Adobong pata ng baboy (pork hock) at sitaw (string beans)

There are two versions of adobong sitaw in my archives, one using liempo (pork belly) and, the other, using ground pork and topped with hard-boiled eggs. I was wondering if pork pata meat could further improve an already excellent dish. And I also wondered how far one pata could go. See, we’re having some woodwork done in the house so there are more people during lunch time. So, what better time to find out just how far a pork pata can be stretched.

Late in the afternoon, there was a phone call and, well… there’s going to be an emergency business meeting. I thawed nothing else from the freezer and I was wondering what I’d serve for dinner. It’s 5.53 as I compose this entry and the remaining meat from the pata was transformed into a dish similar to lechon con tokwa (for the kids) and pancit canton which I will serve my guests along with some fish and tofu in oyster sauce both of which I will post tomorrow. Not bad, eh?

This recipe serves four.

Ingredients :

a cup and a half of diced cooked pork pata meat
a bunch of sitaw (string beans), trimmed and cut into 2-inch lengths
half a head of garlic, crushed
1 bay leaf
half a teaspoon of peppercorns
1/4 c. of vinegar
4-5 tbsps. of soy sauce (depending on how salty you want your adobo)
3/4 to 1 cup of pork pata broth
snipped wansuy (cilantro), optional but highly recommended

Cooking procedure :

Place the diced pork pata meat in a cooking pan. Pour in the vinegar. Add the garlic, peppercorns and bay leaf. Turn the stove to high and bring to a boil.

Cook, stirring occasionally, until the pork starts to render fat. You will know you’ve reached this stage when you start to hear popping sounds.

Pour in the broth and the soy sauce and bring to a boil. If it appears too soupy, don’t worry about it. Pork pata broth is thick and sticky and once the adobo starts to cool on the serving platter, the sauce will thicken (it will turn into a gel if allowed to get cold). It is this characteristic of pork pata that makes this dish so wonderful. See, while simmering the pata, the ligaments melt and become part of the broth. So, when you pour the broth into your adobo, you get a full-bodied sauce.

When the liquid boils, add the string beans. Bring to a boil once more then lower the heat, cover and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes (depending on how young the string beans are — mature string beans take forever to cook) until the vegetables are done.

Transfer to a serving platter. Garnish with snipped wansuy (believe me, wansuy transforms adobo into something inexplicably delicious) and serve at once.