You can't go wrong with pig...

Patrick Cauldwell — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 20:38:15 GMT

...unless you happen to be veggie, of cource. :)

Vikki has declared a Tiki Christmas this year, so I decided to start practicing for Christmas dinner and made my first batch of kahlua pork last night. It worked out super well. A while back I got gifted this "indoor BBQ" which is basically a big-ass crock pot designed to hold ribs. That seemed like the perfect vehicle for experimentation. I got a super-cheap pork picnic roast which came in two pieces. I wrapped each piece in foil after slathering with a little liquid smoke and Hawaiian red salt, then tossed in the cooker, turned on low, before I left for work in the morning. By dinner time, the pork was completely falling apart, just like it's supposed to be, and turned out very tasty. Served with some rice and greens (spinach and mustard greens) cooked in coconut milk with some totatoes and Hawaiian salt. Mmmm. The only thing that would have made it better is if I'd had some ti leaves lying around. You are supposed to wrap the pork in ti leaves before the foil, but Uwajimaya is far from here, and I had to make do without.

For XMas, I'm thinking of applying the same principle to a turkey instead of pork (since it's Christmas, after all) with maybe some mashed taro and sweet potatoes with pineapple. And maybe the same greens but made with taro leaves (which are super good, and available at Uwajimaya) instead of the supermarket greens. Hmmm. I'll need to come up with some genre appropriate dessert too. Possibly involving coconut. The flaming bananas Foster with coconut icecream at the Luau the other day was pretty awesome...

Towards a better Mai Tai

Patrick Cauldwell — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 20:22:46 GMT

being a recently converted Tiki enthusiast, I've been experimenting with a number of fine Tiki drinks, including the Mai Tai. It's hard to go too wrong with a decently made Mai Tai, but there's still room for both error and improvement. After checking out some of the advice on Tiki Central, last night I tried one with fresh Key lime juice (instead of fresh Meyer lime) and homemade Orgeat (made to this recipe) instead of the commercial Torani stuff. The improvement was quite noticeable, and even Vikki liked it (she's not generally a Mai Tai fan). The Key lime juice was sweeter, and less bitter, and the homemade Orgeat was less sweet, and not so artificially almondy. So altogether:

2 oz. Appleton Estate Jamaican rum

1.5 oz. Key lime juice

.75 oz. Bols Curacao (the only brand I could find)

.5 oz. orgeat

.5 Malibu coconut rum (not traditional, perhaps, but a very nice addition)

Patrick's Food Ramblings - tiki

You can't go wrong with pig...

Towards a better Mai Tai