Thai Dried Chili–Vinegar Dipping Sauce

With plenty of heat and a vinegar kick, this Thai-inspired dipping sauce is a perfect match for rich and fatty meat dishes as well as seafood.

Adobo-Marinated Grilled Pork Chops

Filipino adobo is a classic dish, usually of stewed chicken or pork in a tangy, flavorful sauce made from cane vinegar, soy sauce, and aromatics. But the building blocks of the adobo sauce also make a great marinade for grilled meats, like the pork chops here.

Pork and Vegetable Lumpia from 'The Adobo Road Cookbook'

These lumpia, or Filipino spring rolls, are fried and filled with moist ground pork, carrots, peas, and bean sprouts. Fish sauce adds a layer of salty complexity, but otherwise these are simply straight-up, easy-to-eat, fried goodness.

Pork adobo

Today we’re making a Filipino dish called adobo. If you haven’t tried it before, you need to add it to your list. It has so much flavour and the pork comes out extremely tender and juicy.

Pork Adobo

Adobo is more a cooking style than a recipe. Pork, chicken, fish, beef, or pretty much any protein you want can be adobo'd. Some cooks swear by coconut milk, others consider it verboten. You can add coriander, cumin, and chiles (smoked or fresh), or just stick to classic bay leaf, as I've done here. Even the inclusion of soy sauce is negotiable. There are few rules with adobo, and fewer agreements about what constitutes it.

Quick Pickled Chilies and Garlic

Quick-pickled garlic and chiles are a great condiment for punching up the flavor of Asian soups, noodles, stir-fries, and salads.

Sweet Soy-Garlic Dipping Sauce

[Photographs: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt] Update your fried chicken with these no-cook dipping sauces in under 7 minutes.

Thai-Style Dipping Sauce

To make this amazing dipping sauce for dumplings, we start with the classic combination of Asian fish sauce, lime juice, and sugar, then punch it up with raw garlic, fresh cilantro, and hot chile flakes. The flavors blend seamlessly into a sauce that's versatile enough to dress a salad, marinate a steak, and, yes, coat your dumplings.

Pickled Garlic

Pickled garlic is great in salad dressings or as part of a pickle plate (try drizzling them with a bit of fruity oil). During dinner prep, they're great coarsely chopped and added to sauteed greens. When the garlic is all gone, make sure to save the leftover brine and use it in homemade bean purees or quickly dressed bowls of salad greens.

Vinegar Coleslaw

This sweet and tangy vinegar coleslaw makes a great accompaniment to rich barbecue.