Lomi-lomi salmon

Last updated
Lomilomi salmon
Lomi lomi salmon.jpg
Alternative namesLomi salmon; kāmano lomi
Type Poke
Course Side dish
Place of origin Hawaii
Main ingredientssalmon, onions, tomato
Variationslomi ʻōpae, lomi ʻōpelu
Similar dishes Poke, pico de gallo, poisson cru, ceviche, lomi oio

Lomi lomi salmon (or lomi salmon) is a side dish in Hawaiian cuisine containing salted salmon, onions, and tomatoes. Its origin is similar to poisson cru . [1] It also resembles pico de gallo in appearance and to how it is often consumed as an accompaniment (or condiment) to other foods such as poi or kalua pork . [2] [3] [4]

Contents

Hawaiians of yesteryear would probably not recognize the contemporary version of this dish served today. However, it is seen today as a quintessential side dish when serving traditional Hawaiian foods or at traditional lū‘au festivities. While salmon is not a fish found in Hawaiian waters, and onions and tomatoes are not "pre-contact" foods, lomilomi salmon is still embraced as an ethnic Hawaiian dish. [5] It is appropriate that dish should be known popularly by its hapa name "lomi salmon" rather than "lomi kāmano". [6] [7]

A similar dish called lomi ʻōpae (ʻōpae lit. "shrimp") uses dried shrimp in place of salted salmon and was made popular by singer Henry Kapono. [8]

Preparation

Hawaiians were first introduced to salmon around the early 1800s, as contract laborers sent to the Pacific Northwest. Salmon would have likely been traditionally prepared as poke . A typical relish was made of ʻinamona mixed with dried ʻalaʻala (octopus liver) and ʻalaea salt. The poke was accompanied with several types of ʻakaʻakai (onion), limu kohu and a large bowl of poi. [9]

A type of poke in essence, the name lomilomi is taken from the traditional method of preparation (Hawaiian for "to massage") where fresh fish is rubbed with salt in varying amounts to simply season it for flavor or to cure it for preservation. [10] In the evolution of this dish from its poke origins, the salt salmon is then cubed into small ~1cm pieces and again massaged into chopped tomatoes and onions of about the same size. Some modern recipes call for scallions, cucumbers, chilis, additional salt, or lime, or even fish substitutes other than salmon and is typically served chilled or with ice. [11]

Background

When Captain James Cook arrived in 1778, he brought along with him the concept of preserved fish and meat—such as salted cod and corned beef—common rations of foreign navies, whalers, and traders. [12]

In the 1790s, Spanish horticulturist Francisco de Paula Marin brought tomatoes to the Hawaiian Islands. He was the first to successfully cultivate and raise tomatoes. De Paula Marin would further popularize the planting of onions. [13]

In 1829, the Hudson's Bay Company, a fur trading company looking to expand its business in new resources discovered during the expeditions of the Northwest Passage, established an office in Honolulu to market the Pacific Northwest's abundant timber to a growing non-native settlement. The company would hire many Hawaiians as sailors and laborers in the fur and lumber trades. [14] The physical strength of the native Hawaiians had made an impression on the British. [15] Dozens were initially sent to their British Columbia facilities which also operated commercial fisheries at its Fort Langley trading post. Many were likely to have consumed fresh and cured salmon which would also become a very important commodity. [16]

By 1840, around 300 to 400 native Hawaiian laborers were sent to the Northwest in vessels and at ports. [17] Many of these laborers would choose to permanently settle in the Northwest after their contracts expired. [18] For those returning back to Hawaii, the voyage took about three weeks. [19] Since fresh salmon would not last the journey, these laborers introduced salted salmon where it immediately became popular.

The practice of salting fish for preservation was already known to the ancient Hawaiians, and was often consumed with poi during periods when the regular fish supply was scarce or when fishing was not possible like during storms. Fish was preferably eaten raw with some alaea salt or sometimes seasoned with blood from the gills. [10] [20] [21] And the families of missionaries found salted salmon to be a substitute for salt cod—the New England standby. Similarly, the Portuguese starting in the late 1800s brought with them bacalhau , a Portuguese salted cod.

