Difficulty
EasyServings
4 servingsWait Time
3 Hrs Active Time
15 Mins
What is Adobo?
Adobo refers to the Filipino dish and cooking technique where ingredients are braised in vinegar with salt (usually soy sauce), garlic, peppercorns, and bay leaves. Almost anything can be adobo: meat, fish, seafood, vegetables. You’ll find endless variations on adobo across the Philippines, each with their own unique flavors, ingredients, spices, and textures.
Inspired by Korean beef stew (galbijjim), this recipe uses short ribs for a succulent adobo with tender, fall-off-the-bone meat.
Short ribs, while expensive, work wonderfully in braises. Its balanced fat-to-meat ratio packs it with tons of beefy flavor. Low and slow cooking transforms the collagen in the bones into gelatin, which imparts a rich, silky texture in the final sauce.
Local beef tends to be tougher than its imported equivalent, and needs more time to reach fork-tenderness. If your short ribs are still tough after the suggested cooking time, add an extra 1–2 hours.
Ingredients
- 1.2kg short ribs
- 3–4 tbsp oil
- 1 medium white onion, chopped
- 2 heads garlic, cloves separated and peeled
- 3 bay leaves
- 1–2 tsp black peppercorns
- ½ cup rice vinegar
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup pineapple juice
- ½ cup soy sauce
- 4–5 tbsp brown sugar
- fried garlic chips, for garnish
