Spam Musubi Revisited

On my way up the hill, I stopped in Vacaville. Going back and forth, I usually stop for gas at COSTCO...it's just under a mile off the superslab, and with many of Travis Air Base's airmen deployed abroad, the COSTCO itself never seems that crowded (of course I avoid Fri/Sat/Sun!)

Earlier this summer my favorite Asian market in the Inland Valley closed suddenly. The Landlord doubled their rent and the owners balked. Happily it's still sitting empty! Fortunately there's another store near the Vacaville COSTCO. Saturday I got a tank of gas and hit the Country Square Market.

I wanted some baby bok choi, and Country Square Market has the baby-iest anywhere! As luck would have it, they had the missing ingredients for Spam Musubi, and the little plexiglass musubi mold.

I made some after I watched the replay of the Singapore Grand Prix. Much better this time!

Better is a relative term however...I did everything differently this time:

The rice...this time I made standard sushi rice, washed medium grain rice, flavored with seasoned rice vinegar, and quickly cooled with a fan.
The Spam...this time I used the "Reduced Sodium" flavor.
Furikake...the missing rice seasoning, it's salt, sugar, seaweed and sesame seeds.

The Build...I used the plexiglass musubi form...a little easier than the modified Spam can I used last time out. I built one batch with it, I made the rest as handrolls...cone-style. I found using the form more fussy than helpful, so I went lazy school.

Results...this time the Spam Musubi was much better...just salty enough (I used less of the sugar/soy sauce in the pan with the Spam) I sauteed the spam to a lighter color than last time (I don't like BBQ flavor potato chips either) This batch was well balanced, and the furikake tied everything together on the palette.

I guess it's what you grow up with...for me, growing up near San Francisco, with a native San Franciscan Father, it's dungeness crab...growing up in Hawaii I guess it would be the Kahlua Pig, musubi and pupus...I get it. Will I make it again? Maybe...but spam isn't ahi tuna! Not even close. Is there even a Latin word for Spam?