DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Herb Yasukochi is in charge of cooking the stew to be sold at the annual Honpa Hongwanji Hawaii Betsuin bazaar.
Stew for all
A Scout leader puts his experience
cooking for a crowd to good use
Let's say 50 Boy Scouts are coming to dinner and you were only planning on 40. Time to stretch. Some suggestions from a master:
A Taste of Hongwanji
Spring bazaar: 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. SundayPlace: Honpa Hongwanji Hawaii Betsuin, 1727 Pali Highway
Featuring: Sale of homemade pickles, preserves, sushi and rice dishes, handicrafts, plants
Call: 536-7044
>> If you're making spaghetti, let the noodles overcook. Fattened with water, they'll expand: Suddenly, more spaghetti!>> If you're making hamburgers, add lots of bread to the ground beef. "If you have enough flavor in there, people don't notice you got lots of bread in there."
That's advice born of experience from Herb Yasukochi, longtime Scout master for the Honpa Hongwanji Hawaii Betsuin. He's accustomed to taking 50 or 60 boys on weeklong summer camps, during which bulk cooking is the order of the day.
Over the years, Yasukochi has learned a lot of tricks. "If you're running short of spaghetti, leave it in the pot a little while longer." OK, so it won't please a gourmand, but how many of those go camping with the Boy Scouts?
"When you're at the beach -- you're hungry, you eat anything," Yasukochi says. "I was surprised how much the boys like spaghetti."
As for his hamburgers: Extra soy sauce, Worcestershire, ketchup, onions, salt and pepper provide the boost in flavor that hides the bonus carbs in the beef.
But on Sunday, at the annual Taste of Hongwanji bazaar, Yasukochi will be serving bowls of a beef stew that has not been artificially stretched.
For five years, Yasukochi has been making stew for the bazaar, using a proven recipe that begins with beef chuck, short ribs and Portuguese sausage, adding flavor from ginger, soy sauce and tomatoes.
Mary Tanouye, the temple's past president, calls Yasukochi a "triple threat." Not only does he cook the stew, he grows daikon in the yard of his Kailua home and donates it for pickling into takuan -- and he supervises the Scouts who will set up, tear down and otherwise service the volunteers and patrons of the bazaar.
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Marian Urata, left, Setsu Takashige and Ralston Nagata -- co-chairs of Taste of Hongwanji -- hold takuan, amazu (sweet vinegar daikon) and beef stew to be sold at the bazaar.
"Herb is a gentleman farmer, Scout leader and cook who channels his many talents to make the temple's bazaar hum," Tanouye says.
FOR HIS PART, Yasukochi says little about himself. He didn't want to be interviewed or have his picture taken, but Tanouye said he had to, for the greater good of the bazaar.
Yasukochi has worked for the Gas Co. for 40 years and is now a service manager. His involvement with the Scouts goes back to his childhood and continued when his sons joined the temple troop and he became a Scout leader, 21 years ago.
His own boys are 27 and 25 now. He cooks for them, too, on a smaller scale -- a lot of stir-fries and his favorite, stuffed cabbage.
Yasukochi also leads cooking classes for Scouts at the temple, where his teaching goes beyond big-pot dinners of spaghetti, stew and chili. Boys are enthusiastic about cooking, he says, if it means they get to eat well.
The results are surprising to parents. "They'll say, 'Mr. Y, you know what happened? You taught my boy to cook, so we had stir-fry all weekend.' "
Herb's Scout Stew
2 pounds beef chuck roast, cubed
1 pound beef short ribs, in bite-sized pieces
6 cloves garlic, smashed
1/4 cup vegetable oil, divided
2 teaspoons chicken base (see note)
2 teaspoons beef base (see note)
2 15-ounce cans tomato sauce
1 6-ounce can tomato paste
1 3-inch piece ginger, peeled and sliced
4 bay leaves
1 pound carrots, sliced
6 medium potatoes, cubed
6 onions, chopped
6 stalks celery, sliced
1 tablespoon Hawaiian salt
12 ounces Portuguese sausage, sliced
1 11-ounce can corn
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons flour
1/4 cup waterBrown beef, ribs and garlic in half of the oil in a stock pot.
Add chicken and beef base, tomato sauce, tomato paste, ginger and bay leaves to stock pot. Add water to pot to cover ingredients. Simmer 1 hour over medium-high heat, until meat is tender.
Brown carrots, potatoes, onions and celery in remaining oil in a wok or skillet. Season with Hawaiian salt. Add vegetables, sausage and corn to pot and simmer another 30 minutes.
Combine soy sauce, flour and water; stir until smooth. Add to pot to thicken. Taste and adjust seasonings with more salt if necessary. Serves 20.
Note: Chicken and beef base are paste-like soup concentrates. They are sold in supermarkets near the bouillon's and stocks.
Approximate nutritional analysis, per serving: 345 calories, 19 g total fat, 6 g saturated fat, 60 mg cholesterol, greater than 1,300 mg sodium, 24 g carbohydrate, 19 g protein.
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