Melting Pot Cooking - Hot Dog Maki, Weenie Royale, and SPAM Musubi

This picture just in from Betty in Portland:

Great picture!! And great timing because it reminds me of a fascinating report I heard on NPR a couple of days ago.

The report is a Kitchen Sisters episode on the impact of the internment on Japanese American cooking. The episode is called "Weenie Royale" and is named after a dish still served and eaten today by many people.

The prisoners in the internment camps, forced to eat what was provided to them, cooked weenies, bologna and many other things in ways that made the odd and foreign food more palatable and comforting to them. You can read the episode here:

Weenie Royale: Food and the Japanese Internment.

Weenie Royale Recipe:

Ingredients:

1/2 white or yellow onions, chopped

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 hot dogs

3 eggs

Cooked white rice

Saute the chopped onions with a tablespoon of soy sauce and cook at medium to high heat until they are caramelized. While you wait for the onions to caramelize, cut the hot dogs in julienne slices and beat the eggs. After the onions are caramelized, add the hot dogs and cook for 2-3 minutes. Then add the beaten eggs to the onions and hot dogs until the eggs are done. Serve on top of cooked white rice.

Speaking of odd cultural combinations, we go to Kauai in a few days and I can guarantee that we will see a lot of this:

Spam musubi is one of Hawaii's favorite snacks. Spam was introduced to Hawaiians by American soldiers who were stationed there. The Hawaiians did what most cultures do when introduced to a new and unusual food...they made it uniquely theirs.