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Huli-Huli Chicken
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Huli-huli chicken stands like this one can pop up at beaches, shopping centers, churches, or any empty clearing on availabe. |
Huli means “turn” in Hawaiian. Huli-huli is actually a trademarked name for a type of teriyaki sauce that came from an old family recipe. Longtime chicken farmer Ernie Morgado got it from good ‘ol mom, and another local institution was born. You can find the bottled sauce at any supermarket, but the real treat is finding the temporary roadside grills that cook up batches of ˝ chickens over kiawe wood fires. Large, moveable grills sandwich the chicken in between them and are turned, or huli’d, by a small army of workers to a moist, tender perfection.
These grills have historically been run by non-profits, schools, and other organizations to raise money for different activities, but have also shown up as enterprising, for-profit venues as well. They may be found along the road near the beach or a supermarket parking lot – there is no way to reliably tell where they will show up, but are quite common on the weekends, so if you want to try one just drive up and they’ll gladly sell you a bag or two. Some even have rice or mac salad as well, but don’t count on it.
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A closer shot of the grills used. |
Another outfit very similar to Huli-huli chicken, in that they are frequently used in fund-raisers in various roadside locations, is Koala Moa. They also produce 1/2 chickens that are tender, juicy, and infused with smokiness from open-fire grilling. The big differences here are that instead of a teriyaki sauce, they use a salt-based mixture and feature mechanized rotisserie-type cookers that constantly turn the chickens automatically.
