STRICTLY HAWAIIAN

Foods and Customs

HAWAIIAN MENUS

Taro Top Cream Soup	Avacado Fruit Cup
Molded Avacado Aspic	Broiled Fish Steaks
Hawaiian Pork Roast	Luau or Baked Breadfruit
Fried Bananas	Kona Inn Banana Bread
Naomi's Orange-Date Cake	Haupia
Coffee	Coffee

Also see menu for The Luau, page 53.

Fried Paprika Taro	Baked Fish in Coconut Milk
Avacado Salad	Laulaus
Chicken and Luau	Poi
Pele on a Binge	Sweet Potato Pudding
Coffee	Coffee

POI

Poi, the "staff of life" to Hawaiians, is made from taro root. Its processing is a long, involved procedure, and we would not recommend anyone trying to make it from "scratch," particularly, since it is obtainable in the States in cans, jars, and frozen. Strangers to poi react to it in different ways— the most usual being UGH! Not because it tastes bad—but rather, because there doesn't seem to be any taste to it at all. However, one can acquire a taste for it if it is accompanied by tastly dishes. That failing, it is an excellent food for babies. They may not like it, either, but it'll do 'em good— it's rich in calcium.

The Delicate Art of Eating Soft Poi

For the Men: Dip the second finger of the right hand into the poi bowl; twirl what sticks to the finger about in mid-air until you have it under control, then plop finger into upturned mouth. The number of fingers you use depends on the consistency of the poi. For the Ladies: Be more restrained —use more fingers and fewer twirls. For the Sissies and Haoles (See Glossary): Use a spoon or a fork. NOTE: The wise hostess provides fingerbowls or damp hand towels when she serves soft poi.

How to make Soft Poi

Steam a package frozen poi for 1 hour in double boiler. After it is thoroughly thawed, knead with small quantities of water, added a little at a time until it reaches the consistency of a thick paste. One package of frozen poi will make a quart of soft poi.

To keep poi without aging it, float enough water on top to cover it. If poi is not refrigerated, it will age each day, gaining in flavor and acquiring a slight tartness in two days, and reaching a definite sourness in about four days. Most tastes enjoy it best at from two to four days. When it reaches the flavor you like, refrigerate it with water on top. It will keep several days.

Islanders speak of poi with a sort of reverence. Instead of saying, "Poi is a good accompaniment to stew," they say, "Stew is very good served with poi." So, we say, "Lomi Salmon is very good served with poi." See recipe for Lomi Salmon, page 36.

Hawaiians never serve bread when there's poi, but since your guests may pass up the poi, you may serve bread. French or sesame seed breads go well with these foods.

TARO

Taro tops, or greens, are used in the same manner that we use spinach or other types of greens. Unless you live on the West Coast, where a small amount of taro is grown, you'll probably not have occasion to see the large, elephant-ear taro leaves. But if you do have occasion to try them, here's how. Use tender, young leaves; wash them thoroughly, remove stems and veins, tear into pieces and boil with butter, bacon or ham-hock until the "bite" is gone. Serve as you do other greens.

TARO TOP CREAM SOUP

2 tbsp. butter

1  qt. fresh milk

2 cups chopped taro tops

2 tbsp. flour

2 chopped green onions, including tops

Salt and pepper to taste

Blend flour into butter over low fire, slowly add milk, stirring constantly until mixture thickens. Add salt, pepper, onions and taro tops (see recipe for Luau for preparation). Simmer for 1 minute to blend, then serve. This recipe makes a fine cream of spinach soup, if you substitute spinach for taro tops. Select fresh, young spinach. (4 to 6 servings)

LUAU: Taro Tops and Coconut Milk

4 doz. taro leaves

2 cups water

1 tsp. salt

½ cup coconut milk (cow's milk will do)

Wash taro leaves and strip the stem and central vein from each leaf. Simmer 1 hour in 2 cups salted water. Add a little water, if necessary, to prevent burning. During the last 15 minutes, add a pat or two of butter. Before removing from fire, add ½ cup coconut milk (see recipe, page 37) or ½ cup fresh cow's milk. Bring back to the boiling point and remove from fire. (Serves 4)

If fresh, young spinach is substituted for Taro, the cooking time should be reduced to only a few minutes so that the spinach remains green and doesn't get mushy.

