$266 Million Winning Lottery Recipes - L & L Hawaiian Barbecue Cookbook - Memorial Day

Date I made this recipe:  May 29, 2017 – Memorial Day

$266 Million Winning Lottery Recipes – L & L Hawaiian Barbecue Cookbook by Eddie Flores, Jr.

Published by L & L Franchise Inc.

ISBN: 10: 1-56647-988-6; copyright 2012

Purchased at Hilo Bay Books, Hilo, Hawaii

Recipe:  Macaroni Salad – p. 119

"On May 6, 2010, Gilbert Cisneros bought a lottery ticket at the L & L Hawaiian Barbecue Restaurant in Pico Rivera, California and won $266 million dollars, one of the largest mega million lottery jackpots in history."

What McDonald's is to the mainland, L & L Hawaiian Barbecue is to Hawaii which is to say that it is everywhere, space permitting.  Yet despite the fact that it is everywhere,  it took us until our last trip there (2016) to finally get around to trying it while we were out roaming around the Big Island.  I can't recall exactly where except I believe we were down around the southern tip which puts us somewhere around Naalehu. 

I'll just say this about that:  our bad. 

The thing about fast food places in Hawaii is that they are often customized to include local favorites.  Years ago, for example, on my first trip to Hawaii, a friend and I stopped at a local McDonald's and were amused to find sashimi on the menu.  Sashimi is raw fish or meat that is sliced into thin pieces.  That McDonald's also carried sushi long before it became all the rage.

Similarly, L & L's carry a mix of everything you could ever want to eat in Hawaii:  barbecue (Hawaiian style), saimin (similar to ramen), a loco moco (white rice, beef patty, and a egg that is topped by brown gravy – we love this), and a Hawaiian plate lunch.

A plate lunch is a somewhat hilarious platter of two scoops of rice, one scoop of macaroni salad, and a fried or grilled protein (fried fish, grilled beef, etc.).  Never ever would I have thought of putting that combo together (or the loco moco, for that matter), but it works for us.  It is said to have evolved from the Japanese bento box and that makes sense when you think about the rice and the fish or meat, but not necessarily the macaroni salad.  Still, who am I to argue with tradition!

Although I cannot recall what we had that day at L & L, what we had was surprisingly good for fast food.  When it came down to choosing a recipe from this cookbook then, it was really challenging because I was hungry for everything.  In the running was the "Hawaiian Huli Huli Chicken" (p. 31), "Kalua Pork (p. 57) and "Hawaiian Barbecue Sauce" (p. 103) until I settled on the macaroni salad.

Your table of contents is pretty extensive and let me just say right now that if you are in the mood for SPAM®, and why wouldn't you be, it's in there as SPAM® Musubi in the Pork Category.  Musubi is barbecued SPAM® served on rice that is wrapped in nori (seaweed).  Yes, I know, it may sound horrible to some of you and it's not like I tried it but Hawaiians love their SPAM® and I mean LOVE and so it should not surprise anyone that it shows up on menus and in island cookbooks.

Should you not like SPAM®, here are other categories that might interest you:

• Chicken
• Beef
• Pork
• Seafood
• Vegetables
• Healthy Plates
• Soup & Sauces
• Others (fried rice, macaroni salad)
• Desserts

Okay then, let's talk about the macaroni salad.  This recipe is likely not what you were expecting but this recipe, or one that is similar, is a staple of the plate lunch and so there it is.  It calls for very few ingredients of which shredded carrots is the main one and so it's easy to prepare and serve. As far as taste though, it leans toward being a little bland so you may want to amp things up a bit and add some other seasonings besides salt and white pepper. I rather liked it but then again, I am a sucker for a plate lunch macaroni salad.

And now, without further ado, I give you a plate lunch macaroni salad.

Macaroni Salad – serves 5 to 6 people

½ gallon of water

1 pound macaroni

½ cup of onion (diced)

½ cup of carrot (shredded)

3 cups of mayonnaise

½ teaspoon of white pepper

2 teaspoons salt

1 small can of oil based tuna (drained)

Put water into a pot and bring to a boil.  Put macaroni into the pot and boil for 12 minutes or until cooked.  (Ann's Note:  It's probably easier to follow the cooking times on the box.)

Drain water and cool macaroni thoroughly.  Combine all remaining ingredients and chill for at least one hour.