Simply pour the marinade/sauce into a Ziploc® (or other brand) zip-seal plastic bag, add the pork, then squeeze around to evenly coat the meat. Making Charsiu using these ready-to-use marinades is so easy to do. I didn’t weigh them, but I’d guess each pork “steak” here is a little over a pound, cut about 1-1/8″ thick evenly across. Whoah! So instead of committing the entire pork butt to Kalua Pig, I cut off two massive pork steaks to make this Hawaiian Pride Charsiu with. That beast weighed in at a Jenny Craig-bustin’ 8.72 pounds. This is one MASSIVE Boston Butt pork shoulder… Well what I didn’t mention then is that the pork butt I used to make the Kalua Pig also served double-duty, where I cut off two approximately 1 pound cuts of pork steaks from it to make this Charsiu. You might recall a few posts ago I showcased an oven-roasted Kalua Pig (and cabbage) demo. I’d say about as thick as a good oyster sauce. Here’s how it appears after I emptied its contents into a bowl… Yet upon feeling it, you immediately realize it’s in liquid form. What’s interesting about this brand of sauce/marinade is that, being packaged in a packet, you might assume just by looking at it on the store shelf that it’s in dehydrated (just add water) powdered form like the NOH brand. These packets were on sale at Don Quijote for an AIG executive bonus incentive-busting 67 cents each. Flavor varieties they offer include Kim Chee Fried Rice (featuring Halm’s brand), Shoyu Chicken, Stir-Fry, Hawaiian BBQ Sauce (basically Halm’s Kal Bi sauce/marinade), and this one we have showcased here today in the form of Charsiu sauce/marinade. Holiday Mart) last weekend, I spotted this new (at least to me) line of marinade/sauces in the asian sauces aisle made by a brand called Hawaiian Pride. While shopping at Kaheka Don Quijote (a.k.a. Well worth a visit for the intensely flavored food, clever wine choices and lively ambience.If you’ve ever made your own Charsiu (Chinese sweet roast pork also spelled Char-Siu or Char Siu), chances are you either have your own traditional family recipe (an Ancient Chinese Secret®), or, you’ve used one of several ready-to-use store-bought marinade/sauce brands on the market. The wine list is surprisingly food-friendly, innovative and unexpected. The Yamaguchi tradition of Asian flavors married to classic French technique is alive and well in Hawaii Kai. You'll find options like honey-mustard short ribs blackened ahi with spicy soy mustard butter sauce and grilled salmon with Japanese citrus ponzu. Executive chef Chris Garnier and the staff here keenly understand the expectations of both regulars and first-time diners who are often on a culinary pilgrimage.
Yamaguchi's corporate obligations and personal interests mean that he is rarely in any one place for long. Over the years Yamaguchi's reputation and his restaurant empire have grown beyond all expectation.
It's instructive to remember that when one orders a seared ahi dish in Phoenix or Orlando, it was first served in the U.S. Born in Hawaii, raised in Japan, educated in some top Los Angeles kitchens, Yamaguchi did as much as anyone to put Hawaii on the world culinary map. This is where it all started: if there was one chef in the vanguard of Hawaii Regional cuisine, it was Roy Yamaguchi.