Big Island style smoked meat (pork), served with the must-have accompaniment, Poi
Any of you into smoked meat?
Local wild pig hunters will usually smoke their catch, using a variety of flavoring methods, from dry rubs, to what I call "Big Island style", which is a marinade typically made-up of shoyu, sugar, ginger, garlic and Hawaiian Chili Pepper, done to taste. Some like it more sweet, some like it more spicy, etc.. Some also have their own "secret ingrediments", from Honey, to Mirin, to Sake, to Oyster Sauce.
Reason asking, is I'm searching for "insider" tips from you HT folks on smoking Tako (which is a meat of course). I recently smoked two Tako (Hawaiian He'e Octopus) for the very first time, and it turned out pretty good, but turned out a bit too salty and smokey. I tenderized it by massaging it with Brandy, yet I'm aware of the other more common tenderizing method of boiling the Tako in beer for over an hour. I'll try that next time. I think my first batch turned out too salty because I marinaded it too long (over 48 hours) in a shoyu-based marinade.
Kiawe has a very aggressive smoke flavor, so next time I'll try using a fruit wood like Guava or Lychee.
Smoked Tako done in 4 styles: Big Island, Misoyaki, Hawaiian and Charsiu. Then turned into
2 styles of Tako Poke, along with a Smoked Tako, Lettuce and Tomato Sandwich,
a.k.a. "STLT", to the tune of the classic "BLT".
I gotta' say, the Smoked Tako Poke and "STLT" was broke da' mout' ono! The addition of mirin and sesame oil really helped to tone down the over-smoked, slightly over salty flavor of my first smoked tako batch, while pan-frying the smoked tako made it taste almost like Smoked Pork for that STLT" sammy. Try pan-fry some store-bought Smoked Tako. Winnahz!
Any smoked meat prep' and cooking tips, as well as preferences and personal faves would be great to hear about.
Mahalo!
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