CHICKEN AND LUAU: "Taro Tops"

1 lb. sliced chicken, cubed

2  tbsp. cooking oil

1 cup water

1  tsp. salt

2 cups prepared taro tops (see recipe for Luau, p.32)

Brown chicken in oil in a hot pan. Add salted water and simmer until tender. Pour off water and add the luau; bring to the boiling point and serve. (Serves 4)

BAKED FISH IN COCONUT MILK

1½ Ibs. mild fish

½ lemon

2 cups coconut milk (see recipe, p. 37)

Rub cleaned fish with cut lemon and sprinkle lightly with salt, inside and out. Place in baking dish and add coconut milk. Bake in moderate oven for 30 minutes. (Serves 4)

FRIED PAPRIKA TARO

Canned boiled taro is finding its way on to the gourmet shelves of supermarkets, and in Japanese grocery stores. When you open the can, at first glance you are apt to think, "This looks like canned whole potatoes." But it's taro, although the taste isn't too far removed from boiled potatoes —and there are just as many calories! Canned taro is packed in brine, so go easy on the salt until you're sure you're not overdoing it.

To fry taro, slice as for German browned potatoes, about ¼-inch thick. Fry in butter or margarine until brown on both sides, sprinkle with paprika and serve hot. Like potatoes or hominy grits, fried taro goes with any meal of the day.

BAKED BREADFRUIT

You won't be apt to encounter breadfruit on the mainland, but if you do, you may prepare it like egg-plant, as it is similar in nature. We suggest baking, as follows:

Remove stem of breadfruit and fill hole with salt; let stand for about 2 hours. Rinse and put into baking dish and set baking dish in a large pan containing about 1 inch of water. Bake in medium oven 1½ hours, or until tender. Cool; then peel and remove seeds and center core. Slice or dice breadfruit and serve with melted butter and salt and pepper to taste.

LAULAUS

½ lb. salted salmon or butterfish (butterfish is better)

1 lb. fatty pork

5 doz. small taro leaves

2 doz. ti leaves

Soak salted fish several hours (overnight is better); then cut into 2-inch squares. Cut pork into squares about 1-inch thick. Clean taro leaves, removing stem and center vein. Divide pork and fish into six portions and wrap each portion into 10 taro leaves; place this on 4 ti leaves arranged in a cross with stems pointing out and the leaf ends overlapping. Bring stems together and tie so that the pork, fish and taro are wrapped into a small package. You may have to tie the whole package with string to hold it together. Steam 3 hours in a double boiler or in an underground imu with Kalua pig, until pig is done. Serve hot, still in the package. Each person unwraps the ti leaves and eats the contents from the package. 2 lbs. fresh, young spinach may be substituted for the taro leaves, if they are not available. And if ti leaves cannot be had, remove six ears of corn from the husks, keeping the stem and husks intact. Place laulau contents inside the husks, wrap, tie, and cook as above. (Serves 6)

SQUID LUAU IN COCONUT MILK

1½ cups sliced, boiled squid

2 cups prepared taro tops (see recipe for Luau p. 32)

½ cup coconut milk, p. 37

Wash, slice, and boil squid until tender in just enough water to keep it covered. Pour off water and add prepared taro tops and coconut milk. Reheat and serve. Canned squid may be substituted. (Serves 4)

COCONUT FISH

1½ lbs. mild fish

1 tsp. salt

1 bay leaf

1½ cups coconut milk (see recipe for Coconut Milk, p. 37)

Cut fish into 1 -inch squares and place in a shallow, covered pan in about ½-inch water, together with salt and bay leaf. Simmer until fish is tender—5 to 10 minutes. Then add previously prepared coconut milk and bring back to boiling point. Remove and serve fish and liquid in deep soup bowls. (Serves 6)

LOMI SALMON

1 cup salted salmon

2 ripe tomatoes, medium size, diced

½ cup water

½ large onion, chopped fine

2 fresh green onions including part of tops, diced

Soak salmon in plain water overnight. Bone and dice. Combine with other ingredients and let stand for about 30 minutes, then drain off liquid and serve as a side dish with poi. (Serves 4)

—Naomi Keihm

BROILED FISH STEAKS

2 lbs. fresh swordfish or tuna steaks cut about 1 inch thick

Juice of large lemon

½ onion, minced

½ tsp. salt

½ cup melted butter

Place fish steaks on broiler rack in broiler pan or on a sheet of foil with edges turned up, 2 or 3 inches from flame. Combine other ingredients and baste fish with this mixture while broiling. Broil about 5 minutes on each side. (Serves 4)

COCONUT MILK

A young coconut is the best for this, but the ones commonly found in our markets will do. Puncture the eyes and drain liquid from coconut. Save liquid. Crack open coconut and break into smaller pieces for easy removal of meat. Remove meat from shell and take off dark skin. Grate coconut chunks fine, or put through fine blade of food chopper. Heat the liquid from coconut to boiling, and pour over grated meat, allowing to stand for 30 minutes.

