5 comments about Roy's Feasts from Hawaii.

1. I bought this book after eating at the restaurant in Palm Springs. I'm in no way the most experienced cook out there, but I had no trouble understanding the directions - even to fix his Peking-style duck - and the recipes I prepared tasted almost as good as the restaurant.

   If you don't live near an Asian grocery, you may have trouble finding some ingredients. However, most of the "foreign" ingredients called for are very common at any Asian store - even a very small one. I was even able to get the specific brand of red chile paste he recommended at a tiny Asian market by my house without going to the larger Asian grocery downtown.

   Plus, most of his recipes do call for the same basic chili pastes and spices, so I wasn't discouraged by the thought of buying a whole bunch of bottles only to use a teaspoon out of each one.

   Excellent book, and well worth the money, in my opinion.




2. Anyone who has eaten at Roy's will undoubtedly get excited at the prospect of making something out of this book. The layout alone will be inspiring with all the beautiful pictures of Hawaii and the food itself. However, novices beware, this is not cooking 101. There is quite a bit of prep for most recipes - sauces that need to be made requiring a multitude of ingredients before you even get to the core of the recipe - resulting in hours of work. I could see this being ok in a restaurant environment where many of these things are made in advance and put together on order, but for the haole home cook it is a little much. Additionally, I have never been that happy with the results of my labor. My husband and I are fairly good cooks and always look at each other as we ponder why it is just not as good as we think it should be. Maybe it is missing the view of Molokini, I don't know.



3. I've owned and used "Feasts from Hawaii" for several years. Roy's combination of asian flavors and french cooking techniques brings new excitement to your dinner table. Yes, the recipes are labor intensive and it is essential to have a source for asian ingredients as well as excellent seafood, but the results will make you feel you have discovered NEW FOOD! His pizza dough, which is sweetened with honey, is one of the best. You can pare down the recipes and serve interesting food or go for the presentation and cook like a pro. I would recommend this book to anyone who feels their cooking is growing stagnant with repeat flavors and themes. The recipes are challenging enough to make the work interesting and your family or guests will be completely content. Also, many of the sauces required for "a drizzle or drops" can be frozen and used as needed, or be a basis for other dinners during the week.



4. This is a must have for every library of cookbooks. The recipies translate very well in the home kichen. Although Roy's "Roy's Fish and Seafood: Recipies from the Pacific Rim"(a newer book) share some of the same recipies and has many that are new and wonderful, "Roy's Feasts from Hawaii", is the first book to add if you dont have it. it tends to be a little more simple and focused.



5. This book is a great resource for island cooking. The recipes are delicious although some of the fish varieties might be difficult to find after leaving the islands!

3 comments about Sam Choy's Little Hawaiian Poke Cookbook.

1. I hosted a wedding shower with a Hawaiian theme and gave these books as gifts. They were a big hit.



2. We so enjoyed the food dish poke and its many variations on Kauai that we truly missed it when we came home. With this book, we were able to savory our favorite recipes for poke and also try so many new ones. This is a complete book that will have you turning the page and trying a new style everyday.



3. Some of the best poke recipe's anywhere. I've been looking for Sam's Fried A'u poke recipe ever since he closed his restuarant in Kaloko, and the grill at the Kona Bowl. These take me back to happier times before I had to leave Kona.

3 comments about Hawaiian Cookbook.

1. This book was really easy to use and didn't have a lot ofterminology or technique's that we're too "foreign" for usregular people. I have made at least a half a dozen different recipies out of this book so far. They have all turned out pretty well and had a lot of flavor. I am not a master chef by any means so I recommend this book to the simple cook!



2. This cookbook written by the mainland-american manager of the now-defunct Hawaii Kai restaurant in New York City represents the epitome of fine Tiki Restaurant Dining in the 1970s.
   
   This style of cooking is perhaps best characterized as take-out Chinese food served with a slice of pineapple in a hollowed-out pineapple-shell used as a container, eaten in a restaurant decorated with carved wooden tikis, bamboo struts and thatched huts.
   
