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In Hawaiʻi, Every Day is Poke Day!

illustration of poke

by Leilehua Yuen

I was so excited to see our beloved poke (pronounced POH-keh) being recognized internationally with its own holiday on 28 September, and then soooo disappointed when I read the article. As it turns out, there is a website that, for $5000, will create a holiday for your industry and promote it.

No, in Hawaiʻi, we do not call poke a “chop.” And no, we did not make poke part of Hawaiian culture “in the spirit of aloha.” And the dish was not specifically made as a snack with which to greet guests. It’s a yummy meal we make for ourselves, and also might share with guests.

“Poke” translates to English as to cut something crossways into pieces, or to press something out, as in pressing ʻopihi out of its shell or to press the gut-sack out of an ʻopihi. It also can be a bite-sized piece of something.

Despite the claims of certain websites, poke was eaten in Hawaiʻi long before the 1970s. Much like the term “lūʻau” (leaf of the taro plant, an important food at Hawaiian meals) in the 18th century was used as slang for an ʻaha ʻāina and eventually came into common use, so “poke” as the name of the dish probably originated as a slang term, since the fish is cut crosswise into bite-sized pieces to make the dish. No one really knows when it came into common use, but my late mother claimed to be familiar with it in the 1950s.

“O ka ino ke kumu i nele ai o Ulakoheo i ka ia i keia mau la. Aohe ohuohu pono o na papakaukau, o ke kamano no kahi ia ano mahuahua iki i keia mau la, aka, oia no ke kamaaina o ka makeke. Ua ike iho makou i ke kamano maikai loa ma kahi o McCandless ma, Ma kanela ma, ke kuai liilii ia nei no hoi, nunui no ka poke o ka hapawalu me ke ko, ki, palaoa, a me na mea ai maikai e ae no hoi, a he makepono loa ke kumukuai, aka, na oukou no nae e hele e ike maka no oukou iho.“

Nupepa Kuokoa, Buke 5, Helu 11, 17 Malaki 1866

The article says that despite the storms making it hard to catch fish, there is plenty of salmon poke (pieces) available at McCandless Store for an inexpensive price.

Dishes related to poke are iʻa maka (raw fish), iʻa lomi (massaged fish), and iʻa palu (fermented fish).

Lomilomi salmon became popular in the whaling era when Hawaiian people would use the imported salt salmon (mentioned in the above newspaper article), rinse out the salt, cut it up, and lomilomi (massage) it with limu (seaweed), tomato, and onion. It remains a popular dish.

Honolulu Magazine has an article interviewing Sam Choy about poke in which he discusses a little history of this iconic Hawaiian dish.

Here is Geraldine’s favorite poke recipe. It’s from the 1950s, when she was married to my father. Notice that unlike more traditional versions, there is no limu (seaweed). That is because at the time it was impossible to get limu kohu, līpoa, wāwaeʻiole, ʻakiʻaki, or even ogo seaweeds in Oakland, California, where they lived. But, being desperate for flavors from home, she and my father came up with this recipe.

For more about poke, visit Kau Kau Kitchen.

Poke

by Geraldine Duncann

Serves 6 to 8

Poke, like lomilomi salmon and sashimi, is raw fish.  It should be make with sushi or sashimi grade fresh, fresh, fresh ahi tuna (which unfortunately is very expensive).  This recipe calls for a pound of tuna.  This is a recipe about which you do not have to be precise.  Add what you like in what proportions you like.  You can only afford half a pound, fine; add a bit less of the other ingredients as well.  You’re feeding a gang, great; add more.

  • 1 pound fresh, fresh, fresh sashimi-grade Ahi tuna
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons dark soy sauce
  • 1 or 2 green onions, finely chopped, including the greens
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil, or to taste
  • 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger root, or to taste
  • 1 or 2 small hot chilies, seeded and minced very finely, or to taste
  • 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds *
  • 1 teaspoon roasted and finely chopped kukui nuts
    (if kukui is not available, substitute macadamia nuts)
  • Hawaiian salt or rock salt to taste
     
  • Bok choy
  • Ice

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, cover and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.  to serve, shred Bok choy finely, like cabbage for coleslaw and line a serving dish with it.  Pile the chilled poke onto it.  Place the serving dish on another dish filled with cracked ice.  Serve with chopsticks.  This is usually considered a “pūpū,” or appetizer.

* To toast sesame seeds, place them in a small dry skillet over medium heat and stirring frequently, toast for 2 to 3 minutes or until golden brown.  Watch closely as they burn easily.

Poke Bowl

A poke bowl is a wonderful example of Hawaiʻi fusion cuisine. It takes the Japanese concept of chirashizushi, literally “scattered sushi” and pairs it with Hawaiian poke. A poke bowl is simply a bowl of sushi rice topped with poke. That’s it. Youʻre welcome.

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Haymakers’ Harvest Beef

Image illustrating hay harvest in England 19th Century

A recipe from Shipton-under-Wichwood, Oxfordshire, England

Image: Farmers Haymaking With Horse And Cart, Wilson Hepple (1854-1937)

by Geraldine Duncan

Serves 4 to 6

This old time recipe is typical of the fare gracing the table at harvest time. Haymaking was heavy and hard work, producing prodigious appetites, particularly when you consider that the harvesters worked from sunup to after sunset. It was essential to get the hay in before the rains came. This hearty dish could be left on the back of the stove to cook, leaving overworked hands free to prepare breads, pies, cakes and other item needed for the harvest-time table.

  • 1 beef roast (3 to 4 pounds if boneless, 4 ½ to 5 pounds, bone in)
  • 2 tablespoons minced fresh thyme
  • 2 tablespoons dry mustard powder
  • 2 tablespoons salt
  • 1 tablespoon fresh coarse ground black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 2 tablespoons paprika
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • ¼ cup all-purpose flour
  • 3 or 4 strips of bacon, diced, or about a cup of diced bacon scraps
  • 1 or 2 large yellow onions, diced
  • 1 or 2 carrots, diced
  • 1 stalk of celery, diced
  • 2 cups Home Made beef broth (or 1, 14 ½ ounce can of commercial)
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce   
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 tablespoon pickling spice
  • 2 carrots, cut into half-inch pieces
  • 1 parsnip, peeled and cut into half-inch pieces
  • 2 to 3 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into one inch chunks
  • 10 to 12 small boiling onions, peeled
  • About ½ pound of small button mushrooms
  • Salt and fresh, coarse ground black pepper to taste
  • ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

Pre-heat the oven to 325°. Mix the thyme, mustard, salt, pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon, paprika, sugar, and flour together and rub into all sides of the beef, massaging it well to work it into the meat. Leave sit for at least an hour. In a large heavy ovenproof dish with a tight fitting lid, gently sauté the bacon over a moderate heat until it releases most of its fat. Do not allow to become crisp. Add the diced onions, carrots, and celery and gently sauté until evenly coated with the bacon fat and soft but not browned, two to three minutes. Remove from the pot with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Place the beef in the pot, turn the heat up and sear, (brown) the meat on all sides. Return the sautéed vegetables to the pot. Pour in the broth and add the bay leaves. Put the pickling spice in a large tea ball or tie them in a square of cheesecloth and add to the pot. Cut a circle of brown paper from a grocery bag that is about an inch larger than the opening of the pot. Rub it with oil on both sides and lay on top of the pot, pushing the edges down so that they do not hang over the edge of the pot. Cover with a tight fitting lid and place in the oven. Leave undisturbed two and one-half to three hours. Remove the lid and paper and test for doneness. The meat should be fork tender. Place the carrots, parsnip, potatoes, boiling onions and mushrooms around the meat, return the lid and cook for another thirty minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Remove the meat and vegetables to a serving plate. Skim off as much fat as possible from the pan juices. Taste and adjust the seasonings with salt and pepper. Stir in the parsley and serve in a separate dish to be spooned over each serving.

