Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Monday, January 28, 2013
Wow Lau Lau!
Lau lau making was a great experience!
Uncle Owen invited my family to lau lau making earlier in the week. My mom and grandma went to the commissary to pick up 9.5 lb of pork butt and about 150 taro leaves. Sixty ti-leaves were picked from my parents backyard. With this amount, they were able to make approximately thirty lau laus.
On Friday night, my husband Chase and I went to my parents house to help prepare the lau laus. Before Chase and I arrived, my mom had already deveined all the ti-leaves so each could bend and move easily.
Then, grandma and mom began washing all the taro leaves. However, because raw taro leaves contain a natural ingredient called calcium oxilate, it can sometimes make your hands itch. Grandma and mom both began to get itchy hands and washed their hands with soap immediately. My dad had to finish washing the leaves. While the leaves were being washed, grandpa began cutting the pork into four ounce portions. To make sure the portions were accurate, we used a scale to weigh the meat.
Grandma and grandpa salted each piece of pork by massaging the Hawaiian salt into the pork. Grandpa said "No make manini! Put plenty!"
After the leaves and meat was prepared, grandma and grandpa showed us how to put together the lau lau. They layered three taro leaves on each other and wrapped a one piece of pork in the middle. After the pork was tightly wrapped in the taro leaves, they cross wrapped two ti leaves and tied the lau lau with string. Finally, I gave it a try! I had a hard time keeping the ti-leaf tight and in place while tying the string. Phew, after two hours, we were done. The lau lau was packed and ready to steam!
On Saturday, grandma and grandpa headed to uncle Owen's house at 8:30. There was slight miscommunication because grandma and grandpa thought they were supposed to wrap their lau lau ahead of time. However, uncle Owen thought they were going to prepare and wrap the lau lau Saturday morning. In good spirits, grandma and grandpa graciously helped uncle Owen and family wrap their lau lau as well.
Their lau lau looked delicious! They made a specialty lau lau filled with fresh salmon, shiitake mushroom, onion,carrots and mayonnaise!
After all the lau lau was prepared, we finally put them in a stainless steel steamer, which grandpa built! The lau lau sat in the steamer for five hours before they were ready to eat!
Making lau lau was a great experience! Thank you to the Taira and Tamamoto families for making this happen!
Stay tuned for Deeds of Wisdom:Lau Lau! (Episode 4)
Check out www.youtube.com/user/caritaira for earlier videos!
Cari
Uncle Owen invited my family to lau lau making earlier in the week. My mom and grandma went to the commissary to pick up 9.5 lb of pork butt and about 150 taro leaves. Sixty ti-leaves were picked from my parents backyard. With this amount, they were able to make approximately thirty lau laus.
On Friday night, my husband Chase and I went to my parents house to help prepare the lau laus. Before Chase and I arrived, my mom had already deveined all the ti-leaves so each could bend and move easily.
Then, grandma and mom began washing all the taro leaves. However, because raw taro leaves contain a natural ingredient called calcium oxilate, it can sometimes make your hands itch. Grandma and mom both began to get itchy hands and washed their hands with soap immediately. My dad had to finish washing the leaves. While the leaves were being washed, grandpa began cutting the pork into four ounce portions. To make sure the portions were accurate, we used a scale to weigh the meat.
Grandma and grandpa salted each piece of pork by massaging the Hawaiian salt into the pork. Grandpa said "No make manini! Put plenty!"
After the leaves and meat was prepared, grandma and grandpa showed us how to put together the lau lau. They layered three taro leaves on each other and wrapped a one piece of pork in the middle. After the pork was tightly wrapped in the taro leaves, they cross wrapped two ti leaves and tied the lau lau with string. Finally, I gave it a try! I had a hard time keeping the ti-leaf tight and in place while tying the string. Phew, after two hours, we were done. The lau lau was packed and ready to steam!
On Saturday, grandma and grandpa headed to uncle Owen's house at 8:30. There was slight miscommunication because grandma and grandpa thought they were supposed to wrap their lau lau ahead of time. However, uncle Owen thought they were going to prepare and wrap the lau lau Saturday morning. In good spirits, grandma and grandpa graciously helped uncle Owen and family wrap their lau lau as well.
Their lau lau looked delicious! They made a specialty lau lau filled with fresh salmon, shiitake mushroom, onion,carrots and mayonnaise!
After all the lau lau was prepared, we finally put them in a stainless steel steamer, which grandpa built! The lau lau sat in the steamer for five hours before they were ready to eat!
Making lau lau was a great experience! Thank you to the Taira and Tamamoto families for making this happen!
Stay tuned for Deeds of Wisdom:Lau Lau! (Episode 4)
Check out www.youtube.com/user/caritaira for earlier videos!
Cari
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