Spam Musubi – One Of The Most Popular Hawaiian Dishes

Believe it or not, Spam is a very popular food item in Hawaii. In fact, Hawaiians eat more Spam than any other population of people on the planet. There is even a Spam festival held every year in April. One of their favorite ways to eat Spam, is in a dish called Spam Musubi.

Spam Musubi is simply a fried slice of Spam placed on top of a small block of rice that has been pressed together and the whole thing is wrapped in nori (dried seaweed).  There are many style of preparing it and one popular way is basically using the "pressed sushi style" - like Oshizushihako.  Other Sushi style methods used with spam are similar to Nigiri-style(by hand but with raw fish) or the form of Maki(rolled sushi).

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Spam was initially developed in the 1920s. The Hormel company was selling canned hams in 1926 and after the hams were prepared, there were thousands of pounds of pork shoulder left over. The company found a way to use the leftover pork so that it wouldn't be wasted and the product was originally called Hormel Spiced Ham. The company thought that the name was a bit boring and they held a contest to come up with a new name for this product. A contestant came up with the name "Spam" in place of "spiced ham".

Sales of Spam soared during World War II. One of the reasons that sales were so strong at this time is because Spam requires no refrigeration and it was actually one of the main courses for troops. It became a standard K ration for United States soldiers. It was military personnel that introduced Spam to the Hawaiian Islands(my experience), among other places, and it has been very popular ever since. Japanese people living in Japan at the time are credited with creating Spam Musubi in the tradition of omusubi, which is simply a rice ball that is traditionally wrapped in seaweed.

Preparation of Spam Musubi

Preparation of Spam Musubi is very easy. You would begin by grilling slices of Spam. While the Spam is grilling, you can place rice into an acrylic mold which is placed on top of a narrow piece of nori. The rice is pressed into the mold and the grilled Spam is placed on top before the mold is removed. Then the nori, or Japanese seaweed, is wrapped over the top.

Spam Musubi Sauce This dish is often prepared with a sauce, and Spam Musubi sauce is also easy to make. All that is required are four ingredients; shoyu, sugar, mirin, and water. These ingredients are added to the pan and the Spam is grilled in the sauce so that it soaks up the ingredients.