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View Full Version : Huli Huli Chicken and a Brethren Micro Bash on Kauai


SmokeJumper
12-18-2011, 11:21 PM
I spent a few vacation weeks around Thanksgiving with my family on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. As is my style, I reached out to the local Brethren contingent to get insider tips and to arrange a get together. In the case of Kauai, there is only one Brethren, the fabulous Keale (Roy). Before we left, through a flurry of PMs Roy provided us with dozens of tips of where to stay, what to see, and most importantly, what to eat and where to score great local produce and fish. His tips made our trip a very special one.

Most thrilling to me, Roy and his son Joshua spent a half day with us at our condo. I knew we would hit it off when he arrived with a cooler full of beer and a giant batch of guacamole made with the amazing local grapefruit sized avocados. It made us laugh because I had made a batch of guacamole and had a cooler full of beer as well. As it always is with brethren we talked about all things BBQ, family, work, and other hobbies. We found out we had so much in common beyond BBQ and plan to do a fishing trip and cookout next time we are out.

Here is a pic of us by the pool. Me on the left and Roy on the right.

http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff206/posersurfer/RoyandRob.jpg

Next a picture of Joshua and my daughter Tessa - Joshua is an amazing kid who radiates island happiness and so graciously played with our younger daughter Tessa for much of the visit.
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff206/posersurfer/TheKids1.jpghttp://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff206/posersurfer/TheKids.jpg

One thing that stumped Roy was a question about where to find great Huli Huli chicken as I wanted to get some local BBQ/Grill beyond the classic Luau Pig. Throughout our trip, I asked many people the same question and it came to light that the roadside Huli Huli stands have disappeared in recent years due to a crackdown by the Island health department. I searched high and low and on the very last day a few hours before we flew out we stumbled upon an amazing Huli Huli chicken stand run by an old local with a great story (4 miles north of Kapaa in the craft fair right adjacent to Kuhio Highway). The guy, Keo was his name if my old head recalls right, has made huli huli chicken for decades and fought to keep his traditional roadside stand for years. When the health department refused to give him a permit and he was not permitted by the craft fair to be on the grounds, he protested by continuing to operate his pit just on the other side of the fence 10 feet from the highway. All the locals supported him and his amazing food and after several years of protesting and continuing to make his outstanding food the health department broke down and granted him a permit - he speculates it may have been a local official who was a fan. I ate a whole 2 pound half chicken myself - it was lightly smokey, super succulent, and had a nice salt bite with sweet asian flavor profile and an amazing bite through skin. I may go so far to say it was one of the best helpings of chicken I have ever eaten and my wife and daughter agreed.

When I tried to pick up some of his secrets he told me the smoke wood was a type of Mesquite that wasn't Kiawe (I believe most smoke wood on the island is Guava or Kiawe) that he harvests himself every year.
Some pics:

The Pit
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff206/posersurfer/Pit.jpg

The woodpile - he said that would last him about 10 cooking days. Roy, hepl with the name of the smokewood!
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff206/posersurfer/WoodPile.jpg

Keo rests the chicken for 10 minutes in a cooler and sells it out of foil bags - I asked him how long he holds it for and he said he's sells each batch out in less than 30 minutes.
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff206/posersurfer/HuliHulioutofcooler.jpg

The man posing with his pit.
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff206/posersurfer/AManandhisfire.jpg

Keo used a mixture of Shoyu, Ginger, garlic and a few other spices that he wouldn't disclose. The one thing he did tell me was that he adds brown sugar near the end of the cook to get that beautiful sweet and caramelized bite through skin. And it was a great time chatting with another local about BBQ and hear such a great story about someone fighting the good fight to keep such a great local food tradition going.

This was a great trip and I can't wait to hang with Roy and family again and go in search of some more great BBQ. Thanks again Roy.

Groundhog66
12-18-2011, 11:29 PM
Sounds like a great time, thanks for sharing :thumb:

R2Egg2Q
12-18-2011, 11:33 PM
Looks like a great trip Rob! Thanks for sharing!

buccaneer
12-18-2011, 11:46 PM
Great post,loved seening the shots of Hawaii, brethren fun and the chicken story was terrific.:thumb:

Phrasty
12-18-2011, 11:51 PM
Wow Rob! Looks like a great time! Kinda jealous of your little outing there! :wink:

Cheers

stubshaft
12-19-2011, 01:08 AM
The wood looks like Koa or Guava, too smooth to be Kiawe.

Phubar
12-19-2011, 02:43 AM
Dang...need to visit Keale too!
Thanks for the reportage!

SmokinAussie
12-19-2011, 03:20 AM
Looks like a fun time was had by all Rob!

Little Tessa sure has grown! WOW!

Cheers!

Bill

Crash
12-19-2011, 03:36 AM
Keale (Roy) is a good dude. He's one of the original Hawaii Brethren.

Dont know what kind of wood that is, but certainly doesn't look like kiawe.

Great to hear that you had an awesome time.

DaChief
12-19-2011, 07:27 AM
Sounds like an outstanding trip! Thanks for sharing.