   Half of this book is dedicated to this genre, where the actual recipes are very similar or even identical (soy sauce, sherry, ginger, garlic) but the presentations are elaborately different with an emphasis on outlandish (flambee recipes etc). Since the average reader scarcely have time to cook dinner, the advice on food presentation hardly seems relevant.
   
   In the time since this book was written, the chinese tiki restaurant cuisine has evolved to Modern French or American cuisine with Asian ingredients, and these are the books that you can buy from the likes of Sam Choy et al, and these are the dishes that you will encounter in the fine dining hawaiian restaurants today.
   
   Yet, what has always appealed to me about Hawaiian Cooking, is the more humble homecooking (today known as "plate lunches") that evolved from the simple traditional dishes that the plantation laborers from Asia and their Hawaiian polynesian spouses would make. This included grilled meats with asian marinade, japanese style fried cutlets, some chinese style noodle soups, and sadly only a small number of "real" polynesian dishes like laulau, kahlua pig, lomi salmon, haupia, and poi (perhaps less than a dozen of such traditional unadulterated polynesian recipes have survived).
   
   Half of this book does try to address this wealth of simple but authentic home cooked dishes. But that is clearly not the strength or emphasis of this book, and in fact I'm not aware of ANY hawaiian cookbooks that seem to do these dishes any justice, and your best bet at the moment is to search for recipes on the internet.
   
   I think that in emphasizing the "new" and "high class" restaurant style cooking be it from the 70s or today's contemporary cuisine, the cookbook authors have missed out on the true wealth of home cooked hawaiian cuisine that people in Hawaii eat everyday and perhaps take for granted, but for the rest of us living outside of Hawaii, it would be a priviledge to learn those recipes.



3. I was pleasantly surprised with how good this cookbook is. I am having a big luau in a few weeks and this book has been a huge help! Not only are the recipes easy to follow but most of them can be prepared ahead and frozen, with all the details included at the bottom of the recipe. I prepared many of them ahead, and of course had to sample each! The Bali Bali meatballs with sauce, excellent. The stuffed mushrooms Lelani, awesome and my kitchen smelled wonderful! I can't wait to make the Hawaiian Banana Pie and the Tahitian Chicken, not to mention the Baked Clams!! Too many to mention. If your planning a Luau and need some great easy to follow recipes, this is the book for you. I highly recommend it! Oh, and don't forget to try the Beef with Peanut Sauce and the BBQ'd Pork!!!

3 comments about Hawaii's Best Local Dishes.

1. Many tasty local favorites...if only she had pickled mango :-). I make the oyako donburi often as well as furikaki fish (yummy with salmon).
   
   Being away from home and in NYC makes this book priceless for me. No local potlucks, plate lunches, or okazu deli food here, I gotta make my own "ono" food...thank goodness for this book!
   
   Mahalo for sharing Aunty Jean!



2. These recipes are easy and straightforward. You don't need to be a gourmand to make these. Although often rather low-brow (cream of mushroom soup, powdered onion soup mix...) I found them actually really good and sort of nostalgic in a comfort food sort of way. These are great recipes for feeding a family without a lot of fuss but still with some flair. I'm not from Hawaii but I think sugar is really loved over there! I had to decrease the sugar sometimes to suit my tongue. Every Hawaiian I know has this book so I think it is really representative of what locals eat at home.



3. We love this cookbook. Was given to me & my husband when we left the islands. So ono and easy.

5 comments about Sam Choy's Island Flavors.

1. Sam Choy has always made cooking hawaiian style simple for me. I like his sense of humor and food combinations. My only problem is finding fresh ingredients here in eastern Washington. I use this book primarily for summer luau parties and impress all my friends. It has lots of variety.



2. All of Sam Choy's books are good, but this one has a special place in my kitchen, because it covers the gamut of dishes. Unlike his seafood and Poke books, Sam provides some of the finest "home cooking" recipes of the islands.

   Well done!




3. With an UKU here and an OPAKA PAKA there, a touch of mango and crushed lemon grass, coconut hull fires and roasted HAPU UPU U, new ways to whisk a mother hollandaise,and flavors that jump right up off the page.That is Sam Choy's Island Flavors.
   When exploring new techniques and language in cooking it really is irrelevant if the recipes are complicated, compound, simple or sublime, what matters is if they work. The recipes in Island Flavors work. Too often the reader/cook is duped into buying a cookbook by the way it looks and the food displayed, or by the hype and narrative of paid critics and TV shows. Thankfully there is no illusion to this cookbook. I have found the recipes to be both true to the pan, and true to the palate.
   This is a highly recommended cookbook for the novice as well as the more experienced cook. It is full of great information, and you can feel Sam Choy's love of food throughout the book. Food is love so why not read and cook with those who love the craft, and leave the dilletantes of cuisine to gather dust on the backshelves, or in the late night hours of Emeril hell. Sam Choy cooks great food, is a great chef, and is a great food writer. Cook along with him as you read and you will understand why so many of the great chefs are smiling all the time. Food this lively can only make you happy.



4. I haven't tried to make anything yet and it's mainly because I don't know what each dish is simply by it's title. There are only a few photos of his dishes (and they're not next to the recipe, the few given are all in the center of the book). I like to know what a recipe should look like when it's done so I know I've done it right - this book seriously lacks in that department, something I find very important in a cookbook. However, if that doesn't bother you and you just want the recipes, I'm sure it's great because Sam's a great chef.



5. Wonderful book of the Island's favorites along with Sam's favorites. The food in Hawaii is delicious and this is a welcome addition to my shelf for bringing those flavors to home when we can't be there. This is one of my favorites of Sam's book because anyone can cook from it.

1 comments about Kau Kau: Cuisine & Culture in the Hawaiian Islands.

1. Gorgeously illustrated with historical photography (some images in black-and-white, some in color), Kau Kau: Cuisine & Culture in the Hawaiian Islands is a coffee-table book featuring more than seventy traditional Hawaiian recipes as well as an in-depth history of culinary culture in the Hawaiian Islands. From what it was like to live, work and eat in a missionary or a plantation, to how the introduction of cattle transformed the Hawaiian diet and created the Hawaiian cowboy (or paniolo), to pictures of a medley of different menus found at various Hawaiian restaurants and much more, Kau Kau is an enthralling tour that gourmets, culinary historians, and anyone interested in preparing or sampling Hawaiian cuisine are sure to enjoy. Highly recommended, especially as a sumptuous souvenir for anyone with fond memories of visiting Hawaii.

3 comments about What Hawaii Likes to Eat.

1. Being born and raised in Hawaii and tasted the delicious local food growing up, I found this book to be one of the best cookbooks of local, Hawaii-style cooking. The recipes were easy to follow and the color photos brought back many fond memories. If you ever ate the 'ono' local food in Hawaii, be sure to add this cookbook to your library!



2. From Shoyu Hot Dogs to Lamb Wellington "Indianne" with Tropical Fruit Chutney, two local authors have hit the nail on the head with their new cookbook, What Hawaii Likes to Eat.
   A collection of 130 recipes submitted by readers of a Honolulu daily newspaper, the range of dishes and tastes are as varied as the multi-cultural and chop suey residents of Hawaii.
   If there is one thing that all people like to do is eat, and with so many influences in the Crossroads of the Pacific, it would be impossible for even the most finicky of eaters not to discover something in this book that would make their mouths water.
   Cookbook writer and editor Muriel Miura teamed with the newspaper's food editor Betty Shimabukuro and asked the professional cooks and chefs along with the experts -- the eaters -- What do Hawaii folks like to eat?
   After months of reading, testing and eating, the result is this spiral-bound cookbook -- with the required color photos needed for any amateur Pacific Rim food preparer to serve a mouth-watering dish.
   What Hawaii likes to eat will provide comfort food for those who grew up on the plantation: Chicken Hekka, Musubi and Mango Seed; for those townies who were raised in Honolulu or Hilo: Loco Moco, Hamburger Steak and Chicken Katsu; for those who love luau food: Chicken Long Rice, Laulau, Lomi Salmon and Haupia; and for those who appreciate the ambiance as much as the meal: Cavalier Restaurant's Lobster Thermidor, Hiroshi Eurasian Tapas' Garlic Shichimi Ahi with Ponzu Vinagrette and Kahala Resort and Hotel's Roasted Garlic Rack of Lamb with Garlic and Herbs.
   For poi dog palates, try Napua Steven's Taro Biscuits, Arare Cookies and Sam Choy's Hawaiian Pulehu Tri-Tip Steak.
   The kamaaina baby boomers and their parents may remember Jolly Roger's Orange Bread, Queen's Surf Chicken Kamaaina and Little George's Shrimp Scampi. The Stewart's Pharmacy Corn Bread would bring a tear to the eye of anyone who frequented the once-popular Waikiki establishment.
   But for all the fancy Lavosh, Orange Souffle, Golden Phoenix Claws and Scalloped Potatoes that are in this book, perhaps the most intriguing recipe is the first -- and possibly the simplest -- the "Oki Dog," an American, Mexican, Tex-Mex and Okinawan Fusion creation, which is a bright red, crispy Redondo hot dog, Zippy's chili, shoyu pork and iceberg lettuce all wrapped up in a tortilla.
   The delicacy was actually first served on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood by Sakai "Jimmy" Sueyoshi, an Okinawa native who got rich selling his "Oki Dogs," and brought to Hawaii by one of the organizers of the Okinawan Festival who replaced the shredded pastrami that Sueyoshi used with the shoyu pork.
   Onolicious.



3. I got this cookbook about a month ago and have cooked little else than what's within its pages. Though I've found the recipes require a touch of adjustment, they are so far all generally solid starting points and I've enjoyed every meal that's come from its pages, as well as the lively pictures and descriptions.
   
   PROS: Fun, delicious, wide range of styles, book design makes for easy use in the kitchen.
   
   NOT-QUITE-PROS: Like most cookbooks, requires a little "feel" from the cook to adjust on the fly as appropriate.
   
   CONS: None.

5 comments about Best of the Best from Hawaii: Selected Recipes from Hawaii's Favorite Cookbooks (Best of the Best State Cookbook).

1. The receipe directions are vague. It's a good book, but just not a party book.



2. I have very mixed feelings about this cookbook.
   
   I gather from the introduction that this is one of a series based on visiting different states and putting together a cookbook to "preserve their food heritage". How the authors plan on summarizing the entire culinary experience of a state with such an interesting history, mix of races, and emphasis on FOOD is answered by what you get: a compilation of other cookbooks. So on the plus side, many of their sources are really good. (The entire Honpa Hongwanji series are great and are in my mother's, grandmother's, aunt's, etc collection. They're sort of dated, but have a lot of classic everyday food.) On the negative side taking a few recipes from other recipe collections gives you very little coherence, understanding of where that recipe came from (time period or heritage), or understanding of the ingredients. Plus, the selection of these recipes are just sort of strange. Spicy Garlic Eggplant and Pork (pg 128) and Spicy Szechuan Eggplant (pg 100) are basically the same recipe with minor changes from 2 different cook books. Several recipes are for poke, but the authors don't seem to realize they're related, or, at least, don't explain what it is. I have to wonder if they actually cooked these recipes at all or just leafed through the other books.
   
   Pictures are chosen to be more atmospheric with tourist photos of the authors, scenic places, and some line drawings (not of the food). The photos of people in "native garb" (at tourist sites) also contrast with the recipes, which are largely modern pot luck sort of food. (In particular, there's a cringe-worthy vintage photo near the front that must be just for nostalgia's sake because no one I know in Hawaii would be caught dead looking like that.)
   
   Besides the food, there are also little tidbits of information peppered through the book that are supposed to give you an idea of island life. My question: Who exactly told the authors that curry is often served at parties? What a strange generalization. They also commit the faux-pas in the preface of calling their friend a second generation Hawaiian. Hawaiians are like American Indians; you can't call yourself one just because you've moved somewhere.
   
   So, there are definitely some good recipes in here. It's just that you stumble upon things that are just plain wierd if you're from Hawaii.