In the northern hemisphere, the full moon nearest the Autumn Equinox, usually around September twenty first, rises earlier than it does the rest of the year. This fortunate occurrence made it possible for the harvesters to work late into the night, therefore making the race against the rains a bit easier; and so it was called “The Harvest Moon.”
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Making Stock, Broth or Bouillon

illustration of tofu and long rice in chicken broth

by Geraldine Duncann

Almost all soups, and in fact many other dishes are far better if made with stock instead of water. Stock, be it meat, bird, fish or vegetable is an easy thing to make. No recipe is really needed. Most kitchens in earlier days kept a pot on the back of the stove into which went all meat and vegetable scraps and trimmings. Covered with water, this was kept simmering through the day and provided a ready supply of tasty liquid to be used as the base for soups, stews, sauces and even just dished up as a soup on its own. The meat, fish and bird may be the trimmings of fresh meats or the bones and scraps of already cooked meats.

A warning; although it is feasible to combine the trimmings of meat and poultry, fish and seafood should be kept on their own. I also never add beets in any form. They taste fine but they turn the entire pot an unpleasant color. Onion skins on the other hand, help brighten the color of the pot to a wonderful gold. The following recipe is just a guideline. You should feel free to use whatever ingredients you happen to have at hand. If you have access to an ethnic market you will be able to find things appropriate for making stock than you are likely to in the standard supermarket chain.

Things that make excellent stock are:

  • Chicken giblets, backs, necks, and feet
  • Ox tail
  • Breast of lamb
  • Lamb shanks
  • Pigs feet
  • Other meat bones available at the market (If you are using large meat bones have the butcher cut them up for you)

Appropriate things for making fish stock are:

  • Any fish scraps, bones and skins
  • Fish heads when available
  • Shrimp and prawn shells
  • Crab shells

Basic Stock

Makes about four quarts

  • Approximately two pounds or more of meat, poultry or fish trimmings and bones (these may be raw or cooked)
  • 2 to 3 onions, coarsely chopped
  • 6 to 8 cloves of garlic, squashed
  • 2 stalks of celery, coarsely chopped
  • 2 or 3 carrots, coarsely chopped
  • 1 leek, if available, coarsely chopped and well washed
  • 1 parsnip, coarsely chopped
  • 1 tablespoon of mixed dry herbs, or sprigs of favorite fresh herbs
  • 1 or 2 bay leaves
  • 6 quarts of water

Method 1:

Put all ingredients into a pot large enough to hold them comfortably, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer, cover and continue to simmer for one and one-half to two hours or until you have a tasty liquid. Strain and allow to cool. Then skim off the fat that has risen to the top and discard. Store the stock in the refrigerator or freezer.

Method 2:

Although the above method is easy and perfectly adequate, you will get more bang for your buck if you do the following:

Put two to three tablespoons of olive oil into a large, heavy pot and add all the meat, poultry or fish. Cook over a medium heat, stirring frequently to prevent scorching until all is well caramelized (a rich brown but not singed) on all sides. Add the herbs and chopped vegetables and continue to cook until the vegetables are soft and somewhat browned. Then add the water, bring to a boil. Boil for two to three minutes, then reduce heat to maintain a simmer, cover and cook for one and one-half to two hours. Strain and cool. When cool, skim off any fat that has risen to the top and store.

Stocks will keep for about a week in the refrigerator and for several months in the freezer. I often pour stock into ice cube trays, freeze and then store these little flavor cubes in zip-lock bags to use when I want just a bit of stock to add flavor to a dish. 

If you are going to want a clear broth to serve or to use in an aspic, you will need to clarify it.

Clarify Stock, Broth or Bouillon

Salt:  It is best not to add salt to your stock pot. If you do use salt, add it to the dish you are making, not the stock.

