Kitchen Skills.
CurtisJ category picks
Kitchen Skills from a Hawaii kitchen point of view.
12 RECIPES · UPDATED FEBRUARY 2026
Start here
Start with the first story here, then keep going with the recipes and guides that make the whole section clearer.
“A poke bar at home works when the fish stays cold, the toppings stay disciplined, and everyone can build a bowl without wrecking the point.”
How to Set Up a Poke Bar at Home — The Ultimate Interactive Hawaiian Spread
A poke bar at home works when the fish stays cold, the toppings stay disciplined, and everyone can build a bowl without wrecking the point.
How to Make Perfect Rice Every Time — The Foundation of Every Hawaiian Meal
Perfect rice is the quiet skill behind musubi, plate lunch, loco moco, and half the meals Hawaii takes for granted.
Hawaiian Fish Guide — What to Buy for Poke, Grilling, and Everything In Between
A Hawaii fish guide should tell you what each fish tastes like, what it is best for, and when to leave it raw, grill it, or steam it whole.
The classics
The recipes from this chapter that come up over and over.
How to Cut Fish for Poke and Sashimi — The Technique That Changes Everything
How you cut fish for poke decides the bite, the marinade pickup, and whether the bowl feels careful or sloppy before seasoning even starts.
How to Throw a Hawaiian Backyard Party – The Complete Menu Guide
Plan the perfect Hawaiian backyard party at three levels — from casual kalbi cookout to full luau feast. Complete menus, timelines, delegation strategies, and links to ev...
The Essential Hawaiian Pantry: 15 Ingredients You Need
Stock these 15 pantry staples and you’re ready to cook any Hawaiian recipe — from shoyu and sesame oil to mochiko and furikake. Your complete guide to building the essent...
The Complete Guide to Hawaiian Chili Peppers and Hot Sauces
From the tiny, fiery Hawaiian chili pepper to the iconic bottle of chili pepper water on every local family’s table, here’s everything you need to know about heat in Hawa...
New here
More from this chapter, in order of when CurtisJ filed it.
How to Properly Season a Cast Iron Pan for Hawaiian Cooking
Growing up in Hawai’i, my grandmother’s cast iron skillet was the most sacred thing in her kitchen — right after her rice cooker. That pan had decades of seasoning built...
How to Prep and Cook Taro (Kalo) – A Beginner’s Guide
There’s a Hawaiian saying: “He ali’i ka ‘āina; he kauwā ke kanaka” — the land is chief; man is its servant. And at the heart of that relationship between the Hawaiian peo...
How to Make Homemade Coconut Milk the Hawaiian Way
I still remember the sound. That rhythmic scraping of coconut flesh against a metal grater — my tutu (grandmother) sitting on a low stool in the kitchen, working a halved...
Hawaiian Knife Skills: How to Break Down a Whole Fish
The first time I watched my uncle break down a whole ahi at a family gathering, I was mesmerized. He stood at the folding table in the carport, a sharp knife in hand, and...
Hawaiian Cooking 101: How to Cook Perfect Rice
The foundation of Hawaiian plate lunch—master the art of cooking perfect sticky rice.
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