I’m making food for a concert reception. I want to make foods that appeal to the two performers. Lillith Fair is easy to cook for…chocolate and a frozen pistachio cheesecake and she’s happy! Then she told me the other performer loves raspberry…got that covered…and SPAM. She wants me to come up with an appetizer featuring SPAM. I am at a loss. I’ve checked out some recipe sites, but am not finding any inspiration, so I turn to the World’s Most Creative cooks, the denizens of The Dope, for help. Needs to be finger food, individual portions, and yummy. Help!
Spam Skewers. Soak some bamboo skewers and thread with cubes of Span, alternating with chunks of canned (or cubed fresh) pineapple. Grill or broil until pretty, and either brush with or serve with barbecue sauce for dipping.
When we had a thread like this earlier, lots of people recommended spam sushi (or spam musubi, more properly). I’ve never had it and don’t know how to make it, but there’s several sites on the web. I thought someone here said it could be made using the spam container, but all the sites I researched had a special acrylic mold (which seems like too much bother to find).
Anyway, here’s one such site. Maybe someone else will have a better method. (There’s lots out there, even Youtube tutorials!)
Popping in to confirm that musubi can be most excellent. You don’t really need a mold, if you have a bamboo sushi roll mat, you can make it that way.
:::shakes first at WhyNot:::
ya beat me to it. that’s what i was gonna suggest!!
from personal experience i can tell ya that spam and pineapple are a state pasttime in hawaii - and darn tasty to boot. i second **WhyNot’s **suggestion.
I just popped in to post this musubi recipe, but I see I’m late to the party!
Yeah, but kittenblue is in Cleveland! Spam cubes and mini pierogi on skewers! With Stadium Mustard dipping sauce!
Yes, you cut the bottom off of the SPAM can and use it as a mould. It was probably easier back in the days when you could use a can opener. Nowadays you have to use your kitchen scissors.
Run equal amounts of spam and velveeta cheese through a meat grinder or food processor. Smear the resulting paste on mini slices of bread or english muffins, pop under the broiler, face-up, for 3 to 5 minutes until bubbly and browned, and serve.
Pure comfort food.
www.spam.com no foolin’, recipies and history and stuff.
I have Hawaii’s SPAM™ Cookbook.
Also Hawaii’s 2nd SPAM™ Cookbook, but I’m not entirely sure where that one is.
If you own a gmail account, the SPAM folder has a banner at the top with nothing but links to spam recipes, which I think is cute.
When I was kid, my mum used to make me slices of spam, halved, in between two ritz crackers. Super low-tech and uninspired, I know. But soooo good. <3
You mention desserts, and I don’t know if your spam parameters fall outside of appetizers or only savory dishes, but I saw Andrew Zimmern eat Pineapple Upside Down Cake with Spam in Hawaii. Seems like this BBQ guy has a pretty decent recipe for it…
You could go with a spam rumaki? Skewer a chunk of spam with a pineapple chunk (canned in juice or light syrup) and a slice of water chestnut on a toothpick then wrap in bacon. Combine the remaining pineapple juice or syrup from the can with equal parts soy and some smashed garlic cloves and fresh ginger in a saucepan and reduce until syrupy to make a teriyaki to glaze the rumaki before and during baking in a 375 oven until the bacon is brown and crispy.
You could go the grilled cheese comfort food route with a bit of class, and simultaneously combine his two favorite foods, Spam and Raspberry, by making a Spam Croque Monsieur/Monte Christo with rasperry jam.
Just follow this excellent recipe for croque monsieur simply substituting the ham with spam and the dijon and mayonaise with a decent raspberry jam. Cut the sandwiches into quarters for appetizer service and sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar.
Croque-Monsieur (Original Recipe Yield 3 servings)
Ingredients
* 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
* 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
* 4 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
* 6 slices white bread
* 6 slices Swiss cheese
* 12 slices thinly sliced deli ham
Batter:
* 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 2 eggs
* 1/4 cup water
*
* 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Directions
- Use 2 tablespoons of the butter to spread over one side of each slice of bread. On three of the slices, spread a layer of Dijon mustard over the butter, and top each with 4 slices of ham. On the other three, spread mayonnaise, and top each one with 2 slices of Swiss cheese. Press ham and cheese sides of sandwiches together.
- In a flat bottomed dish, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, eggs, and water until blended. Set aside.
- Heat remaining butter and vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Dip both sides of each sandwich in the egg mixture, and fry in the oil and butter until browned, flipping to brown on each side.
Well, here’s an idea to toss out, don’t know how practical it is for your situation… How about an Amish Pea, Cheese, and Spam Salad served in little cucumber cups? Ya know, just make a classic Pea and Cheese Salad along with an addition of some finely cubed Spam. Cut cucumbers into about 1 1/2 or 2 inch thick slices and deseed/hollow them out with a melonballer into cups. Fill the cucumber cups with the Spam and Pea salad, garnish appropriately for a little bling.
I would do this, but omit the velveeta and add some sweet gherkins. Serve cold with crackers.
The interesting part is that Spam is nothing more than a Pork Tureen in culinary terms. Which can often be served straight up on croutons… making an appetizer out of something that already is a classic appetizer can work against ya.
Kind of reminds me of Letterman’s Carnegie Deli Sandwich this week. Did anyone else see Letterman’s sandwich?
Ham and schmeeze.
I went with a SPAM Puff recipe that is basically the same as sausage balls…shredded SPAM, shredded cheddar, Bisquick, cayenne and a dash of water, mixed, formed into balls and baked. They disappeared. Everyone seemed to like them, except the people squicked out by the mere thought of SPAM. Which many of them admitted they had never eaten.