Chef Sam Choy, thanks to Haylely Matson-Matheus of the Hawaii Culinary Education Foundation, recently spoke to the Hawaii Community College Culinary Arts Program at Hilo.
Chef Sam Choy, thanks to Haylely Matson-Matheus of the Hawaii Culinary Education Foundation, recently spoke to the Hawaii Community College Culinary Arts Program at Hilo.
Sam talked about the importance of education to the first- and second-year students as the foundation of their future in the culinary world.
Coming from Laie, he was going to school, worked as a dishwasher at The Crouching Lion and decided to apply at the new Del Webb Kuilima Hotel. He was told he was hired, went to the kitchen and did not see his name on the assignment board. He knocked on the chef’s office door and told the chef’s assistant, “Hi, my name is Sam Choy and I was hired to work in the kitchen but my name is not on the board.” She looked through her list, and pointed to another door.
He entered the dishwashing room and was told he would be the pot washer. Sam went home that night angry, but had a 10-minute talk with his mother, who told him that whatever he does, he has to his best. If his job is a dishwasher, he needs to be the best dishwasher.
The next day, he turned lemons into lemonade and moved up. That 10-minute talk turned his life for the good.
Having traveled all around the world, just returning a couple of days ago from Misawa, Japan, and leaving in a few weeks to St. Croix, Sam said everyone needs to follow their dream and passion. The love for food and cooking can lead to great things as it did for him.
The Farm to Table movement of today is nothing new in Hawaii as we have been doing it for a long time, during plantation days, according to Sam. We grew our own food and then prepared the food for the family.
Sam’s advice to the students is to cook, then taste and never cook while you are upset or angry.
With just ingredients but no recipe, what Sam calls free-flowing cooking, with the help of some of the students, he made a poke pie. He told the students to pour some vinegar into a bowl of rice, then sprinkle with sugar. He kept tasting and adding more of the vinegar and sugar until he was satisfied with the flavors. He had the students place the rice on a platter, and flatten the rice neatly on the platter. He then mixed cubed ahi, chopped onions, lump crab, soy sauce, sesame oil, green onions, shredded kamaboko, two chopped Hawaiian chili peppers, and what he called “Cowboy gravy,” or mayonnaise, and gently tossed it with two large spoons. That poke was then placed on top of the seasoned rice to create the poke pie.
Sam said it is a wonderful potluck dish.
As a chef in a kitchen, Sam told the students that consideration must always to be given to food allergies. Since crab is a common ingredient to which many people have reactions, a separate poke was made for those who could not eat the poke with lump crab.
Based on the TV show “Chopped,” which Sam thinks is as pure as you can get in a cooking show, he requested mystery containers for selected students. Each, including Sam, was allocated 35 minutes to create dishes. In each container was kale, a piece of ahi, raw shrimp in shell, cucumber, sweet potato, pickled chayote, pepe pasta, a can of peaches, half a tomato, house-cured bacon and garlic.
A crowd gathered in the kitchen to watch what Sam would do with his ingredients as he worked quickly to create a cucumber and tomato salad with a canned peach and pickled chayote dressing, wilted kale, Oriental marinated shrimp and ahi slices and pepe pasta with sweet potatoes.
The other students did a wonderful job with the same ingredients, from kale rolled in the house-cured bacon, to seafood pasta, kale salad and seared ahi; Sam was quite impressed at their abilities, which he said was a testament to their instructors.
During a Q&A session, Sam was asked what are his favorite foods. They are simple moist one-pot dishes, grilled steak, chili, hamburger and local flavors.
His favorite country is Japan for its unique food and drive to excellence, winning gold medals worldwide in breads and desserts. He told the students they should not be afraid to venture out and explore the mainland or even abroad.
Foodie bites
The Hawaii Community College second-year students are featuring the foods of Mexico at the Bamboo Hale this week. The American standard menu also will be featured. Call 934-2791 for reservations.
Mark your calendars for the Rotary Club of South Hilo’s 11the annual Hilo Huli on Sunday, May 3, at Coconut Island. Members of the club have tickets available for purchase.
Corrections
In my column about Red Velvet Cake Mysteries on Feb. 24, the recipe had 1 teaspoon baking soda twice. It needs only one teaspoon baking soda and does not need baking powder.
Then, in last week’s column, the mochi, I had water twice and it should be 1 cup sugar instead of water.
Email me at audreywilson808@gmail.com if you have questions.