This recipe is made for using only leftover salmon or adding cold rice or potatoes, depending on what you’re working with. I like using chives and chive blossoms from my garden when they are in season, but you can use any fresh herb. The trick, if you’re using rice or potatoes, is to let them fry for long enough to get a little crispy before you add the salmon. I use a little water to steam the eggs and watch the time to cook them to my desired doneness. I have used Frank’s hot sauce and Barnacle Foods Bull Kelp Hot Sauce with the sour cream, but I like Tabasco best because it’s a classic.

Salmon hash and eggs with Tabasco cream

Ingredients:

1 1/2 tablespoons + 1 tablespoon butter

1 shallot, minced

1 1/2 cups leftover roasted potatoes, finely chopped, or leftover rice (optional)

3-4 cups leftover cooked salmon, bones removed, broken into bite-sized pieces

Garlic salt or other seasoned salt, to taste

Pepper, to taste

1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon chopped fresh chives, divided

Four eggs

Sea salt

2 tablespoons water

1/2 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon or more Tabasco or other hot sauce + more for garnish

2 chive blossoms, small flowers separated or 1/4 cup chopped fresh herbs of your choice

Method: Melt a tablespoon and a half of butter in a large non-stick frying pan or well-seasoned cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Saute the shallot until it is translucent and then add the potatoes or rice, if using. Do not disturb the rice or potatoes for 3 minutes or so, so the bottom begins to brown and crisp. Add salmon and saute, mixing with the rice or potatoes. Season with garlic salt and pepper and mix, scraping the pan bottom, for a few minutes until the salmon is warmed through. The fish should be further broken up and there should be some crispy bits from the bottom distributed throughout. Create four holes in the hash, so the bottom of the pan is visible in each. Divide the tablespoon of butter into four and melt a piece of butter in each hole. When the butter is melted, crack an egg in each hole and sprinkle it with salt. Now drizzle water over the pan and place a lid on it. Leave the lid on for roughly 2-3 minutes for an egg with a runny yolk. For over-medium, try roughly 6 minutes. For hard eggs, try about 8 minutes. While the eggs are cooking, stir the hot sauce into the sour cream. To serve, dot each egg with spicy sour cream, splash with extra hot sauce and sprinkle the pan with reserved chives and chive blossoms or herbs.

The post Turn last night’s salmon leftovers into savory hash and eggs with fresh herbs and Tabasco cream appeared first on Julia O'Malley.

First published in Edible Alaska Summer 2024. Subscribe!

Sourdough crumpets

Yields 5–6 crumpets

Ingredients:

• Neutral oil
• 1 cup unfed starter or sourdough discard
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• Cooking spray
• Butter

Method: Rub some oil on your cast iron and put it over medium-low heat to let it heat up.

Put your starter in a small bowl and stir in sugar, salt, and soda. It should bubble up and quickly double in size, growing to be about 3–3½ cups. Spray three Mason jar rings with cooking spray and set them in the pan for your crumpet molds, lip side down. Melt a small pat of butter in each. (You have to repeat this step for your next batch—greased molds are key.) Your cast iron should not get too hot—you’re looking for a heat you can hold your hand over for a few seconds without burning yourself, maybe 300–325° F.

Using a ¼ cup measure, pour the batter into the hot forms. Cook until many of the bubbles have popped and the batter looks like a tiny cratered moonscape with only a few raw spots. Using a stout spatula, flip mold and crumpet. Once it’s flipped, you should be able to easily remove the mold. If it sticks on the edge, you might need to coax it out gently with a butter knife. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes on the second side, until it’s golden.

Serve immediately with butter and jam.

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Clown on me if you want, but I like a little pumpkin spice in my fall time world, even if it’s beyond cliche. But I don’t like that a lot of it tastes fake, kind of like a pumpkin spice candle smells, and has a weird aftertaste. A few smaller coffee shops in Anchorage already know this secret: the real pumpkin spice latte base you can make at home — using a handful of shelf-stable pantry ingredients — is cheaper and better than anything you’ll get through the Starbucks drive-thru. It’s fast and one batch will last you a week of spicy mornings.

This recipe uses just about equal parts canned sweetened condensed milk, pumpkin puree and a healthy dose of pumpkin pie spice. I included a recipe for pumpkin pie spice if you want to make your own. It makes a concentrated batter that you can froth up with milk — two tablespoons should be enough — for a latte, or stir it into your morning coffee and maybe add a splash of cream. You could easily experiment with making the recipe and combining it with cream to make a batch of coffee creamer as well. If I’m getting fancy, I like a fresh shave of nutmeg on top, too.