In using liquid from coconut, use 1 cup liquid to 3 cups grated coconut meat. Add boiling water if necessary to reach this proportion. Simmer 15 minutes, squeeze and wring out coconut through two or three thicknesses of cheesecloth. The resultant creamy milk is used in recipes calling for coconut milk.

Coconut milk almost solidifies when chilled or kept in refrigerator, but will liquify at room temperature or when heated.

Quick Method

A quicker way for making coconut milk—though with not quite the tasty results—is to pour 2 cups boiling water over 2 cups shredded or flaked packaged coconut, allow to stand 15 minutes, then simmer 10 minutes and squeeze through cheesecloth, as above.

FISH BAKED IN TI LEAVES

6 fish (1 portion size, or 1½ lbs. fish fillets divided into six portions)

¼ cup soy sauce

3 slices bacon

3 bay leaves

Ti leaves (or husks from 6 ears of corn)

1 medium onion, diced ¼ cup butter

Glean fish and brush inside and out with soy sauce. Slice bacon and bay leaves in half lengthwise and place one strip of each inside the fish, or in folded or rolled filet, and sprinkle diced onion over bacon and bay leaf. Wrap each portion in ti leaves, using several to make a tight package. Tie with string and bake in 350° oven for 30 minutes, or 45 minutes over charcoal. If corn husks are used instead of ti leaves, be sure to leave husks attached to stem. Insert one portion of the above in each corn husk, tie with string and proceed as above. (Serves 6)

CURRIED CRAB MEAT

¼ cup butter

¼ cup flour

1 cup fresh milk

¼ cups coconut milk (see recipe for Coconut Milk, p. 37)

½ lb. crabmeat

1" piece of fresh ginger root, mashed, or 1 tsp. powdered ginger

1½ tsp. curry powder

1 medium onion, chopped

1 tsp. salt

1 tbsp. lemon or lime juice

Blend butter and flour in hot pan, as for white sauce; add milk slowly until it thickens, smoothing out any lumps; add coconut milk and stir until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and simmer 30 minutes. Serve with steamed rice and small dishes of shredded coconut. (Serves 4)

KONA INN CAPER TARTARE SAUCE

4 cups mayonnaise

cup olive oil

1 jigger sherry wine

1  tbsp. pineapple juice

2 hard-boiled eggs, minced

¼ cup sweet pickles, minced

1 tbsp. mushrooms, minced

1  tsp. lemon juice

2 tbsp. capers

Dash Tabasco sauce

2 tbsp. chopped olives

1 tsp. parsley, minced

1 small onion, minced

Combine all ingredients and chill.

—By permission of Chef Max Mori, Kona Inn

SWEET POTATO PUDDING

6 medium sweet potatoes, boiled and peeled

6 marshmallows, diced, or 24 small marshmallows

Brown sugar to taste—about 1/3 cup.

2 cups coconut milk (see, p. 37)

½ cup grated coconut

Mash potatoes; add marshmallows and hot coconut milk; sweeten to taste; blend mixture well. Pour into buttered casserole and bake 30 minutes in 350° oven. Saute grated coconut lightly in butter; sprinkle over top of pudding and place under low flame until coconut is delicately toasted. Delicious served hot or cold. (Serves 4-6)

COCONUT CAKE

3 cups cake flour

5 tsp. baking powder

1½ cups sugar

8 egg whites

½ tsp. salt

1½ cups coconut milk (see recipe, p. 37)

1 cup fresh grated coconut

Sift first three ingredients together. Add salt to egg whites; beat until stiff but not dry. Add coconut milk to dry ingredients and beat until smooth. Fold in egg whites. Pour into two 9" cake pans which have been greased and floured; bake 40 to 45 minutes at 350°. Cool. Frost with white frosting; sprinkle with 1 cup fresh or packaged coconut, grated or flaked. This cake will seem "chewy," like macaroons.