The Northwest was exporting 3,000 to 4,000 barrels of salted salmon, mainly to Hawaii and Asia by 1835. [14] Following the formation of a constitutional monarchy in Hawaii, the first tariff act took effect on January 1, 1843. The first vessel to make customs entry and to pay the ad valorem tax at three percent was the Hudson's Bay barque Vancouver from the Columbia River, January 6, 1843. The vessel's cargo consisted of 695 barrels of Columbia River salmon valued at $4,170 ($172,261 in 2023), and 160 twelve-foot four-inch planks valued at $307.20 ($12,690.31 in 2023). On this amount $134.32 ($5,548.70 in 2023) in duty was collected. [16] [22]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chowder</span> Category of soups

Chowder is a thick soup prepared with milk or cream, a roux, and seafood or vegetables. Oyster crackers or saltines may accompany chowders as a side item, and cracker pieces may be dropped atop the dish. New England clam chowder is typically made with chopped clams and diced potatoes, in a mixed cream and milk base, often with a small amount of butter. Other common chowders include seafood chowder, which often consists of fish, clams, and other types of shellfish; lamb or veal chowder made with barley; corn chowder, which uses corn instead of clams; various fish chowders; and potato chowder, which is often made with cheese. Fish, corn, and clam chowders are popular in North America, especially Atlantic Canada and New England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poi (food)</span> Traditional staple food in the Polynesian diet

Poi is a traditional staple food in the Polynesian diet, made from taro.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roe</span> Egg masses of fish and seafood

Roe, or hard roe, is the fully ripe internal egg masses in the ovaries, or the released external egg masses, of fish and certain marine animals such as shrimp, scallop, sea urchins and squid. As a seafood, roe is used both as a cooked ingredient in many dishes, and as a raw ingredient for delicacies such as caviar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lūʻau</span> Traditional Hawaiian feast

A lūʻau is a traditional Hawaiian party or feast that is usually accompanied by entertainment. It often features Native Hawaiian cuisine with foods such as poi, kālua puaʻa, poke, lomi salmon, lomi oio, ʻopihi, and haupia, and accompanied with beer and entertainment such as traditional Hawaiian music, kanikapila, and hula. Among people from Hawaiʻi, the concepts of "lūʻau" and "party" are often blended, resulting in graduation lūʻau, wedding lūʻau, baby lūʻau, and birthday lūʻau.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plate lunch</span> Quintissentially Hawaiian meal

The plate lunch is a quintessentially Hawaiian meal, roughly analogous to Southern U.S. meat-and-threes. However, the combination of American and pan-Asian influence makes the plate lunch unique to Hawaii.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cuisine of Hawaii</span> Food and drinks from Hawaii

The cuisine of Hawaii incorporates five distinct styles of food, reflecting the diverse food history of settlement and immigration in the Hawaiian Islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taro</span> Species of plant

Taro is a root vegetable. It is the most widely cultivated species of several plants in the family Araceae that are used as vegetables for their corms, leaves, stems and petioles. Taro corms are a food staple in African, Oceanic, East Asian, Southeast Asian and South Asian cultures. Taro is believed to be one of the earliest cultivated plants.

Norwegian cuisine in its traditional form is based largely on the raw materials readily available in Norway and its mountains, wilderness, and coast. It differs in many respects from continental cuisine through the stronger focus on game and fish. Many of the traditional dishes are the result of using conserved materials, necessary because of the long winters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poke (dish)</span> Hawaiian raw fish dish

Poke is a dish of diced raw fish tossed in sauce and served either as an appetizer or a main course.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dried and salted cod</span> Preserved fish

Dried and salted cod, sometimes referred to as salt cod or saltfish or salt dolly, is cod which has been preserved by drying after salting. Cod which has been dried without the addition of salt is stockfish. Salt cod was long a major export of the North Atlantic region, and has become an ingredient of many cuisines around the Atlantic and in the Mediterranean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">'Ota 'ika</span> Polynesian dish

ʻOta ʻika is a Oceanian dish consisting of raw fish marinated in citrus juice and coconut milk. The Tongan, Tahitian, and Samoan variants are essentially identical in that the raw fish is briefly marinated in lemon or lime juice until the surface of the flesh becomes opaque. The fish is then mixed with coconut milk and diced vegetables. This is the national dish of Tonga.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Run down</span> Stew dish

Run down, also referred to as rundown, run dun, rondón, fling-me-far, and fling mi for, is a stew dish in Jamaican cuisine and Tobago cuisine. The traditional Jamaican dish is eaten in several Latin American countries that share a coast with the Caribbean Sea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lūʻau (food)</span> Traditional Polynesian dish of cooked of taro leaves and stem

