"Uncle Sammy, calling Uncle Sammy!" Who is Uncle Sammy? Well here on Maui Uncle Sammy is this big ass Hawaiian, in his mid sixties, and rides a motorbike, looks like a mean son of a bitch, but when you start to talk bout grilling, his eyes lights up, and he's got some tips for this season's grilling time in your back yard or beach or where ever.
"Eh you da chef on t.v. eh?" says Uncle Sammy.
"Yeah that's me," I respond wondering if he's gonna slam me to the ground for his own personal reasons, yes he's a lot older than me, but I sure as heck ain't messing with this old man, and I am very respectful of any man at any age who's got about 150 pounds on me, huge arms and has a few mean looking tattoos. Me? I don't have a tattoo, and the only real fight I've been in is one time in high school I punched out a tennis player because he was obnoxious, yeah I bad!
So at this point we don't know each other's names yet, but Uncle Sammy smiles a wide ass smile, he takes off his shades, "Eh bradda I love your show, I love it."
Okay he's not gonna kill me, "Thanks.... how you doing today, nice day for that Harley eh?"
"Yeah yeah... eh lemme ask you somethin..."
"Okay shoot..."
"When you making stir fry eggplants, you cook da eggplants first to soften em up? Or do you put all of the ingredients in da wok first and then put da eggplants inside da wok and cook it all at once?"
I was thinking, "Man is this a set up?" What if I give him the answer he's not looking for I'll be flatter than a tortilla shell when he's done with me. So I answer, "Well, I do cook it first and set it aside, that way it's out of the way, then I'll add in the other ingredients and cook it up, add a sauce and then put the cooked eggplants back inside."
He smiles, "That's what I told my friend but he doesn't want to listen that dumb ass."
I laugh.
"Oh by the way my name is Sam, call me Uncle Sammy."
"Okay Uncle Sammy, my name is Ron."
"Right on Ron, eh I just love what you do on your cooking show, I just love what you do, keep on doing it."
"Thanks Uncle Sammy."
Then we start to talk about small things, family, life, whatever. But this man has seen a lot in life, he is not a fool, he is the type that can see right through a person, and you get this vibe, if you rub him the wrong way, he's not going to hurt you with his massive arms, but he'll hurt you with that honest look in his eyes, you know? Like if you lie to him, he's got this God's given thing about him, that if he just stares at you, that shit is going to hurt you know? Lie to him and he'll just give you that stare, and he's lost all respect for you, and he rides off with his huge Harley, and he'll tell everyone about you, and then you are toast. That's the vibe I got from Uncle Sammy, a truthful honest kind of guy, just don't mess with him or his family you know?
He starts talking about grilling steaks, "Eh bradda, before time, we had this friend that had a ranch, and he had cattle, not a lot but some."
"Really?"
"Yeah, we had fresh steaks, and when was time to grill, watch out! My mom had this recipe for a spicy rub we used to put on the short ribs. It was salt, pepper, garlic, and sugar, chili peppers, and vinegar. She used to mix em all up, and rub it into these massive short ribs. Then we'd light up the kiawe and grill those up, over hot fire, make it char, and then place the short ribs over the part of the grill that wasn't too hot, let it sit for hours, we'd all sit around the grill laughing and singing until the ribs were so tender it fell off of the bone."
"Wow, that sounds really good, delicious."
"Yeah, we were poor back then, not much money so when we got beef, we got it in massive amounts, and store it in our freezer. We used to take the T-bones, and put it in soy sauce, sugar, ginger, garlic and onions, soak em over night, and grill them up just until the red starts to turn color, not cooked all the way, man that was the best."
Okay so I got this, soak some T-bones in soy sauce, ginger, sugar, garlic and onions overnight, and grill them to about medium the next day, sounds good and I've never in my life marinated T-bones before, but there's a first time for everything.
"And man, oxtails, we used to boil the oxtails until it was soft and then refrigerate them. The next day, we'd soak it in olive oil, garlic, basil, salt, pepper and any other spices we got, soak it for a few hours, now this is already soft eh? Okay then we would make the grill really hot, and then place the soft oxtails over the flames, and give it some smokey flavor, man that was really good. Eh make this on your show bradda."
"Uncle Sammy you should be my guest on my show, and you show all of Maui on television how to make those delicious sounding beef recipes."
"Nah I'm too old for that, I just want to eat," he laughs. "But that's some beef stories for you, you know we Hawaiians we got Aloha, we share some stuff, but not all stuff you know?" He laughs again, in fact his laugh is infectious, what a kind soul, hey I like Uncle Sammy, it's nice to meet new friends . So we shake hands, he wishes me success in my video cooking career, and then starts up his bike, it was like thunder, I was blown back 10 yards. He puts his shades down over his eyes and then clicks it into first gear and off he goes, riding into the Maui trade winds, watch out Maui, Uncle Sammy is ridin! And now I got more arsenal in my cooking side of my brain. :)
"Eh you da chef on t.v. eh?" says Uncle Sammy.
"Yeah that's me," I respond wondering if he's gonna slam me to the ground for his own personal reasons, yes he's a lot older than me, but I sure as heck ain't messing with this old man, and I am very respectful of any man at any age who's got about 150 pounds on me, huge arms and has a few mean looking tattoos. Me? I don't have a tattoo, and the only real fight I've been in is one time in high school I punched out a tennis player because he was obnoxious, yeah I bad!
So at this point we don't know each other's names yet, but Uncle Sammy smiles a wide ass smile, he takes off his shades, "Eh bradda I love your show, I love it."
Okay he's not gonna kill me, "Thanks.... how you doing today, nice day for that Harley eh?"
"Yeah yeah... eh lemme ask you somethin..."
"Okay shoot..."
"When you making stir fry eggplants, you cook da eggplants first to soften em up? Or do you put all of the ingredients in da wok first and then put da eggplants inside da wok and cook it all at once?"
I was thinking, "Man is this a set up?" What if I give him the answer he's not looking for I'll be flatter than a tortilla shell when he's done with me. So I answer, "Well, I do cook it first and set it aside, that way it's out of the way, then I'll add in the other ingredients and cook it up, add a sauce and then put the cooked eggplants back inside."
He smiles, "That's what I told my friend but he doesn't want to listen that dumb ass."
I laugh.
"Oh by the way my name is Sam, call me Uncle Sammy."
"Okay Uncle Sammy, my name is Ron."
"Right on Ron, eh I just love what you do on your cooking show, I just love what you do, keep on doing it."
"Thanks Uncle Sammy."
Then we start to talk about small things, family, life, whatever. But this man has seen a lot in life, he is not a fool, he is the type that can see right through a person, and you get this vibe, if you rub him the wrong way, he's not going to hurt you with his massive arms, but he'll hurt you with that honest look in his eyes, you know? Like if you lie to him, he's got this God's given thing about him, that if he just stares at you, that shit is going to hurt you know? Lie to him and he'll just give you that stare, and he's lost all respect for you, and he rides off with his huge Harley, and he'll tell everyone about you, and then you are toast. That's the vibe I got from Uncle Sammy, a truthful honest kind of guy, just don't mess with him or his family you know?
He starts talking about grilling steaks, "Eh bradda, before time, we had this friend that had a ranch, and he had cattle, not a lot but some."
"Really?"
"Yeah, we had fresh steaks, and when was time to grill, watch out! My mom had this recipe for a spicy rub we used to put on the short ribs. It was salt, pepper, garlic, and sugar, chili peppers, and vinegar. She used to mix em all up, and rub it into these massive short ribs. Then we'd light up the kiawe and grill those up, over hot fire, make it char, and then place the short ribs over the part of the grill that wasn't too hot, let it sit for hours, we'd all sit around the grill laughing and singing until the ribs were so tender it fell off of the bone."
"Wow, that sounds really good, delicious."
"Yeah, we were poor back then, not much money so when we got beef, we got it in massive amounts, and store it in our freezer. We used to take the T-bones, and put it in soy sauce, sugar, ginger, garlic and onions, soak em over night, and grill them up just until the red starts to turn color, not cooked all the way, man that was the best."
Okay so I got this, soak some T-bones in soy sauce, ginger, sugar, garlic and onions overnight, and grill them to about medium the next day, sounds good and I've never in my life marinated T-bones before, but there's a first time for everything.
"And man, oxtails, we used to boil the oxtails until it was soft and then refrigerate them. The next day, we'd soak it in olive oil, garlic, basil, salt, pepper and any other spices we got, soak it for a few hours, now this is already soft eh? Okay then we would make the grill really hot, and then place the soft oxtails over the flames, and give it some smokey flavor, man that was really good. Eh make this on your show bradda."
"Uncle Sammy you should be my guest on my show, and you show all of Maui on television how to make those delicious sounding beef recipes."
"Nah I'm too old for that, I just want to eat," he laughs. "But that's some beef stories for you, you know we Hawaiians we got Aloha, we share some stuff, but not all stuff you know?" He laughs again, in fact his laugh is infectious, what a kind soul, hey I like Uncle Sammy, it's nice to meet new friends . So we shake hands, he wishes me success in my video cooking career, and then starts up his bike, it was like thunder, I was blown back 10 yards. He puts his shades down over his eyes and then clicks it into first gear and off he goes, riding into the Maui trade winds, watch out Maui, Uncle Sammy is ridin! And now I got more arsenal in my cooking side of my brain. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment