Spam Musubi
Hawaii's iconic snack—grilled Spam on rice wrapped in nori with teriyaki glaze
- 1 canSpam(12 oz, classic or low-sodium)
- 3 cupssushi rice(cooked and seasoned)
- 5 sheetsnori(cut into 2-inch strips)
- 3 tbspsoy sauce
- 2 tbspsugar
- 1 tbspmirin
- 1Slice Spam lengthwise into 8-10 slices, about 1/4-inch thick
- 2Mix soy sauce, sugar, and mirin in small bowl for teriyaki glaze
- 3Pan-fry Spam slices until golden on both sides, brushing with glaze
- 4Use musubi mold (or empty Spam can) to press rice into rectangular block
- 5Place glazed Spam slice on top of rice block
- 6Wrap nori strip around the middle, sealing with water
Use a musubi mold or the Spam can with bottom removed for perfect shaping. Slice Spam about 1/4 inch thick for ideal meat-to-rice ratio. Teriyaki glaze should caramelize on Spam before assembly. Cut nori strips slightly narrower than Spam for clean wrap.
Spam musubi is Hawaii's most beloved grab-and-go snack, a direct product of the islands' unique multi-cultural history and the lasting impact of World War II. Hormel's canned Spam was introduced to the United States in 1937 and became a critical military ration during World War II; American servicemen stationed in Hawaii consumed it in enormous quantities, and it entered the local food supply in abundance. Hawaii's large Japanese-American community — descendants of workers who arrived in the late 19th century to labor on sugar and pineapple plantations — already had a deep tradition of onigiri (rice balls wrapped in nori seaweed), a portable staple of Japanese cuisine with roots dating back to the Heian period. Spam musubi emerged as a fusion of these two influences: the canned pork of American military supply lines married to the Japanese rice-and-seaweed format, seasoned with soy sauce and furikake. By the 1980s it was a fixture at every convenience store, gas station, and school cafeteria in Hawaii. Today the Hawaii Tourism Authority notes that Spam musubi is one of the state's most recognizable local foods, and Hawaii remains the highest per-capita consumer of Spam in the United States.