Montrose Beach semimonthly BBQ #5 7/27/14 [HAWAI'IAN LUAU]

Montrose Beach semimonthly potluck, BBQ, 2014 #5 - Sunday - July 27th, 2014 - "HAWAI'IAN LUAU"



Previously a couple people got lost trying to find the spot. It is just north of montrose beach, but that doesn't mean it's on montrose. It is actually just a little north of Lawrence Ave. Please look at the map and answers to other questions here:
FAQ AND SCHEDULE.

RSVP below, and please let me know what you plan to bring. You can also RSVP, invite friends, and join the conversation over at the Facebook Invite page

For the details, like where, when, what to bring, etc, please see:
FAQ AND SCHEDULE.

OKAY! I'll change this to Sunday so that some people will actually sign up. I guess Saturdays are just no good. Date changed to Sunday now!

Not no good at all ever, but for me it's definitely easier to plan to cook on a Saturday for a Sunday event than during the week for a Saturday event.

I really wanted to make it to this one and bring some desserts that I used to bring to parties when we were living in Hawaii, but this weekend is crammed full of family parties that I can't skip out on.

If anyone wants a good dessert idea though, try looking up a recipe for butter mochi. As long as you can pick up some mochi flour it's a very simple dessert that should be easy to make, travels well, and usually goes over well at parties.

Leek - Kinda kidding, but it seems your thoughts on saturday prep time are shared by most others as well. And it seems that almost everyone appreciates sunday picnics more.

ucjames - It would be great to have you at this one. Try to make it out, even if for an hour or two, nobody will hold it against you if you just want to pop in for a minute empty handed to scope out the Hawai'ian offerings! Thanks for the suggestion too!

Laikom, I absolutely love this week's theme. Unfortunately the timing is just not good this weekend. With the change to Sunday, there is a tiny chance that Ms. Ingie and/or I may be able to attend. If either of us is able to attend, our contribution will be lau lau.

Tiki drinks for sure. Not sure what else yet.

We are going to try to make this one. I'm thinking ceviche.

Octarine wrote:We are going to try to make this one. I'm thinking ceviche.

Awesome, glad you can make it! I've never heard if Hawaiian ceviche, unless you mean poke. If you do mean ceviche, how does Hawaiian ceviche differ?

I'm looking at poke or on of Roy Yamaguchi's recipes. I might add a little coconut milk though not sure. It all depends if I can find good enough fish at a price my budget can handle.

Octarine wrote:I'm looking at poke or on of Roy Yamaguchi's recipes. I might add a little coconut milk though not sure. It all depends if I can find good enough fish at a price my budget can handle.

Sounds good!

mrsm wrote:Laikom, I absolutely love this week's theme. Unfortunately the timing is just not good this weekend. With the change to Sunday, there is a tiny chance that Ms. Ingie and/or I may be able to attend. If either of us is able to attend, our contribution will be lau lau.

Hope you both make it! I made Lau Lau last year for the "island" themed BBQ and it was a big hit. You may already know where, but you can buy the appropriate fish (escolar, or "superwhite tuna") at Joong Boo market, aka Chicago Food corp. It is usually in the frozen case, but they also sell it sometimes out of the fish counter.

Planning on being there -- thinking bbq pork & shrimp egg rolls . . . where Chinese-Trader Vic's-Hawaii meet up I guess. Will there be a grill or the like where I can quickly heat/crisp them up?

If no one makes a dessert, I might take that on too (a big if though).

ok, i'm in

trying to decide between teriyaki grilled flanken short ribs or huli huli chicken

EDIT: going to bring the smokey joe as well

In appreciation of laikom moving this to Sunday, I'm bringing Lomi Lomi salmon and Local Fried Rice which I plan to make in the giant wok I was fortunate to trade for at the holiday party gift exchange.

Dog not in recipe. And I will wash it first

boudreaulicious wrote:Dog not in recipe. And I will wash it first

Wash the dog or the wok?

Hoping I can make one of these. Not this week though.

I was thinking about butter mochi, UCJames - glad to know it's an authentic choice.

leek wrote:I was thinking about butter mochi, UCJames - glad to know it's an authentic choice.

