Hawaii-Cajun Cuisine

Hawaii-Cajun Favorite Ingredients

Japanese Short grain Rice:

Citrus Shoyu: A fundamental flavoring to give things an additional zing. Myer Lemon Shoyu, Ponzu Shoyu, Calamansi Shoyu.

Butter (Hawaii-style): 

Crustaceans: Giant Sweet Prawn, Tiger Shrimp, Pacific White Shrimp,  

Fishes: Chinese Cat Fish, Rainbow Trout, Red Tilapia, 

Shellfish: Green Mussels, Manila Clams, 

The History of Hawaii Cajun Cuisine
For the short time it has been around the penetration is so great that even people who come from the mainland tend to be surprised at how it is made at restaurants or homes. When they begin to notice that there are dishes that are scattered here and there and learn that it isn't run from people solely from the land of seafood boil Louisiana their faces make a look on their face that seems uneasy and even scouring at times. In places in the mainland that have a love of the Boil it might be normal, but in the middle of the pacific with many Louisiana immigrants leaving there might be no more than a second generation. Regardless Hawaii Cajun food has a history and quite the difference from Louisiana Cajun and Creole and is sometimes referred to as "Kajun".

People had seemed to forget that Hawaii has always had its fair share of mainland restaurants that opened and closed over the years and the oldest of people remember them. But, as for the young people it is something that they might not have been around to experience and thus it would be new again. For example, Kentucky Fried Chicken was around in the 1960s & Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, specializing in Fried Chicken, had been in the islands, since March 27, 1979. Places like that are where many people saw it as a niche food place that Haoles could get their more mainland like foods, but if they had kept all the recipe cards of the generations of southerners and black families they would find out there were quite interesting variations and takes that seem very not southern. 

Establishing Chinese Cat Fish, Tilapia, and Trout: Hawaii Fish Company started with Ron & Lita Weidenbach who were the first to culture and sell the Chinese catfish in Hawaii and the first to sell live fish at the City and County of Honolulu's Farmer’s Markets. When people thought about the Cat Fish that was being eaten in Hawaii they would first think about Chinese Cat Fish. Then people would start thinking about Tilapia and Trout, so that ingredient would differentiate the cooking as well. During this time the Hawaii Regional Cuisine movement would be helping spread the use of these island raised ingredients as well as have recipes that would help people build their recipe boxes with new Hawaii southern classics all under the banner of "Fancy Foods".

In 1990's, the places that served Hawaii Regional Cuisine movement dishes as well as North Shore Lunch Wagons and Specialty restaurants were paving the way of a new sort of cuisine. The dishes in this time had a mixture of different mains and sides, but it really got people to categorize their food by the specialty rather than the cuisine: Upper-class Dishes (Hawaii Regional Cuisine movement dishes), Garlic Shrimp (Local Italian, Kahuku, Shrimp Farms), Family Recipes (mainland inspired dishes). It wouldn't be until much later that people came up with names of cuisines like Hawaii-American, Hawaii-Italian, Hawaii-French, Hawaii-Cajun, and those would fall under Hawaii-Haole as a umbrella term that represented Hawaii-style Mainland Food. These foods were reinvented, and localized to suit the Local palate, ingredients, and cooking techniques. 

The adapting to Hawaii residents palettes made dishes feel like a mish-mash of Western foods, and that's precisely because of its unique historical development in Hawaii. It's not about replicating Western dishes perfectly; it's about adapting and integrating them into Hawaii culture and the Local palate. The large influx of foreign concepts that came into the islands at this time meant that people were trying to figure things out as they would go and each western style cuisine in Hawaii was indirectly affected by one another due to what people were eating. Many believe that post world war II the influence of western foods started to spread and shape a particular cuisine that has its origins in in school lunches.

Kakaako Kitchen had a Cat Fish inspired dish called "Furikake Tempura Catfish" where some locals were confused about the use of catfish, until they learned the ingredient was common in the South. People had mixed feelings on if it was Southern or Japanese, but one thing was for certain is that it was often piled in with mainland food for the use of catfish as an ingredient. It was at this time that "Ponzu Shoyu" was used in many southern inspired dishes in Hawaii.

Another dish that was popular was the"Fried Pork Chops" that was stuffed with portuguese sausage stuffing and a carmelized onion gravy, which mainlanders called "Smothered Pork Chops". 

Romy's would bring people to try tilapia as it was labeled sunfish and nick named "Sunny Fish". The "Giant Sweet Prawn" outshined any other sort of Samoan crab, Dungeness Crab, Pacific White Shrimp, and would elevate the prawn to being something really special.

Rice Sides: The other Lunch Wagons (food trucks) would compete and start adding "Garlic Butter Rice" with lemon on top like Giovanni's Shrimp. Places that had a more southern twist were serving up "Red Bean Rice", places with Puerto rican style went "Gandule Rice", and some with a classic Hawaii-style school lunch "Spanish Rice". These would be the precursors to the rise in interest in the 2000's of california "Cilantro Rice" and Da Spot's "Saffron Rice".