BEEF-PINEAPPLE STICKS

1 lb. lean, tender beef, ½ in. thick

½ cup soy sauce

Thimble size piece of fresh ginger (or ½ tsp. ground ginger)

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 small can pineapple chunks

Cut meat into squares (1 to ½ inches) and marinate for half an hour in sauce made from soy, ginger, garlic and juice from pineapple. Then place on skewers, alternating meat pieces with chunks of pineapple. Broil over hot charcoal 8 to 10 minutes, or less if you like 'em rare. (Serves 4)

LUAU OMELETTE

3 eggs

½ cup half-and-half milk

2 tbsp. butter or bacon grease

1 cup chopped, cooked luau (see recipe for Luau, p. 32)

Pepper and salt to taste

Beat eggs and milk together; heat butter or bacon grease in skillet; pour in egg-milk mixture; add cooked taro tops (see recipe, page 32). As the mixture becomes brown on the bottom, fold ½ over and remove from pan when the interior has "set." (Serves 4)

PELE ON A BINGE

1 large ripe pineapple

1 can pineapple chunks

½ cup almonds, blanched and chopped fine

¼ cup brown sugar

1 tbsp. butter

4 oz. light rum

1 oz. brandy (100 Proof)

Cut off top of pineapple. Save top. Cut meat from pineapple with long, sharp fruit knife. Do not puncture skin of pineapple. Discard any tough meat. Cut remaining meat into small cubes and combine with canned pineapple chunks (or there won't be enough to fill shell) and almonds. Add sugar, butter and rum, mix, and fill shell with this mixture, pin on top with toothpicks and bake in 350° oven 20 to 30 minutes. Bake any left-over pineapple mixture, too. Remove from oven, pour brandy over pineapple, light and take to the table flaming. Spectacular and delectable! (Serves 4 to 6)

PINEAPPLE COFFEE BREAD

Cream 2 cups granulated sugar and 1 cup shortening. Add 2½ cups crushed pineapple and 4 well-beaten eggs. Sift (3 times) 2½ cups cake flour; 1 tsp. salt, 2 tsp. soda. Blend wet and dry ingredients. Important: DO NOT OVERMIX. Top with streusel; bake at 350 40 to 50 minutes. (Yield: two 1-lb., 4-oz. loaves)

—By permission of Kona Inn

Our favorite streusel is made by combining 1 cup sugar, 1½ tsp. cinnamon and 2 tbsp. soft butter, mixed until it becomes crumbly.

KONA INN BANANA BREAD

Cream 2 cups granulated sugar and 1 cup shortening. Add 6 ripe, mashed bananas and 4 well-beaten eggs. Sift 3 times: 2½ cups cake flour 1 tsp. salt, and 2 tsp. baking soda. Blend wet and dry ingredients. Important: DO NOT OVERMIX. Bake at 350° F.—45 to 50 minutes. (Yield: two 1-lb., 4-oz. loaves)

—By permission of Kona Inn

BANANA FLAPS

2 medium-size bananas (ripe)

1 cup packaged pancake mix

Milk, as indicated on package

1 egg

2 tbsp. butter or oil

1 tsp. sugar

Smash the bananas into paste; prepare batter as directed on package, adding eggs, melted butter, sugar and bananas. Beat slightly with egg beater. Bake on greased griddle, turning only once, when the top surface is bubbly. Serve these with pineapple syrup, which is available in most grocery stores. (Makes 12 to 14 pancakes)

FRIED BANANAS

Use well-ripened bananas, if possible. Peel and slice lengthwise and fry in butter. Sprinkle with sugar and serve.

RUM BANANAS

Peel bananas, slice lengthwise, and then into halves. Soak for ½ hour in rum. Remove from rum, sprinkle with sugar and dip into frying batter and deep fry until golden brown. Drain and roll in powdered sugar.

BAKED BANANAS

Place ½ dozen firm, ripe bananas, unpeeled, in a 350° oven on a flat pan for 20 minutes. Remove and slice in half lengthwise and serve. As a hot dessert item, sprinkle with powdered or brown sugar just before serving.

GUAVA PINEAPPLE SALAD

½ cup fresh crushed pineapple or 1 small can crushed pineapple

8 oz. cream cheese

1 guava

Fruit salad dressing

Drain pineapple and add to 8-oz. cream cheese; mix well. Gut guava in half; remove seeds; scoop out guava shells with melon ball scoop. Place pineapple-cheese mixture in shells and serve on lettuce leaves. Surround with guava balls and top salad with fruit salad dressing. (Serves 2)

MOLDED AVOCADO ASPIC

Melt 2 tbsp. gelatin powder in 1 cup warm water. Let stand 5 minutes. Add 1 cup grapefruit juice. Mix well and chill—10 minutes or until jelly consistency. Add the following and chill until firmly molded.

Add the following and chill until firmly molded.

1 cup mashed ripe avocado

1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

2 tbsp. finely-grated onions

¼ tsp. salt

½ cup mayonnaise

—By permission of Kona Inn

AVOCADO FRUIT CUP

4 avocado halves

1 lemon

1 med. can fruit cocktail

Poppy seed dressing

Halve avocados; squeeze lemon juice over avocado meat to keep it from turning dark. Fill halves with chilled fruit cocktail, top with poppy seed dressing. Serve on lettuce leaf. (Serves 4)

HAWAIIAN PORK ROAST

Salt

1 pork loin roast, 4-4 ½ lbs.

2 tsp. monosodium glutamate

1 finger crushed fresh ginger (or 1 tsp. powdered ginger)

½ cup soy sauce

1 tbsp. steak sauce

Rub salt into roast; let stand 20 minutes; then work mixture of other ingredients into meat, saving left-over for basting. Put roast in heavy skillet or pan and place in 350° oven and cook for 1 hour, basting as needed with above mixture. Then pour 1 quart boiling water over roast, lower temperature to 300° and cook for 2-2½ hours. Thicken leftover liquid in pan with flour and season to taste for gravy. (Serves 6-8)

HAUPIA: Coconut Pudding

2 cups fresh milk

4 cups fresh grated coconut (or packaged flaked coconut)

2 tsp. cornstarch

4 tbsp. sugar

¼ tsp. salt

Heat milk to scalding point; pour over coconut and let steep ½ hour; pour through cloth and squeeze all possible liquid from coconut into the bowl of liquid. Mix cornstarch with liquid, adding sugar and salt. Heat again to just under boiling point; stir constantly until smooth. Pour into shallow pan; let set until firm. Slice into 2-inch squares. Serve cold. (Serves 6-8)

ENTERTAINING IN TRUE
HAWAIIAN STYLE

Decorations are as important as the food when you entertain Hawaiian style. We swoon at the thought of decorating with orchids, but the Island hostess uses them with abandon, as well as hibiscus, gardenias, coconut blossoms, and many, many others, along with ti leaves and tree fern fronds. Since we on the mainland do not have the year-round profusion of flowers they do, our decorations require ingenuity on the part of the hostess.

For both formal and informal entertaining, ti leaves are used in lieu of tablecloths. They are considered a must for formal parties. These may be purchased from a florist (but it is wise to order them well in advance). However, canna leaves resemble them and may be used. On the West Coast, some taro is grown, and its large elephant-ear leaves could serve as a substitute. Any large, flat leaves are acceptable. Place them crosswise of the table, with the cut ends meeting in the center where they will be covered with decorations. Fruits or flowers, or both, are the usual formal centerpieces. Shells are also acceptable.

For the more informal table, fishnet, now obtainable in novelty shops, may be used as a cover, with a solid color beneath it, preferably, green. Here, the centerpieces may run the gamut of the hostess' imagination. Any aspect of Island life may be depicted—fishing, boating, surf-riding, hulas, and so on. Candles are not used for Hawaiian table settings. However, for outdoor parties, Hawaiian torches are stuck in the ground to light the area. See instructions for making torches on page 50.

Before the Islanders became paper-plate conscious (much to the chagrin of the tourists), large leaves served as their plates, coconut shells and gourds as bowls or cups, and sea shells for salt and sauces. Since we are not poi enthusiasts, we suggest using the traditional coconut shell poi bowl for coffee, and relegating the poi to a small gourd cup.

The punch bowl, of course, is the focal part of any party, and its choice is limited only by the imagination of the hosts. Large wooden buckets are sometimes used, or hollowed-out logs, but be sure you get one that won't change the flavor of the punch, or place containers inside them. Or a large glass ball may be cut in half and partially imbedded in a cake of ice. A long-handled gourd ladle and varicolored gourd cups lend an attractive touch. The bowl may be banked with gardenias, hibiscus, poinsettias, or orchids, or whatever exotic type flower is available.