Scratch-made pumpkin spice latte syrup

Makes about 1 1/4 cups

1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup (roughly half a can) of pumpkin puree

1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

Nutmeg to garnish

Optional — For homemade pumpkin pie spice:

Three tablespoons cinnamon

2 teaspoons nutmeg

2 teaspoons powdered ginger

1 1/2 teaspoons cloves

1 1/2 teaspoons allspice

In a small bowl or large jar, mix condensed milk, pumpkin puree and pie spice until smooth and well-combined. To make a latte: add two tablespoons to milk before you froth it. To make creamer, put two tablespoons into the bottom of the cup before you add coffee, add a splash of cream, stir. Store in a sealed jar. Keeps in the fridge for a week.

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We’ve been waiting almost a year to share it, for when the state is awash in fresh fish. Important: You cannot make these lox with frozen fish. (You can, though, freeze the fish after you cure it, if you are concerned about parasites.) As a person who spent an entire summer testing smoked salmon recipes, the best part about lox: They are so easy. You mix a cure, slide the salmon in, and let it do its thing. You do have to turn it once. Ask me how I know now to set my cellphone to remind me.

This recipe uses local gin, juniper berries — or in Beau’s case, spent gin botanicals from his neighbors at Amalga Distillery in Juneau — and lemon zest. Since Alaska has a number of distilleries, it’s nice to use local gin. An herbal gin — like Hendrick’s or Juneauper Gin by Amalga, which uses spruce tip, devil’s club, Labrador tea and rhubarb botanicals — imparts the most complex flavor. You can get juniper berries in Anchorage at Summit Spice & Tea Co. For this recipe, you’ll toast them lightly in a pan over medium heat until they get shiny and release their oils, then you’ll want to crush them well with a mortar and pestle or in a plastic bag with a rolling pin. You can use kosher or fine sea salt for the brine, but don’t use table salt.

You do have to prep the fish by thoroughly removing bones. Do this gently, so as not to rip the flesh too much. A really good tool helps. I’m a proponent of the hemostat clamp, which is used for medical purposes and fly-tying. They’re about $4 on Amazon. Expose the line of bones on the fillet by running your finger gently along the flesh toward the tail. Pull bones following the angle they are pointing and try not to press on the meat while you’re doing it. A salmon usually has 20-30 pin bones per side. I try to find and pull at least 25.

Beau says the lox can be vacuum-sealed and stored a couple weeks in the fridge or a couple months in the freezer. Make sure you have a very sharp knife for slicing them, the thinner the better. I have the best luck using a very sharp, flexible medium paring knife.

Beau Schooler’s Gin Lox

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pound fresh salmon fillet, pin bones removed, skin on

1/3 cup kosher or fine sea salt

1/3 cup sugar

Zest of one lemon

1 tablespoon juniper berries, lightly toasted in a pan, thoroughly crushed

1 ounce gin, preferably Amalga Distillery gin or gin from another local distillery you support.

Method:

In a small mixing bowl combine the salt, sugar, lemon zest, and crushed juniper berries. Mix well, then add the gin and mix some more until the mixture has the consistency of damp sand. Set aside.

Get a glass baking dish or other tall edged, flat-bottomed container that is slightly larger than your salmon fillet. You want the fish to lay flat and you don’t want the cure to pool up. Sprinkle a little bit of the cure on the bottom of the container. Take the salmon fillet and place it skin side down in the container. Pour the remaining cure over the salmon and then gently massage it into the flesh. Cover the container and set it in the fridge overnight, at least eight hours.

The next morning, the cure should have mostly melted and turned into a brine. Take any unmelted cure and rub it back into the fillet, then flip the fillet over, with the skin side now up. Cover and return to the fridge.

After 18 hours, start checking your lox for doneness. The skin should be shiny, tight, and slightly wrinkled. The flesh should feel firm, with a deeper red color than when you started. If it hasn’t firmed up, splash some more of the melted cure brine on it and return it to the fridge, check again in another couple hours.

When the lox feels finished, remove it from the cure and quickly rinse it under cold water, removing any remaining cure. Place the lox on a plate covered in a paper towel. Place another paper towel on top and gently dry it as much as possible. Place the lox, uncovered, in the fridge to air dry for a couple hours.

Slice very thin with a sharp knife, starting at the wide side of the fillet and cutting on the bias toward the tail. Enjoy.

The post Make Juneau chef Beau Schooler’s citrusy gin lox, and your bagels will thank you appeared first on Julia O'Malley.