3. This is a great book. It's not original/new recipes but compilations of the best of the best local Hawaii cookbooks up to the date of population. I own a cramp load of local Hawaiian cookbooks, and this is the one of the two (the other one is 50th Anneiversary Best of Our Favorite Recipes 1946 -1996 by Maui Association for Family and Community Education )I grab for when I want to make a local dish. I have also bought and mailed copies to my friends on the mainland, who have left Hawaii.
   Anther local cook book I just picked up you want to try once Amazon starts carrying it, is Jean Hee's Best of the Best Hawaii Recipes by Jean Watanabe Hee. Hee is one of the top local Hawaii recipe book writers. You might want to check out her other books that Amazon dose carry.



4. Good book, good food and simple to prepare.
   It is likely what the locals eat, rather than the restuarant food, which is what I wanted.



5. I am so happy with this book. Brings up lots of memories of wonderful food growing up in Hawaii. I have made several receipes from the book and have many more book marked to make.

5 comments about The Hali'imaile General Store Cookbook: Home Cooking from Maui.

1. I collect cookbooks, and play in the kitchen daily. This is the only one that stays on the counter! LOL A must have! Loaded with the most mouth watering~unique dishes of any cookbook I own~PLUS loaded with full color photos of food~Hawaii~etc with personal stories from author that make it a Great read whether using recipes or not! But , you would be crazy NOT to use the recipes....too very hard to pick a favorite! Go Bev! You rock, girl!



2. I loved the recipes in this book, the layout etc. but thought it was strange that while there are some lovely photos of the finished recipes, there were also a lot of photos of just flowers. That's nice, I guess, they looked like native vegetation but if you were going to put a photo in that spot, why not a photo of the food? Other than that, great purchase and fast shipping!



3. The Hali'maile General Store Cookbook is one of my very favorite cookbooks. Bev Gannon and her restaurants are very well known on the island of Maui, Hawaii. She takes a little bit of southwestern and a little bit of Pacific Rim ingredients to create the most delicious dishes.
   The recipes are fairly easy to prepare, most ingredients can be found on the mainland, she explains every step clearly, and the photographs of the food are beautiful. You can see how she prepares some of the dishes on her website.



4. This is a really great cookbook reflecting beautiful, upscale preparations and presentations for every day, local style food items. I recommend it for those who are home chefs in their own right, and already have a passion for cooking and enjoy the process of making great food. I borrowed this book from the library so many times, then finally bought it. Great sauces; great flavors and Pacific Rim ingredient combinations. While now a few years old, it is a classic for anyone who can appreciate Hawaii's Island Star Chef's and the perfect flavors and methods they collaborated on as a culinary community to create this island food movement, now well integrated into the everyday food scene in the islands. Chef Bev Gannon, author of this book, is one of my favorite chefs; her restaurant quality recipes are made simple enough for home use, yet yield great return. I also love the culinary talents of Island Chefs' Russel Siu of "3660, On The Rise", Alan Wong.. of many Alan Wong cookbooks, and Jean Marie Josselin who put out a decade+ classic titled, "A taste of Hawaii". All are wonderful editions, and additions to a good cook's library.



5. I have over 350 cookbooks, including more than 10 that are dedicated to Hawaiian Regional cuisine. Although many of the recipes have a Tex-Mex flavor, due to Bev's Texas roots, all that I have tried (many) are flat-out wonderful. The recipes are easy to follow and require mostly readily available ingredients. This is a must-have cookbook. The kahlua pork enchiladas are awesome! Add the cilantro cream sauce from an earlier recipe. This is how it is served at the restaurant.

3 comments about Family-Style Meals at the Hali'imaile General Store.

1. Maybe I just expected more but this book looked more like a commercial for the restaurant and chef. I will probably try the recipes and eat at the restaurant someday since some of them sound delicious.



2. Just returned from Maui and once again had a wondeful visit to the Hali'Maile General Store. I had the Spinach and Squid Salad....recipe in the new cook book and will definately make it. I wish we had been staying closer to have sampled more of Beverly Gannon's great cooking.



3. I have over 350 cookbooks, including more than 10 that are dedicated to Hawaiian Regional cuisine. Although many of the recipes have a Tex-Mex flavor, due to Bev's Texas roots, all that I have tried are flat-out wonderful. The recipes are easy to follow and require mostly readily available ingredients. This is a must-have cookbook. The short ribs w/ hoisin is awesome!