A slice of glazed, pan-fried Spam on a block of rice, held together with a band of nori. Hawaii eats more Spam per head than anywhere else in the United States, and this is the reason most visitors try it.
Spam arrived with the military in the Second World War. But part of why it stuck was the loss of fresh fish: in 1940, as National Geographic recounts, citing the Hawaiian Journal of History, suspicion of Japanese immigrants led to a federal rule that took much of the islands’ Japanese-run fishing fleet off the water. The musubi itself, the Japanese rice ball meeting the American tin, is usually dated to the early 1980s. Two cooks, one on Kauai and one in Honolulu, are both credited, and nobody knows for certain who was first.
Short-grain rice is not optional. Long grain will not hold together when pressed. Sushi rice is in most UK supermarkets.
- The rice. Rinse it until the water runs nearly clear. Put it in the pan with 480 ml of water, bring to the boil, lid on, heat right down for 12 minutes, then off the heat, lid still on, for 10 more. Tip it into a bowl and cover.
- The Spam. Turn it out of the tin and cut it lengthways into eight slices. Wash and dry the tin. Mind the edge where the lid came off; it is sharp.
- Fry the slices in the oil in the same pan until browned on both sides. Mix the soy sauce and sugar, pour it over, and let it bubble down to a sticky glaze, turning the slices, about two minutes.
- Press. Cut each nori sheet in half lengthways. Line the tin with cling film, press in a layer of warm rice about 2 cm deep with wet fingers or the back of a spoon, lift the block out, and set a slice of Spam on top.
- Lay the block across a strip of nori, wrap it round, and seal the end with a grain or two of rice. Repeat.
Eat them now, warm. This is rice held at room temperature, which is the specific thing the rice page warns about. Make as many as you will eat in one sitting.
Makes 8, serves 4.