Hilo Regional Poke, a place of cubes of skill that are one of the oldest cultural poke that still leads as one of the best and freshest is from the Big Island of Hawaii. This would be scaling, gutting, boning the fish by its parts with a thorough cleaning. Lastly the cubing begins with prepping the poke sauces, ingredient mixtures, and preparing to mix into the finished product. Hilo is the largest island in the chain of the Hawaii islands. A particular almost legendary status of Poke style that speaks out the regional style comes from a over 100 plus year old market at the Wailoa River that leads out to Hilo Bay named Suisan. Those who helped found it had a love for the ocean and the food that came from it with such passion that they needed to put their differences aside to make a strong center for fisheries for the sake of the islands fishing industry to grow. The Legacy of the company and its Poke started with Suisan which was founded in 1907 by big island fishermen families and fish sellers. Notably one of those families happened to be the Matsuno family under Sui San Kabushiki Kaisha 1947. This was then passed on to Rex Yoshio Matsuno (Suisan President, 1967-2013) who is credited with company expansions into frozen foods and produce, defining the pokemaster techniques with Carmelo Justo (Hilo Pokemaster), and post-tsunami and hurricane re-buildings. Poke is getting pretty popular, so people are searching out the variations that have stuck with researching the island regions to see what differences there might be in the identity. In Hilo, they haven't changed anything, but kept the recipes for so long it seems like its new again through the catch of the day, the mixing style, and the sauces for its very own method to the cube mixing madness. While Big Island regional poke is still on the inner circle of eaters it is undeniably something tasty for the eyes and the tongue for those who live on island. While Big Island Hawaii is taking its time from the given opportunity of poke in its island story it is just being careful and inclusive until the timing is right. The secrets are being passed down to the workers who are at the poke establishments and are learning the art of poke with the daily grind. It will be though only a matter of time before people can recognize the unique specialties, sauces, and mixtures that make up this regional Big Island-style Poke. Checking on the focus of the ingredients is what defines the beginnings of the style. The staple ingredients is what is in season locally and preferred in Hilo for poke making, like the main star specialty fish tend to be in favor of Aku Tuna, Ora King Salmon, Uku Grey Snapper, Ono Wahoo Fish, Mahimahi Fish, and Opakapaka. Those who want to see into the Big Islands secret gems of fish is when they point the spot light on their less eaten by tourists and more by locals are the second line specialties of: Lobster Popcorn, Shrimp Popcorn, Crab Popcorn, Hebi, Lehi, Kamanu, Uhu, and Hamachi. While they have the typical Hawaii basics of Ahi, Salmon, and Octopus... along with a few others: A'u (Kajiki), Hijiki, White Crab, Oyster, and Scallops. Which are brought in as favorites from other islands to get as many people as possible to the poke counter and be happy about the selection. While it would be great that everyone would like to purchase the radical out of the box menu items the businesses have to play it safe to some extent to get a good balance of safe and radical flavors. Then we move on the classic sauces that have been developed by those at places like Sam Choys, Suisan Fish Market, and the Poke Festival. Sauces that define the flavors are: Shoyu Sauce, Sesame Shoyu, Lemon Shoyu Sauce, Wasabi Shoyu, Miso Sauce, Hilo Spicy Sauce, Da Lava Sauce, Kim Chee Sauce (Tripe Kim Chee Poke), Kim Chee Oyster, Mango Habenero sauce, Chili Pepper sauce (Sweet Chili Sauce, Chili Pepper Flake), Honey Aloha Sauce (Honey Sesame Sauce), Guava Kim Chee (Spicy Guava Sauce), Cali Roll Sauce.
Lastly we look at a few of the mixtures that are tossed up for a fresh mix or a marinated mix that grows more flavor as it stays int he cooling unit. The Mixtures that define the big island are the: Hilo Hawaiian mixture, Kim Chee mixture, Butter Garlic mixture, Ginger and Garlic mixture, Furikake mixture, and Taegu Mixture.
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