Lūʻau, Luʻau, Laulau, , Rourou, Rukau, Fāfā, Hāhā, and Palusami are all related dishes found throughout Polynesia based on the use of taro leaves as a primary ingredient. While taro generally is known as a root vegetable for its starchy corms, the leaves are consumed as well. The base recipe is vegetarian. Most often, coconut milk was added, and later meat or seafood. The texture of the dish range from a thick soup to a dense cake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Native cuisine of Hawaii</span> Traditional Hawaiian cuisine

Native Hawaiian cuisine refers to the traditional Hawaiian foods that predate contact with Europeans and immigration from East and Southeast Asia. The cuisine consisted of a mix of indigenous plants and animals as well as plants and animals introduced by Polynesian voyagers, who became the Native Hawaiians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seafood pizza</span> Variety of pizza with seafood toppings

Seafood pizza is a pizza prepared with seafood as a primary ingredient. Many types of seafood ingredients in fresh, frozen or canned forms may be used on seafood pizza. Some retail pizza chains, as well as smaller restaurants, offer seafood pizzas to consumers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lomi oio</span> Hawaiian fishpaste

Lomi ʻōʻio is a raw fish dish in traditional Hawaiian cuisine using ʻōʻio (bonefish). This dish is an heirloom recipe fairly unchanged since pre-contact Hawaii, and is a precursor or progenitor to the more well-known but en vogue poke seen today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kōʻelepālau</span> Hawaiian sweet potato pudding

Kōʻelepālau, or pālau, is a Hawaiian pudding made primarily with cooked sweet potatoes mixed with coconut cream. It is similar to other Native Hawaiian puddings like kūlolo and piele.

References

  1. Abitbol, Vera (25 December 2022). "Lomi-Lomi Salmon". 196 flavors.
  2. Walling, Kathie. "Lomi Lomi Salmon From Hawaii Collection". www.hawaiiforvisitors.com.
  3. Meier, Carlos (19 November 2022). "How To Catch Salmon In Hawaii: The Best Methods And Tips | FikaCafe.net". fikacafe.net.
  4. "Lomi Lomi Salmon". Onolicious Hawaiʻi. 26 September 2019.
  5. "Polynesian Cultural Center: Hawaiian Luau Food" . Retrieved 2009-07-19.
  6. "Nā Puke Wehewehe ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi". wehewehe.org.
  7. Bryan, Jr, Edwin H. (1938). Ancient Hawaiian Life. Honolulu: Advertiser Publishing Co. p. 18.
  8. Tabura, Lanai (8 October 2014). "Yes, Music Lovers, Henry Can Cook Too - LOMI OPAE". MidWeek.
  9. "Steamed Salted Sockeye Salmon - Kaiwakīloumoku - Hawaiian Cultural Center". kaiwakiloumoku.ksbe.edu.
  10. 1 2 "Cultural History of Three Traditional Hawaiian Sites". www.nps.gov.
  11. Paneʻe., Tamar Luke (1987). E Hoʻolako Mau, Volume II: All Hawaiian Cook Book.
  12. "The Origins of Traditional Lomi Lomi Salmon Explained - Amor Nino Foods, Inc". connect2local.com.
  13. Bradley, Harold Whitman (1 February 1974). "Review: Don Francisco de Paula Marin: A Biography, by Ross H. Gast and Francisco de Paula Marin and The Letters and Journal of Francisco de Paula Marin, by Agnes C. Conrad and Francisco de Paula Marin". Pacific Historical Review. pp. 119–119. doi:10.2307/3637598.
  14. 1 2 Spoehr, Alexander (1988). "A 19th Century Chapter in Hawai'i's Maritime History: Hudson's Bay Company Merchant Shipping, 1829-1859". The Hawaiian Journal of History. 22.
  15. "Hudson's Bay Company (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov.
  16. 1 2 St. Clair, Jr., William P. (April 29, 2014). "HBC History Has a Hawaiian Chapter - Canada's History". www.canadashistory.ca.
  17. "Hudson's Bay Company". Images of Old Hawaiʻi. 17 July 2022.
  18. Adamson, Jacob. ""Kanakas" settlers of the San Juan Islands - How Hudson Bay Company influenced resettlement of the San Juan Island by Native Hawaiians". Island Histories.
  19. "Kanaka Timeline —Hawaii to the Pacific NorthWest". www.saltspringarchives.com.
  20. Holland, Jerald J. (1971). Land and Livelihood: The Kona Coast About 1825. University of Hawaii. p. 31.
  21. "Dried Akule - Kaʻiwakīloumoku - Hawaiian Cultural Center". kaiwakiloumoku.ksbe.edu.
  22. "$4,170 in 1843 → 2023 | Inflation Calculator". www.officialdata.org.

Further reading