Twisting Traditions: Nestle Cream's Take on the Filipino Adobo

- July 9, 2016, Saturday.

- It's been a long while since I last tagged along with my food-blogger and very good friend Clarisse. Despite constant schedule conflicts and strange weather conditions, I was pleasantly surprised to get a tag-along invitation from Clarisse about this cooking-demo event for food bloggers in The Blue Leaf Events Pavilion that perfectly fit both our schedules. This time, Nestle organized the food demonstration called "Create with Cream" featuring their newest concoction - the typical Filipino adobo mixed with cream.

Today's event. Glad I didn't wear blue and white or else I would've looked like a walking Nestle's Cream.

Today's main stars.

- After a short ice breaker game, the main cooking demonstration began. Today's special celebrity guest was none other than Chef Rob Pengson. Chef Rob is the owner of a multitude of restaurants in the country like Hyve and Vyne and Hungry Hound, though more popularly known for his different endorsements like his Christmas ham (which makes him a popular face on television during the -ber months.)  

Hi chef!! Can I have one of your Christmas hams??

- I noticed that the cooking demonstration for the day was quite different from the usual ones I've attended with Clarisse in the past. While one main dish is usually highlighted in typical cooking demo events, other recipes related to the main dish prepared by the same chef or other guest chefs) are also demonstrated. Today, however, the adobo with cream was only recipe demonstrated.

- The typical Filipino adobo is a Spanish-influenced dish; the original Spanish adobo was a kind of meat marinated in stock before cooking. The Filipino adobo that we all know and love incorporates this but cooking the main ingredient, usually meat, in vinegar and the Chinese-introduced soy sauce. Today, there are as much variations of adobo are there are stars in the sky. Each cook has his own version of adobo - some dry, some wet, some sweeter, some more sour, some saltier, with milk, with pork/chicken/veggies, you name it! For Chef Rob, adding cream to the adobo can make the sauce thicker, which allows the sauce to stick to rice better (or may even be used as a good dipping sauce of toasted pandesal), and let the taste linger more after eating.

Getty ready to cook.

- Chef Rob's adobo recipe goes something like this. First, simmer the vinegar to release the metallic smell, add soy sauce, then add bay leaves, garlic, and raw chicken slices. Cook the chicken until golden brown. Next, remove everything from the pan and fry the chicken in some oil; this makes the chicken twice cooked. After cooking the chicken, remove the oil and reintroduce the sauce to the chicken. While simmering, add the cream slowly to the sauce; whisk the sauce while adding the cream to blend everything well. Additional seasonings may be added too.  

If only you could smell the adobo.

Friend and her blogger duties.

Well of course.

See that color?

- To make things interesting, the next portion was an adobo cook-off from six volunteers (two per cooking station.) While they were cooking, Chef Rob coached them to make sure they were on the right track. I would have wanted to join too but Clarisse and I decided to just enjoy the show while taking photos. In the end, all three creamy adobos had different tastes (according to Chef Rob) and this might have something to do with timing, such as how long the sauce or cream was cooked/heated. All three adobos won.

One of the teams.

Chef Rob coaching everyone.

Documentation.

While they were cooking things, Clarisse and I took nice photos of this precious adobo.

Yay for friendship.

Everyone's a winner.

- Finally, my favorite part - eating lunch. The main star of the buffet lunch was the creamy chicken adobo. Aside from the adobo, they also served lechon, beef salpicao, and blueberry cheesecake. The creamy chicken adobo seemed to have too much vinegar for my taste, although some Filipinos might like it that way (I don't usually like sour things.) The creamy sauce was still runny so it did not seem too heavy; as promised by Chef Rob, it did stick to the rice more than the regular watery adobo sauce. to be honest I wasn't a really big fan of the creamy adobo because I felt that the cream did not do much to add some kick to the regular adobo's traste. I was expecting a sweeter and milkier adobo, but I am not sure if the dominant vinegar-y taste downplayed the taste of the cream. (Well, maybe it's time for me to experiment on Chef Rob's recipe at home!!)

We won something from the ice breaker game. (Then again, everyone got one. Haha.)

Clarisse and her food blogger duties again.

Pleasantly surprised after getting her freebie package (for bloggerso only) from Nestle. 

- Just before leaving, Chef Rob came out of the kitchen to thank everyone for attending the cooking demo. He was about to leave when I called him and asked to have a photo taken with him. Well, I was able to get my "winning shot" with Chef Rob - though I forgot to ask for my Christmas ham (just kidding!!) After people saw me taking a photo with Chef Rob, they all followed. (The wonders of not being too shy I guess.)

"Chef, pengeng ham." - Something I was itching to say.

- I left the event double my body size from being too well-fed. Apart from all the snacks and the glorious lunch (again, lechon anyone?), the adobo was a perfect comfort dish for the rainy Saturday weather. Of course being with a good friend made the gloomy ambiance all the more fun. I am hoping that I'd have more opportunities to attend food demo events like this one. After all, food is one of my favorite aspects of culture.