Learn the Joy of Cooking with Spam

Nihonmachi Nite is this Saturday (August 11; 4-9pm).

A free community event celebrating the history of Seattle’s Japantown, several shops, restaurants and the Wing Luke Museum are offering special programming or discounts throughout the evening.

Most intriguing among those is probably Momo Seattle’s second annual Spam-O-Rama musubi-making contest.

Local chefs, including Trace W‘s Steven Ariel, Pau Hana‘s Peter Duane and other contestants will submit their take on the Hawaiian specialty for the judges (and guests!) to sample. A winner will be announced. And, no doubt, much Spam will be eaten.

Not familiar with musubi (shown below)? Momo breaks it down on their blog:

A typical musubi will consist of Spam, sushi rice, furikake (those tasty sweet/salty sprinkles you often see in Japanese restaurants) and nori. A slice of Spam is fried, often with a splash of teriyaki sauce, then laid atop a pile of sushi rice that has been dusted with furikake. A strip of nori (dried, roasted seaweed) encircles the whole thing, which is pressed into a Plexiglas cube. This is done to compress the musubi into a condensed, portable “sandwich.”

By the way, Spam turns 75 this year. Can’t imagine a better time to explore one of the many versatile uses of Spam catalogued in the company’s archive of Spam recipes, such as the Apple Spam turnover, Mini Maple Spam Doughnnuts, or, my personal favorite, Spamaroni.

Momo Seattle, 600 South Jackson St., 206.329.4736; momoseattle.blogspot.com; Nihonmachi Nite. 8/11, 4pm-9pm. 6th Avenue S and S Main Street