Gore
12-19-2011, 08:18 AM
Thanks Rob, I was so looking forward to this post! Glad you found a few minutes. I'd love to give that a try.

Gore
12-20-2011, 09:29 AM
Don't mind me. I just came back because the pics of the kids make me smile.

bigabyte
12-20-2011, 09:36 AM
Looks like a blast was had by all!:cool:

Hugo
12-20-2011, 09:45 AM
Great story and awesome looking BBQ

JD McGee
12-20-2011, 09:48 AM
Awesome! I just talked with Roy yesterday about getting together in 2014...looks like we are in for a real treat!

KnucklHed BBQ
12-20-2011, 10:04 AM
Great story & pics!
Glad there are still some of those roadside guys that aren't afraid to tell "the man" where to stick it! :thumb: :butt:


:tsk:

Randbo
12-20-2011, 10:11 AM
Awesome story! thanks for posting it.

big brother smoke
12-20-2011, 10:25 AM
2014, huh? I may have to join yawl:cool:

Nice story and pics, thanks!

BruceKWHP
12-20-2011, 11:53 AM
Whoo Hooo !! a BBQ Brethren convention !! Kauai '14 !!

Ryan Chester
12-20-2011, 12:58 PM
Great post. Thanks for sharing! I bet that chicken was awesome!

JD McGee
12-20-2011, 01:14 PM
Hmmm...perhaps Roy could find room for all of us in his back yard...we can us blue tarps from Home Depot...I'll text him real quick to see...lol!

keale
12-20-2011, 02:30 PM
Hmmm...perhaps Roy could find room for all of us in his back yard...we can us blue tarps from Home Depot...I'll text him real quick to see...lol!

Come on over!! All are welcome! YOU all can cook for me!! LOL! Rob thanks for the great post. That wood is Strawberry Guavas, its a invasive species.a mild smoke,good with all
Meats.
That stand is in "Anahola" It was great to meet your family, Tessa
is a cutie!! It was neat how Tessa "took" to Joshua in that short time.

buccaneer
12-20-2011, 02:40 PM
I wanna come!!:pray:

me have tent too

JD McGee
12-20-2011, 06:47 PM
Come on over!! All are welcome! YOU all can cook for me!! LOL! Rob thanks for the great post. That wood is Strawberry Guavas, its a invasive species.a mild smoke,good with all
Meats.
That stand is in "Anahola" It was great to meet your family, Tessa
is a cutie!! It was neat how Tessa "took" to Joshua in that short time.

I ain't cookin'...I'll be on vacation! :becky: I'll bring the briskets with me though...:thumb: You'll need to lay in a good supply of the local brews too! :cool: Just kidding bro...I'm sure if we can get a bunch of Brethren over to the island it will be a blast! I've always wanted to play the golf course over there...Princeville is it?

SmokeJumper
12-20-2011, 08:05 PM
Come on over!! All are welcome! YOU all can cook for me!! LOL! Rob thanks for the great post. That wood is Strawberry Guavas, its a invasive species.a mild smoke,good with all
Meats.
That stand is in "Anahola"

Roy, you told me you liked smoking with the Strawberry Guava and it is great that I was able to try it out. It does really impart a nice light sweet smoke flavor like other fruitwoods but it is definitely distinctive.

Have you ever tried that stand? Where does the flavor land on the spectrum of Hawaain huli huli? I'm going to get some recipe ideas from some of the old posts like the one from Saiko (http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1223963) and give this a try. Any tips Roy?

Count me in for a Kauai bash any year.

mbshop
12-20-2011, 08:59 PM
sad to read about the crackdown. used to look forwards to saturdays and sundays when we could drive around and buy some hulu huli and then go to the beach and have a great day. far as i know the old way used kiawi wood. but i have a hunch they also used whatever was handy.

tish
12-21-2011, 01:07 AM
Great story and pics! Love the photos of Joshua and Tessa together! :grin:

smokingj
12-21-2011, 02:48 PM
Very cool!!!! Nice to see the hospitality among the brethren.

Moose
12-21-2011, 03:10 PM
Thanks so much for posting this - I really enjoyed your description and pics of everything!


Usually the recipes for Huli-Huli have catsup in them - do you know if he used it or not?

stewartr002
12-21-2011, 03:19 PM
Wow! Great post. Really made me homesick for the islands. We lived on Oahu for 15 years and both my wife and I's hearts are still there. Huli-huli chicken is a staple on Oahu as it is a favorite for school fund raisers. By the way, there is excellent low and slow smoked BBQ on Oahu. Check out Molly's in Wahiawa. She has one of the biggest smokers I've seen out front of her place putting out the ono grinds (delicious food). Gotta book a trip back soon. Thanks much for sharing.
Randy

otterpop
12-21-2011, 04:21 PM
Looks great! There's an awesome huli huli setup in Waimanalo on Oahu. Will have to take some photos and share them.
Keale - I'll be on your island in August 2013 for the HCRA state race in Hanalei. Maybe see you then!
Aloha

Smiter Q
12-21-2011, 05:03 PM
Sounds like a good time and thanks for sharing a greater story!

gtr
12-21-2011, 05:29 PM
Fanfarkingtastic = thanks for posting! :clap2: