- Hi I'm Nikki.
- Hey guys, so I'm Gio.
- Hi my name is Chris.
- Hey guys, I'm Sam.
- I actually grew up in the Philippines for about ten years.
- I lived in the Philippines for
the first 14 years of my life.
- I was born and raised in San Francisco.
- I was born and raised in New York City.
I'm actually half Filipino, but I grew up with a
Filipino mom, Filipino grandmother, that cooked a lot
of Filipino food for me, growing up.
- [Gio] So what adobo means to me is like just like
something authentic from home.
Something that you can just throw into a pot
let it simmer, let it sit overnight.
I let this sit for more than a day.
So it really really sat into like the flavors and stuff.
- Ooo
- We've got chicken drumsticks.
It's clearly been sitting in the sauce for a while
and it's been marinated, so the meat underneath
look a little bit tinted brown.
- I'm going to go for the rice and gravy first.
- I don't know if I'm supposed to tear it with a spoon
or eat it with my hands.
- Oh!
- Definitely tasting some peppercorns, here.
- Wait, that's actually kinda good.
- Not really tasting much of the soy sauce.
This one is pretty good.
Very classic. Very basic adobo.
I think this is what I would usually get
in a restaurant. This is pretty spot on.
- The chicken's a little dry.
And I noticed that there's not a lot of sauce.
It tastes a lot more salty than anything.
- The chicken's also got a nice sear to it.
Which I always appreciate.
- It tastes like either the soy sauce or the sugar in it
is a little bit burnt. I'm gonna have to
take off some points for that.
Probably give like a six.
- It was pretty good. I'd probably give it a 7.
- It's still edible, I just, it kinda
was just way to dry. Four out of ten.
- Kinda want to finish this, but we have a few more still.
- [Nikki] I know my mom's so disappointed in me.
I actually had to FaceTime her to make this.
She didn't really give me measurements.
She was just kinda like add a little bit of soy sauce,
maybe a little bit more vinegar. Things like that.
I'm just like how can you tell?
One thing that I decided to like go with
was lemon-lime soda, which really is just 7-Up.
It doesn't matter how different, or what kind of like
secret ingredients you use. It's really hard to like
get it wrong.
- I think that the sauce looks really like heavy.
- This one looks really thick.
- This has got like a very thick and heavy looking sauce.
- Look at that.
- I do see a lot of peppercorns in here.
You know, I'll just try to avoid those,
but I'll maybe have one.
- Everyone's doing drumsticks. Is that like
Is that the common one that people do?
- Let's just get into it. - Let's try it.
- Mmm
- So I take the sauce back. It's almost like syrup.
- There's definitely a lot of sugar in this one.
- It's a little weird, but the chicken is
cooked pretty much perfectly.
- If you make drumsticks, you're kinda just gambling
that they eat the right part of the drumstick.
You know? Because It's kinda a toss up.
- I like how big the bay leaves are, actually.
- Yeah, I'd probably eat this again, but I might
reduce it a little bit less.
- I think they're probably running late and just
blasted the heat as high as it could go.
Probably over-reduced a little, which explains the
syrupy texture of it. But I kinda like that.
- Overall, pretty good. Probably give that
like a six, or a six and a half.
- So that's like maybe seven out of ten?
- I give a nine.
- [Chris] I'm pretty sure I'll be the least Filipino
Filipino person in this group.
I do know how to cook, though. I just don't know adobo.
So, I just texted one of my friends, asking
how do I make adobo, and she just said soy sauce,
vinegar, and also, make it a day before
so it soaks up all the juices.
So, I did that. It looked way better last night.
I think I just gotta microwave it or something.
But dried bay leaves, apple cider vinegar,
I have black peppercorns, I put a lot on there, actually.
Oh, I put a lot of garlic.
- Alright, so this is chicken thigh.
- I'm a little scared, because there was
a lot of bay leaves in that.
- Bay leaves is always good.
- This one's got a pretty good consistency to the sauce.
Not too heavy, not too light.
- Ooo, the sauce is a little bit more thin.
- I totally bit into a peppercorn.
- This, wow, this is a lot of peppercorn.
- Pepper is like a little bit like too strong.
- There's just so much of it.
- Spice is just hitting me now.
- I like it, though.
- Not gonna lie, this does taste pretty good.
- I'm not sure like what it is, but it's got
like a unique taste to it that I don't really
associate with adobo. But it's not bad.
- The flavor just hits you.
- Very saucy. The meat is cooked pretty well.
- I like how saucy it is.
- Overall, I think this is the best sauce, so far.
- I don't know. I feel like someone who puts
that much bay leaves into it hasn't had adobo before.
No adobo looks like that.
That being said, I think it's pretty good.
- I think this one's been marinated a little bit longer
because the sauce is like seeping into the meat.
And this one definitely has some more punch to it,
which I like. I don't like bland adobo.
- I would have this again, for sure.
So that's like definitely like an eight out of ten.
The one thing it lacked was a little bit more vinegar.
- Probably like an eight and a half or a nine actually.
Hits all the right spots. A plus.
- That one has to be my favorite. Eight out of ten.
- [Sam] Bay leaves, black pepper, cardamon,
all spices are all like pretty common like
Filipino ingredients. But my grandma got something called
pickling spice, which actually has all those ingredients
plus a ton of other stuff in it.
Kinda adds a lot more spice, adds a lot more
punch of flavor to it. But I think that's what makes adobo
like really interesting, really special.
- Wow, this isn't chicken. This is definitely pork.
- Do people make adobo with non-chicken meats?
- I think it looks like pork adobo.
- And I see some onions in here.
I also like how the bay leaves are like
put to the side on the right here.
- Appreciate that they cut this up
into tiny, little, bite-sized cubes.
- Let's give it a try.
- [Nikki] This one has an interesting spice.
- I can definitely taste some peppers in here.
Definitely something a little different.
- One of those secret ingredient things
that I was talking about.
- I don't know what they did differently with this one,
but it tastes different.
- I like the previous one because it was a little bit
more sweet. 'Cause I like that like brown sugary type vibe
to like hit me a little harder.
- Dry meat, little cubes, kinda interesting taste,
recognizably adobo. I think that's pretty much
all I have to say about it.
- I appreciate that it is not chicken.
- I would have this again, for sure.
That's also like a seven out of ten,
'cause it's kinda different.
- So I'll give it a five.
- I'd probably give a five out of ten.
(upbeat music)
- [Chris] I was the last person I was expecting to win this.
I didn't even measure anything. I just seared the meat,
and then started throwing things together
until it looked right.
I'm like this is probably good.
And I got the peppercorns and I'm like it needs
a little bit more. And I just dumped it in.
I'm like that's good. So I don't know. I guess
I guess thank you for watching.
(upbeat music)