Be sure to have leis for your guests. They may be as elaborate as you choose—you can even have them flown in from the Islands—or you can make them—but allow plenty of time for this. Wood fiber leis are available and are delicate and beautiful. The host greets each lady guest with a kiss and places a lei about her neck. Likewise, the hostess welcomes the men. This quaint custom gets the party off to a warm start.

Costumes

To keep your party Hawaiian, you should ask your guests to wear Hawaiian costumes. The ladies may choose the holoku, the most formal type of cotton, rayon, or silk dress. It has princess lines and a long train. Since trains may not be practical for our type of entertaining, she may choose the holomuu, which is the same dress without the train. The muumuu, of course, is the best-known. The Mother Hubbard type, which bears a very close resemblance to an old-fashioned night-gown, is not flattering even to the very young, and is designed more for comfort than for appearance. It is usually made of cotton or rayon, and is suitable for the most informal occasions. The newer straight-line muumuu is not gathered nor is it fitted but it is more becoming to most people than the gathered type. One of the most flattering is the sheath-type Chinamuu, which features fitted lines, a side-slit skirt, butterfly sleeves, and a frogged neckline. This is the Oriental interpretation of comfort and smartness.

The men may choose slacks or beachcomber shorts and Hawaiian shirts. The man with the beautifully tanned, handsome physique will doubtless wear a lava-lava, which gives him the look of utter abandon one has when the phone rings while he's in the shower and he grabs a towel, improvises a skirt, laps it across the front, tucks it in and rolls it. Unless you specify "Please, no grass skirts", someone's sure to show up in one, Heaven forbid!

Hawaiian Torches and
How to Make Them

The more torches, the more attractive your party. You can now buy them, complete with pole, as low as $1.29—up to whatever you wish to spend. However, you can make them at a nominal cost—the cost of a roll of toilet paper, a coffee can, a pole and some kerosene. These torches can be used to light your driveway or walkway, as well as the luau area. (Spend the difference on the ingredients of the punchbowl, where it'll really be appreciated.) Materials needed, per torch:

1 roll tightly wound toilet paper

1 coffee can, 1 lb. size

1 bamboo pole, 5 to 6 feet long

Kerosene, about 1 pint

Mount empty coffee can on one end of pole. Drive other end into the ground firmly. Soak T.P. in kerosene for about 30 minutes. Remove from kerosene (do not squeeze out excess) and place roll in can. Touch a lighted match to it, and POOF!—there's your torch. It will burn for 2½ to 3½ hours, depending on how strong the breeze is. Extra rolls may be soaked for replacements. (Versatile stuff, this T.P.?) Don't bother to paint the cans. They'll be black in no time.

Leis and How to Make Them

You should have at least one lei per guest—more, if you have the wherewithall to buy them—or the time to make them. But they should be flowers, seed pods, or shells. The paper ones are used frequently in this country, but in the Islands they are considered the "bastards of leis." Some hostesses start their party off by having the guests string their own and awarding a prize for the prettiest.

Leis are easy to make. Allow from 3 to 5 dozen flowers for each lei, depending, of course, on the size of the flowers. Select flowers that are durable, such as carnations, astors, cornflowers, daisies of the double variety, and so on. Avoid highly scented flowers.

Take a piece of string 2 yards long, thread through a blanket-type needle, or a strong wire which has been looped for an eye, then tie the ends, making the thread double, and the finished lei one yard long. String the flowers tightly onto the needle (running needle through the center of the flower) and push in place in sections. Flowers such as gardenias are strung through the base of the flower, which method requires fewer flowers. If you're really ambitious, you may make wrist leis for the ladies; or place a flower or two beside their "plates" for pinning in the hair and don't forget to attach a bobby pin.

Kahilis and How to Make Them

"Make floral kahilis, traditional standards of royalty. Materials needed are two disks of wood an inch thick and nine inches in diameter; 1 length of chicken wire or half-inch mesh screen 18 inches wide; a pole, an inch and a-half in diameter and six to eight feet long; excelsior, sphagnum moss, brads or staples, nails and wire.