Absolutely. We used to buy butter mochi at farmers markets around Oahu pretty regularly before I started making it myself. I can't swing the bbq on Sunday since I have a family party in Lake in the Hills at the exact same time, and the distance is just too much to try to make both, but thinking about butter mochi this week has got me ready to make a batch within the next week or so.

mrsm wrote:Laikom, I absolutely love this week's theme. Unfortunately the timing is just not good this weekend. With the change to Sunday, there is a tiny chance that Ms. Ingie and/or I may be able to attend. If either of us is able to attend, our contribution will be lau lau.

How is your weekend looking, any chance you think you'll make it? I may make some LauLau if you aren't.

Also Octarine, and anyone who was on the fence, could you confirm? I would like to get an idea of what dishes are going to be here and which are missing so that I could fill in some blanks. Thanks!! Looking forward to this one!

on FB we have 10 ppl signed up and 6 maybe. A couple more here, and we're not doing so bad. Here is the list of food so far!


THE LIST SO FAR:
Spam Musubi
Teriyaki beef
Mac salad
Poi
More teriyaki beef
Pineapple fritters
Pork/shrimp egg rolls
Butter mocha cake
Lomi lomi salmon
Fried rices
Cabbage salad
Kalua pork

MAYBE:
Lau Lau (pork and fish wrapped in taro leaf)
Poke or ceviche

I won't make it back to Chicago in time, so sorry no lau lau from me. Laikom, thanks for filling in the gap. Mrsm

I'm sorry, I was feeling under the weather but thought a good nights sleep would help. It didn't so I'm going to have to pass on this one.

Hey everyone, thanks to all who came out. This theme was probably one of the best of the year! Unfortunately I was too busy to get a lot of pictures.

For the Kalua Pig, I used a bone in pork shoulder roast. Rubbed it bit a modest amount of salt and black pepper then laid some really smoky hard bacon skin I had laying around from my cold smoked bacon project. Then I wrapped it up in some banana leaf and foil and baked it at 225 for 6 hours. At the BBQ I smoked it in the WSM for an additional 3 hours. To replicate some of the underground cooking flavor, I threw the whole thing right on the charcoal to get some burnt banana leaf smoke into the pork. I kept it on the flames for a few minutes, then unwrapped it and charred up the fat over the hot coals. By keeping the spices simple, I was hoping to highlight the flavor of the banana leaf, and boy was I right! The banana leaf definitely imparted a lot of tea and hay type aromas and flavors, and I am really pleased with how it turned out. I'll definitely be doing this again.










Jen's local rice (not cooked in the giant wok!!) was a huge hit, as it should have been, because it was delicious!:



MHL's riff on some "long pig":



Just a small fraction of the spread:

What a great day, and the food was awesome . . . the only things missing were the fire dancers and the whole pig. But I loved so many of the fun and whimsical creations -- as much fun to talk about as they were to eat. I went home and didn't need anything for dinner as I pretty much had enough food for two full days.

I had a great time Sunday too! As always, the food was fantastic and just kept coming all day long. Highlights for me were BR's homemade egg rolls, which arrived hot and fresh and were a great first bite of the day; Alekh's juicy and beautifully grilled teriyaki chicken wings (wish I had gotten a photo); Panther in the Den's teriyaki beef, which I just casually grabbed off the food table and experienced a taste explosion of wonderful grill char and caramelized sauce; Boudreaulicious's lomi lomi salmon, which was subtly spiced to let the salmon shine; and ... well, it was all great!

Lowlight was the poi, needless to say. Flavorless paste, but otherwise unoffensive. At least we had it! A truly authentic luau!

I enjoyed the Spam Musubi way more than i thought i would…I preferred the shiso-less version which really let dat spam shine. Kalua Pig was great, largely because simple spicing allowed the banana leaf flavor to really shine. Butter mochi cake, lomi lomi salmon, and egg rolls were other highlights. Had a blast.

Matt, as I think about this last bbq, I've lost a little respect for you. You seriously didn't realize we needed to recreate a lava flow? Then we could have cooked steaks at a very high temperature: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/oddnews/che ... 33056.html

I suppose I can overlook this small transgression.

I am disappointed in myself.