Do the tour;
don’t upset tummy

By Catherine Kekoa Enomoto
Star-Bulletin

KOHALA COAST, BIG ISLAND -- Here's how to "do" an event such as Cuisines of the Sun -- a potential source of opu overload.

First, ask for advance copies of all menus, if available. Supply your fax number.

Study the menus and prioritize dishes that pique your imagination. Aim for a reasonable number of dishes, say six appetizers, three breads and four desserts from, for example, the Cuisine's kickoff Spice Market spree of 36 dishes.

Otherwise, one might miss treasures, such as Memphis chef/restaurateur Raji Jallepalli's sublime En Papillote of Foie Gras with Fresh Lychees and Palm Sugar (a sensuous combination of goose liver fillets, lychees and palm sugar, steamed in banana-leaf packets), or Culinary Institute of America chef/instructor Dietmar Eilbacher's marvelously textured breads.

Next, get to the business of grazing, stopping only briefly to greet friends. Otherwise, you'll miss a gem, because dishes in the front of the most famous chefs go first, such as Charlie Trotter's Prawns with Cardamom Carrot Juice and Cucumber Salad.

By Cynthia Harte, Special to the Star-Bulletin
Pineapple tops this "Cuisines" treat.

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Another option is to do as Honolulu master sommelier and Cuisines co-coordinator Chuck Furuya urged -- just go for it. "Make sure you don't eat during the daytime, and don't get too much sun," he said. "Then, you're really primed. You gotta go experience it!"

A last tip is to stroll down to the beach and roll onto a hammock under the stars and let the pounding surf and dazzling firmament soothe your fullness for a while.

As San Francisco jet-setter Maryann Zirelli -- who favored chef Alan Wong's Star Anise and Cinnamon Braised Duck -- said, "I have traveled the world and I have been around. This is one of the nicest events. It's very well put together. It's something everyone should see and experience."

It's certainly a site to foresee food trends. Atlanta chef/restaurateur Rafih Benjelloun of The Imperial Fez restaurants, predicted, "Mediterranean, healthy, more spices, staying away from fat or anything that shortens youth and juvenality."

Hawaii is part of the equation, said Benjelloun: "I was very impressed with chef Alan Wong's Honolulu version of harissa (hot sauce), which was water with chiles. I am going to introduce it at my restaurant and share it with the rest of the (mainland) chefs."

Said Wong, "The trend is back to basics. It's all about flavor and good taste and honest food, not froufrou food."

Wong was named 1996 James Beard Foundation Best Chef in the Pacific Northwest for his Alan Wong's Restaurant in Honolulu. He envisions greater identity for island cuisine.

"Hawaii can definitely be a region that maybe one day will be identified on its own and not be in the Pacific Northwest -- and not even with the Pacific Coast."

Chef Jean-Marie Josselin of A Pacific Cafe on Kauai, Maui and Oahu, who attended Cuisines, predicted that Hawaii's budding culinarians will shine.

"I think our new, young generation of chefs is going to be on the forefront of food," he said.

The next Cuisines is scheduled July 25 to 29, 1998. The theme is "Creative Native Cuisine -- From Roots to Rhubarb Pizza." Reservation forms are expected in May 1998. Call toll free, (888) 424-1977.

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THERECIPES

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Seafood Gumbo

(From "Louisiana Real & Rustic" by Emeril Lagasse
and Marcelle Bienvenu, Morrow, 1996, $25)

3/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup flour
2 cups chopped onion
1 cup chopped bell pepper
1 cup chopped celery
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon cayenne
8 bay leaves
8 cups water
8 gumbo crabs (or any small crab), broken in half (optional)
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 pound lump crabmeat, picked over for shells and cartilage
2 dozen oysters, shucked, with their liquor
1/4 cup chopped green onion
1/4 cup chopped parsley
File powder (sassafras bark, available in spice sections)

Combine oil and flour in a large cast-iron or enameled cast-iron Dutch oven over medium heat. Stirring slowly and constantly for 20 to 25 minutes, make a dark brown, chocolate-colored roux.

Add onion, bell pepper, celery, salt, cayenne and bay leaves. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes or until very soft. Add water and mix to blend with roux. Add crabs and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 1-1/2 hours; if you are not using the crabs, simmer roux mixture for the same length of time. Add shrimp and crabmeat; cook 15 minutes. Add oysters, green onion and parsley; cook 15 minutes. Add oysters, green onions and parsley; cook 2 to 3 minutes or until the edges of oysters curl.