Green Salad Sides: Certain places served a side of "Mixed Green Salad" that would later grow into "Sassy Green Salad" (arugula, red russian kale, ruby mustard streaks, tatsoi, mizuna, and a mesclun mix) and "Kolohe Mix Salad" (pac choi, mizuna, and red mustard, topped with leaf broccoli or tatsoi). Salad recipes would experiment with the local favorite dressings like Tropics Hawaii dressings: thousand island, oriental creamy sesame seed, shoyu sesame seed cream, ginger sesame, oahu zesty italian, maui zesty french. It was almost like people were getting a taste of the 1970's Salad Bar boom that happened years ago in Hawaii.

In 2010, While Cajun cuisine is a type of cooking that would take the stage in Hawaii as the most popular there were other establishments that were busy showing their parts of Southern cooking. Cajun was mostly concentrating on Louisiana, but places like the famous "Hughley's Southern Cuisine Aiea" would show dishes from: Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama. They were smart with the plate lunch model, but kept things authentic, but the things that people had gotten use to is the flavor of the red beans & rice, fried fishes like tilapia and cat fish, while enjoying the spiced up and fried pork chops. While media outlets would feature businesses by race, especially on Black History Month for example, the thing that kept them coming back was the flavor. 

Notable Dishes during this time would start laying out the groundwork for a sort of search for local-style dishes from the past, present, and what could be sold into the future with the clientele specifically of the areas that were attached to Pearl Harbor. This was important for a number of reasons, because many people had forgotten there were actually many modern contributions by race of those identifying as African American and many others from the mainland. Most notably the chef Anderson Washington is one of the most famous african-american chefs in Hawaii's culinary history, so, while people on the bases and in the area were thinking they were thinking of something new... many southern dishes were indeed localized from years past.

In 2011-2012, while the origin dishes of many southern cuisines were becoming popularized at this time there were certain dishes that would start to change for the local crowd. This wasn't great grandmas local takes on southern classics, but the next generation of takes from people who may not even knew of the recipes that were being made in Hawaii homes who had ancestors from the South. 

Da Bag is a Hawaii Cuisine food that started from French origins that evolved from Hawaii-Cajun Cuisine. The typical ingredients inside a Traditional "Da Bag" had included: Steamed Clams (shellfish), Kalua Pig (Hawaiian slow-cooked, smoked pork), Shiitake Mushrooms (mushrooms), Spinach (greens), A flavorful broth or gravy. It was created as a way to make use of Western techniques of French "En papillote" and simply called da bag. It refers to a dish made with steam and covered, while the one that is steamed is called da bag to distinguish it from da da shaka bag that has its cooking as a boil before the steam further flavors it.

Etymology: The dish was known as "Da Bag" was named after a dish technique called "Papillote" where the food is cooked inside a sealed package. The Hawaii version was from the Hawaii Regional Cuisine movement at Alan Wong's Restaurant where the foil bag would puff up like a popcorn bag when it was brought to the table. The server would then puncture and open the bag tableside, releasing a cloud of fragrant flavored steam. This method is often used for fish, poultry, and vegetables, and is used when a cook is trying to enclose flavors. The dish was highly regarded not only for its delicious combination of local Hawaiian flavors and kept in the arsenal of those who practiced Hawaii French cooking.  It was a beloved staple at his flagship restaurant, Alan Wong's Honolulu, which unfortunately closed in November 2020.

Da Shaka Bag is a Hawaii-Cajun food 

Etymology: The dish was known as a "Da Shaka Bag" was named after the use of Vietnamese owned Hawaii-Cajun restaurants that started serving take-out orders in plastic bags people would shake up the flavors in before eating. This "food-in-a-bag" style is a modern evolution of the traditional Southern seafood boil. The story goes that when sauce was put in the bag for the bag to be shaken the server would throw up a shaka to show that the take out order was all clear to be sent out for pick up. 

Marinated: While the seafood is boiled in large pots, it's often transferred to the plastic bag after boiling. Then, the special house sauce (a blend of butter, garlic, Cajun spices, etc.) is poured over everything in the bag. The bag is then sealed and shaken, allowing the sauce to thoroughly coat and infuse into all the ingredients as they continue to steam in their own heat. This ensures maximum flavor distribution.

Shaken Flavor: It may have been innovated to emphasize the rich, buttery sauces and the interactive bagged presentation after the food was taken home. The trend of serving seafood boils in plastic bags was popularized by Kickin' Kajun and similar restaurants, have said that they have practical and experiential reasons for using the Shaka Bag. The first reason is that the sauce that is buttery, spicy, sweet, or savory will properly coat the food and ensure none of the sauce will leak out either. As the food continues to marinate and soak up the sauce it begins to intensify the flavor with each bite as it remains in the flavor of its own juices and the sauce, so its almost like a flavor bath.

Heatable and Disposable Vessel: The sealed bag helps to trap steam and heat, keeping the seafood warm long enough to be ready to serve at the table. The bag also acts as a giant, disposable serving vessel, making cleanup incredibly easy. Once you're done, you simply tie up the bag and toss it. This is a huge convenience for both restaurants and diners. It encourages a casual, communal dining experience where people are sharing, getting a little messy, and enjoying the food as many are already use to doing in Hawaii with their food.