Tomorrow, I’ll have more pastries. For the to-go plate lunch, I’ll have hanbāgu—which is the Japanese version of Hamburg steak and similar to how hamburger steak is served in Hawaii. It comes with rice, my grandma’s potato salad and house-made kimchi.
Hours are 11 until everything sells out–the pastries and hanbāgu are limited. Credit cards, please, as I have no till 😊. To keep everyone healthy, only one person/group enters at a time, and thank you for keeping a safe social distance when in line.
With so many concerns and uncertainties, I wanted to do something to cheer people up that is safe, so I decided to sell some pastries on the weekend. (I did this when the Great Recession hit, too.)
I will be open on Saturday and Sunday from 11 am to sell out. Items are limited. Cards only, please, since I don’t have a cash register!
I also have some lunch items to go: Hawaiian kalua pork with rice, my grandma’s potato salad and house made kimchi.
Moist and tender, kālua (“underground” in Hawaiian) pork is a favorite food of mine, particularly when visiting Hawaii. Traditionally made in an underground pit called an imu, the pork is covered in banana or ti leaves to keep in the moisture during the cooking process.
James Temple has a good blog post on his Tasting Hawaiʻi blog about the traditional cooking method with lots of pictures.
If you’re like me, though, digging an imu, lining it with coals, and getting the ti leaves ready might be a little too much. When I’m in the mood for kālua pork, I make it in an oven, above the ground!
The biggest surprise about kālua pork—other than how good it is—is how easy it is to make. Typically, kālua pork made in the oven is started with brining the pork in a simple mixture of water and salt, but I find that too salty for my taste.
I take some pork shoulder, sprinkle coarse Hawaiian sea salt called alaea sea salt on it, and then add black pepper, garlic, ginger and a bit of liquid smoke. I place this in a deep roasting pan, wrap the whole thing with foil and bake in the oven for five hours.