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To Clarify Stock, Broth or Bouillon

image showing clarified broth

by Geraldine Duncann

On occasion you may wish to have a stock that is crystal clear and sparkling. This is useful if you are going to serve a clear broth or use the broth to make aspic. The process is not difficult.

1.  Strain the broth, stock or bouillon through clean, soft muslin or several layers of cheese cloth.

2.  Allow the broth to become completely cold.

3.  Remove as much fat as possible.

4.  Beat and egg and whisk into the cold stock.

5.  Return the stock to the stove and over a very low heat, allow the stock to heat.  Do not allow to even simmer.  As the stock heats the egg will congeal and float to the top, bring with it any particulate matter.  Allow to cool again.

6.  Very gently, pour the stock through cheese cloth or muslin.  The stock will now be quite clear.

7.  If your stock had a lot of particulate matter in it you may need to do the process again to achieve a crystal clear stock.

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A-maizing corn

Image of stone altar with basrelief maize carvings to illustrate article

by Dana Leilehua Yuen

When we read old European stories, fairytales, and fables and “corn” is mentioned, it’s probably not the American maize the teller was meaning. In Old English, “corn” was the seed of any cereal plant, usually the one grown in the area of which one was speaking.

The word comes from the Proto-Germanic kurnam, “small seed, ” which also is the source of the Old Frisian and Old Saxon korn “grain,” Middle Dutch coren, German Korn, Old Norse korn, Gothic kaurn, all ultimately from the root *gre-no (grain). The Old English word referred to “grain with the seed still in” (as in barleycorn) rather than a particular plant. The American maize was called “Indian corn” around the 1600s, and eventually American English dropped the adjective.

Maize: (a) Lower part of the plant (b) top of plant with male inflorescense (c) middle of plant with female inflorescenses (d) ear/cob: (1) two pollen grains of a male inflorescense (3, 4) female flowers (5) female flowers with stigma (6) fruit bottom view (7) fruit side view (8) fruit cross-section views
Franz Eugen Köhler, Köhler’s Medizinal-Pflanzen , Wikipedia

The story of maize cultivation begins some 9,000 years ago in Mexico. The large yellow ears so common today did not exist then, but a wild grass called teosinte did. The ears of teosinte are the size of a child’s finger, each one bearing a few hard kernels. But those kernels can be eaten. And the people of that time learned to cultivate them and select for desired characteristics.

As people migrated across the Americas they took teosinte and its descendants with them to eat and to cultivate. By 5100 BCE maize was cultivated as far north as Tabasco. Fossilized pollen evidence shows forest clearing around 5100 BCE along the banks of the Grijalva River delta for the purpose of growing maize.

Maize was included in the items Christopher Columbus took back to Europe and was cultivated there. Other Europeans who arrived later sent other varieties home which also were cultivated. Soon maize was a product of trade and spread throughout the world.

For those wondering why there are so many traditional Chinese dishes which use this American grain, maize was introduced to China by 1500, thriving where rice did not grow well, and contributing to the 18th century population boom.

Cereals in China by Hu Zhongu and A. Bonjean
Image from The Art of Corn

Many varieties of maize are now grown throughout the world, and it is an important crop in international trade. One of the cutest spokespersons is South Dakota’s “cornbassador,” Tariq.


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Our Writers

by Dana Leilehua Yuen

Geraldine left an amazing legacy in her writing and art. There is no way I can honor my own career and at the same time continue the pace she set with her work. Rather than put it in stasis, I have asked other people to contribute to The Questing Feast so that it will continue to grow, and a new generation of readers can benefit from her work.

Kristi “Lakea” Lin (林元欣)

Kristi “Lakea” Lin (林元欣) graduated from the University of California, Irvine, with a Major in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and a minor in Sustainability. During that time, she also volunteered with the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center. She loves interdisciplinary studies and handicrafts as a member of a fiber arts guild and an improving musician who is still in the process of finding her voice.