"Bore a hole the diameter of the pole through one disk; bore another into, but not through the second disk. Put the pole through the first disk to a point 18 inches below the top, and secure the disk to pole with slanting nails. With brads or staples, fasten one edge of the screen to the edge of the lower disk. Close the open edges of the screen with wire and stuff this mesh basket tightly with an outside layer of moss and a filling of excelsior. Nail the second disk to the top of the pole and staple the top of the wire to its edges. You now have a cylinder of wire and moss nine inches in diameter and 18 inches high, at the top of an eight-foot pole. Wire flowers to florists picks and stick picks into the cylinder until it is covered. Add an apron of large green leaves or cloth to the bottom disk, pull it together around the pole and fasten with ribbon.

"Stand these kahilis at doorways or other spots through the house and garden for an authentic Hawaiian touch."

—Courtesy of the Hawaii Visitors Bureau

Entertainment

This will depend, of course, upon where the party is held, and the facilities for dancing. If you can afford it, have professional Hawaiian entertainers. If not, you may be able to find some "students of the hula" who would be willing to entertain for the fun of attending a true Hawaiian party. There should be Hawaiian-type background music during the party, and save Aloha Oe until the end.

The Luau

Following is the usual menu for a Luau. It seldom varies, but you may change it to suit your ideas. Just be sure there's a pig, if you're having a luau. Otherwise, it's a poi supper.

Kalua Pig
Lomi Salmon
Poi
Laulaus
Steamed Yams
Steamed Bananas
Pineapple, Luau Style
Haupia
Kona Coffee

If your group is small, Chicken Luau may be substituted for Kalua pig, in which case it will be cooked in a roaster oven, or inside a roaster within your oven.

The Imu

The underground oven in which the pig is roasted is called an imu. It should be dug slightly larger than the pig, to allow for the rocks, and for other items that are to be cooked at the same time as the pig. Its depth should be at least 20 inches. Islanders use lava rock in the imu, but since little of that is available in the States, select porous river-bottom rocks and be sure they're thoroughly dry or they may explode. They should be smooth and symmetrical. Do not use limestone rocks.

Build a huge fire in the pit, using hardwood. When the flames have almost died down, distribute the embers evenly, then place the rocks in them and heat until red hot. The imu is then ready to receive the pig and other foods for steaming to perfection.

The Pig

You won't find Kalua pigs in the Mainland, but any kind of pig will do, if it weighs from 90 to 125 pounds. A 90-pound critter will feed from 50 to 60 persons. Have it dressed and eviscerated; skin the knuckles; slash around legs and at the hams; then remove the bristles. You can do this the hard way, like some Hawaiians do—rub the hide with stones—or the easy way—shave it. You've probably already decided that it would be much simpler to singe it, but DON'T! A singeing sufficient to remove the bristles would blister the hide.

After all the bristles are removed, rub the pig inside and out with rock salt (not ice cream salt, please) and soy sauce, and allow this marinade to soak in for three to four hours. It will take approximately that long for the imu to heat to the proper temperature.

Carry the pig on a large piece of heavy chicken wire, or hog wire to a table near the imu. With tongs, remove red hot stones from the imu and place them in the abdominal and throat cavities, and between the legs, next to the body. Tie the legs together then encase him in the wire, fastening it together thoroughly so that he is in a "cage."

Now, smooth out the embers in the imu, arrange the rocks evenly, then cover with ti or banana leaves (preferably banana leaves)—or fresh corn husks may be substituted. Make the blanket several inches thick. Then place Mr. Pig in the pit, feet up. Around his "cage" place washed sweet potatoes, bananas in their skins, and laulaus. Cover these and the pit with another blanket of leaves or husks several inches thick. Over this, place dripping wet burlap bags, and tuck them tightly around the edges. Cover the entire pit with the earth you took from it, dampen it down and tamp it so that no steam escapes. Check occasionally to see if there is a trickle of steam. If so, run for the shovel, throw more dirt on, and tamp it.

The luau will be ready in four hours, or five if the pig is large.

Use care in opening the imu, so that no dirt gets on the pig. Have a large tube to put the pig in. He must then be cut into servings before being brought to the table. While the pig is being made ready, place the sweet potatoes, laulaus and bananas at each setting. The poi, of course, will already be on the table, as well as the coconut pudding (Haupia), and the Kona coffee should be ready to serve. Now you're ready to enjoy pork at its heavenly best. Until you've eaten pork cooked in an imu, you haven't lived!