great Adobo Challenge is scheduled on April 23-25, 2010 and it will be held in Cebu City's favorite buffet restaurant, Café Marco, Marco Polo Plaza (www.marcopoloplazacebu.com phone 253-1111).

Your favorite food columnist joined Marco Polo's search for these kitchen protagonists in the company of Jessica Avila, Lara Constantino and fellow food writers Jigs Arquiza and Aissa de la Cruz in a trip to Manila. First stop was Chef Myrna Segismundo (Batangas) who operates the 9501, the exclusive dining lounge of ABS-CBN corporation.

Chef Myrna describes the adobo as a cooking technique which uses vinegar accompanied by soy sauce or salt. Best sample was the "adobo spread" served with toast bread. The rest of the lunch was very simple Filipino food lang like the Fresh Pinakbet Salad with Tiger Shrimps and Honeyed Fish Sauce Dressing, Smokey Monggo Soup with Homemade Pork Cracklings, Fillet of Native Seabass with Coco-Adobo Sauce, Boneless Beef Ribs Kaldereta with "Pinais" Rice and Quezo de Bola Cheesecake and Turrones de 9501. For my beloved readers who want to try these delicious spread, you got to have Kapamilya connections.

Second stop was the newly opened branch of Via Marie, beside the Medical Arts Building, St. Luke's Medical Center at Global City in Taguig City, owned by Chef Glenda Rosales Baretto (Calbayog, Samar), principal author of Kulinarya, A Guidebook to Philippine Cuisine which "advocates improved cooking methods and best practices in the preparation and presentation of Filipino food."

We also met Nancy Reyes-Lumen (Manila) of the Aristocrat Restaurant clan and Danny de la Cuesta (Northern Luzon). Chef Nancy confirms what she wrote in The Adobo Book that the Aristocrat adobo of Lola Asiang (Engracia Cruz-Reyes) took two days to cook and it indeed had a secret ingredient which made this dish very tasty and sticky, a whole slab of pork skin with fat. Basta cholesterol, lami gyud!

More food was available for food tasting at Via Marie and my food instinct said yes but my stomach said …no, thank you. Time to take a break and off we went to Dusit Thani Manila (Ayala Center 1223 Makati City, Phone 867-3333 and email: www. Dusit.com) for a much needed rest then dinner at the Tosca Italian Restaurant. Slight advantages when you have connections because I immediately got an upgrade of the room facilities to a junior suite. Lunch the next day was scheduled at the Aristocrat Restaurant and it was indeed a wonderful feeling to be dining on old favorites like the crispy pata and chicken barbecues.

Cebu will be the center stage for this Great Adobo Challenge this April and four chefs namely Nancy Reyes-Lumen, Myrna Segismundo, Glenda Baretto and Danny de la Cuesta are most eager to battle. Which adobo will prevail? Find out and YOU be the judge!