Remove from heat. Remove bay leaves. Serve with file powder passed at table for guests to thicken the gumbo, as desired. Makes 8 servings, each 16 to 18 ounces.

Approximate nutritional analysis per serving with crab: 540 calories, 27.5 grams total fat, 3 grams saturated fat, 240 milligrams cholesterol, 1,370 milligrams sodium. Without crab: 520 calories, 27 grams total fat, 3 grams saturated fat, 225 milligrams cholesterol, 1,310 milligrams sodium.*

Hawaiian Blue Prawn
with Tropical Fruit Salsa

(From "Charlie Trotter's Seafood"
by Charlie Trotter, Ten Speed, 1997, $50)

6 whole kumquats
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup Pickling Juice (recipe follows)
1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion
4 Hawaiian blue prawns, deveined, peeled and tail attached
Salt and pepper
2 teaspoons grapeseed oil
12 thin slices sapote*
12 thin slices mango
12 thin slices avocado
12 thin slices persimmon
12 thin slices pineapple guava
12 thin slices star fruit
Cilantro-Chile Vinaigrette and Spicy Persimmon Sauce (recipes follow)

Place kumquats in small saucepan, cover with water and bring to a simmer. Strain and repeat. Cut kumquats open and discard the seeds and pulp. Place the skin back in the saucepan, cover with water and add sugar. Simmer over medium heat for 30 minutes. Remove from heat; cool in syrup.

Place the Pickling Juice in a small saucepan with the sliced red onion. Simmer over medium heat for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and cool in the Pickling Juice. Strain onions before using.

Season both sides of each prawn with salt and pepper. Tie with twine so tail stands upright. Quickly cook in a very hot saute pan with grapseed oil for 1 to 2 minutes on each side, or until done. Remove twine.

To assemble: Arange 3 slices of each different type of fruit in the center of each plate, with some pickled red onion. Place a prawn on top of the fruit with a spoon of the Cilantro-Chile Vinaigrette on the prawn and Spicy Persimmon Sauce around the fruit. Serves 4.

* May substitute Asian pear.

No nutritional information available.

Cilantro-Chile Vinaigrette

1/4 cup Pickling Juice
1 red jalapeno, minced
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
1-1/2 teaspoons sesame oil
Salt and pepper

Combine the Pickling Juice, jalapeno and cilantro in a small bowl. Slowly whisk in the sesame oil and season to taste with salt and pepper. Makes 1/4 cup.

Spicy Persimmon Sauce

1 small ripe persimmon, peeled and chopped
3 tablespoons Spicy Vinegar (recipe follows)
3 tablespoons water
Salt and pepper

Puree persimmon with Spicy Vinegar and water until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Warm in a small saucepan before using. Makes 3/4 cup.

Pickling Juice

1 cup water
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 whole clove
1 teaspoon mustard seed
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 teaspoon chopped ginger
1/2 jalapeno, seeded and chopped

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer, allowing the salt and sugar to dissolve. Cool and use as needed. Makes 2 cups.

Spicy Vinegar

10 jalapeno peppers
10 red chile peppers
1 onion, julienned
2 cups sliced carrots
1/2 cup thyme sprigs
2 tablespoons black peppercorns
5 cloves
1 teaspoon allspice
Rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil

Place the peppers, onion, carrots, thyme and spices in a jar just large enough to hold the ingredients. Cover with the rice wine vinegar and top off with olive oil.

Seal jar and place in refrigerator two weeks before you break the seal. The vinegar keeps for several months for use as needed. Makes 3 cups.

Fragrant spicings

Chef Raji Jallepalli studied microbiology and worked in endocrinology before opening Memphis' acclaimed Restaurant Raji, known for French-Indian fusion cuisine. At Cuisines of the Sun, she offered spicy tips:

There are sweet and savory spices. Sweet spices include cinnamon, cloves and cardamom. Savory spices include cumin, fennugreek and turmeric. In-between spices are fennel and mustard.

Toast whole spices in a skillet over medium heat, then crush them with a mortar and pestle. Smell the aromatic difference between toasted and bottled spices. (You'll throw away those bottles and never go back to them again!)

The degree of toasting impacts flavor; the more one toasts, the smokier the flavor.

Combine toasted, crushed spices -- such as cumin, mustard seeds and cardamom seeds -- with a bit of olive oil and salt for a rub that transforms meats, poultry and fish.

Use a clean coffee grinder to turn freshly toasted spices into powders of desired texture. Clean the grinder with soap and a damp cloth.

To toast is to heat spices in a dry frying pan; to temper is to heat spices in oil in a frying pan.