How to tenderize, cook Duck Adobo sa Gata
MANILA, Philippines – Filipinos are more familiar with Pork Adobo, Chicken Adobo, and mixed Chicken and Pork Adobo, although in the Visayas, including Iloilo, our kababayans have been cooking Duck Adobo.
Perhaps one reason why we do not cook duck as much as we cook chicken, pork, beef, fish, and seafood is the availability of quality duck meat in the market. But now things are bound to change.
With the ready availability of duck in the market today, with great effort coming from the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council (USAPEEC) to make high-quality U.S. Poultry available in the Philippines, we can now easily buy duck meat from major supermarkets and deli stores.
This means we will be cooking more duck dishes — and enjoying them, too, in dishes where they can be surprisingly good. How about starting with Chef Ging Santos’ U.S. Duck Adobo sa Gata?
“Duck may not be your first thought when making Adobo, but you guys have to try this!” she said, sharing a recipe she uses.
She added: “Duck is classified as white meat, but from a culinary perspective, it is sometimes grouped with red meats. If you’re looking for poultry with stronger and denser flavors, then duck meat is for you!”
She then shares a practical tip that will help turn out awesome U.S. Duck Adobo sa Gata or any duck recipes, for that matter.
“When cooking duck, use a tenderizer (in this case, lemon lime soda). So glad I made this recipe because it turned out super yum, and will surely be on rotation in our household,” the chef said.
US Duck Adobo sa Gata
Ingredients:
2 pcs. U.S. Duck Legs
1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
10 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsps. black peppercorns
1 tsp. red chili flakes
2 tsps. muscovado sugar
1/3 cup coconut aminos
1/3 cup distilled white vinegar
1/3 cup lemon lime soda
4 pcs. bay leaves
1/3 cup coconut milk
Procedure:
1. Heat extra virgin olive oil in a pan.
2. Sauté garlic until fragrant. Add peppercorns, chili flakes, and muscovado sugar. Remove from pan and set aside.
3. In the same pan, sear duck legs skin side down. Cook over medium to high heat until golden brown.
4. Add back the garlic mix.
5. Pour in coconut aminos, white vinegar, and lemon lime soda. Add bay leaves. Do not stir. Wait until boiling and reduced for about 1 hour.
6. Add coconut milk and boil a little bit more.
7. Broil the legs in the oven for 5 to 10 minutes to make the skin crisp.
8. Serve with rice.
