Rumaki

                                          Evening Luau - Trevor Carlton

In 1934, a restaurant called Don the Beachcomber opened in Hollywood, California. The proprietor was a young man from Louisiana who had sailed through the South Pacific and was captured by the culture and exotic beauty of the region. His restaurant featured Cantonese food, but the decor was really what captured people's imaginations.  Rattan furniture, hibiscus prints, and torches and leis.  Then, in 1937, Victor Bergeron opened Trader Vic's and Tiki Culture was born. 

Tiki culture surged into popularity after World War II, and remained popular well into the 1970s, but truly the height of the tiki culture was the 1950's and became part of the defining iconic imagery of mid-century America.  Les Baxter, Arthur Lyman, and Martin Denny popularized tiki culture through jazz flavored with Polynesian, Asian, and Latin rhythms, and tiki art began to appear.  

Asian and Polynesian foods became popular at cocktail parties, but many of them were altered because of the lack of ingredients, or they were simply created. Rumaki is one of these dishes. There are some that attribute the invention of this appetizer to the Beachcomber, and some who claim that Trader Vic's is where the dish originated.  Either way, there is nothing Polynesian, Asian, Latin, Thai, or any other nationality in this dish.  It is 100% American.

Marinated chestnuts, chicken or duck liver and bacon comprise the whole of this simple, but delicious appetizer.  However, in the Midwest, strangely the chicken liver disappeared from the list of ingredients and it became solely bacon and water chestnuts. Nevertheless, when set before a group of friends on New Year's Eve, they didn't last long enough for me to snap pictures.  It is a simple, and surprisingly elegant appetizer, and it is no wonder that it had remained popular for so many years.  It is often included in the appetizer section of many of my local collected cookbooks, and I am disappointed in myself that I didn't try them sooner, because they truly would have been in my regular repertoire, as tasty and easy as they are. 

The recipe that I used is from a cookbook called Specialties of the House, of an unknown date, though it is most likely from the mid-60s. And, ironically enough, it is a cookbook not from the Midwest, but from Manhassett, Long Island.  It was a fundraising cookbook for Our Lady of Grace Montessori School.  I went to St. Bernard's Montessori, so I feel a little bit of a connection to this cookbook on a variety of levels.  

Rumaki 

1 C. soy sauce
1/2 c. brown sugar, firmly packed
1/8 ginger 
2 8 oz. cans water chestnuts, drained 
1/2 lb. bacon 

Mix soy sauce with sugar and ginger. Cut bacon slices in half. Wrap bacon around water chestnuts, secure each with a toothpick. Marinate 4 hours or longer, can be marinated overnight, in soy sauce mixture. Then broil at 425 degrees F.  If you like, serve with teriyaki sauce for dipping. Watch them disappear. 

Honestly, there is enough marinade that you could probably double the amount of water chestnuts and bacon. And believe me, you wouldn't go wrong having extras, because these probably won't last more than 10 minutes. You could also make these more high end and add the chicken or duck liver in these.  I'd be interested in trying prosciutto instead of bacon, but the high salt factor might be too overpowering for the sweet.  I also debated marinating the chicken or duck livers separate in Worcestershire and honey then assembling the rumaki.  

Enjoy!