I was having family for brunch so I thought I’d incorporate my berries into a really straightforward cinnamon roll recipe I make all the time. It was a hit. The berries gave the usual rolls the perfect amount of tang. You can use just about any combination of wild berries with this recipe and scale up the jam if you’d like some left over. It keeps in the fridge for about a week. For the jam part, I just use equal parts berries and sugar, add some marmalade to aid in the firming up. Reducing the sugar will make the jam looser. Then I cook it way down. Most wild berries have a lot of natural pectin, so you shouldn’t have too hard of a time getting a nice firm jam going for the filling, plus a little extra for your toast. Especially if you’re using really seedy berries, it’s a good idea to press it through a sieve to remove the solids.

This basic roll recipe is relatively quick — and you can make it quicker by using rapid rise yeast. That should cut the first rise to an hour and the second to 30 minutes. You can also form the rolls the night before, refrigerate them, and then let them warm up for about an hour before baking them the next day. Don’t skimp on the butter you use to grease the pan. I use at least half a stick. The buttery dough edges are the best part!

Alaska wildberry cinnamon rolls

Serves 12

For the dough:

3/4 cup milk

2 1/4 teaspoon (one package) active dry yeast

1/4 cup salted butter, melted

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup white sugar

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

For the filling:

(Butter and brown sugar for the pan)

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon

1/4 cup butter, melted

3 cups frozen berries

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup marmalade

For the cream cheese frosting:

3 tablespoons butter, room temperature

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:

Make the dough: Measure the milk into a microwave safe bowl and heat on high for 45 seconds. Pour it into the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment. Add yeast, butter, eggs, and sugar. Mix well to combine. Whisk the salt into the flour and then add it one cup at a time to the mixer, running on medium low. Allow it to mix, scraping the sides, until the dough is well combined, smooth and not all that sticky. If it is really sticky, shake in about 1/4 cup flour. Remove the dough ball to a greased bowl, cover with a damp cloth and set to rise in a warm place for 60 to 90 minutes. It should be just about double in size.

Make the jam filling: In a saucepan on medium heat, combine sugar, berries and marmalade. Cook until berries have melted and sugar is dissolved — about 20 minutes. Pour the mixture through a mesh sieve, pressing the solids to get the last of the juice out, into a clean saucepan. Return it to the stove. Simmer on medium low until the jam is reduced by about a third and coats the back of a spoon. Allow it to cool.

Form the rolls: Generously grease a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with butter and sprinkle the bottom with brown sugar, if desired. Mix the brown sugar, melted butter and cinnamon into a paste. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a rectangle, roughly 10 by 15 inches. Spread a thin layer of sugar-cinnamon paste on the dough, then a thin layer of jam (you will have jam leftover to serve with the rolls). Starting from the bottom long side, gently roll it up, pinching the roll closed at the top. Using a piece of floss or a serrated knife, cut into 12 or so inch-wide rolls. (To use floss — slide it under the roll, cross the strands on top and pull to cut.) The end ones will be smaller. Arrange them in the baking pan. Cover and allow to rise 30 minutes to an hour. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Frost the rolls: In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine butter and cream cheese until fluffy. Put the mixer on low and add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, until combined. Finally, add the vanilla. Spread over warm rolls and serve immediately, with extra jam.

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These delicious buns are sort of like the offspring of a soft pretzel and bagel. Before you get intimidated by the idea of making dough, trust me that these knots aren’t hard, especially if you have access to a standing mixer. They only rise for an hour. A quick dip in a bath of boiling baking soda water gives them a brown pretzel-y crust and flavor. They’re soft and savory and all kinds of perfect for watching the game or bringing to brunch. Smoked-salmon cream cheese kicks them up another very Alaska notch.

Everything bagel spice is available in the spice section of most grocery stores in Anchorage and at Costco. If you’re in a hurry, you can buy store-bought salmon spread or other cream cheese spread. Jalapeno is a favorite at my house. The knots are great split and toasted the next day.

Everything spice pretzel knots with smoked salmon schmear

Makes 12 knots

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups lukewarm water

2 tablespoons maple syrup or honey

1 packet active dry yeast

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 stick salted butter, melted

4 1/2 cups flour

2 1/2 quarts water

½ cup baking soda

1 egg, beaten

1-2 tablespoons everything bagel seasoning

1/2 cup smoked salmon, shredded

1/2 cup whipped cream cheese

1 teaspoon caper brine

Couple splashes of Frank’s hot sauce (optional)

Method:

In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix together water, syrup, yeast, salt and melted butter on the lowest setting. Turning the mixer up a click or two, shake in the flour, a cup at a time, until it’s well combined and begins to coalesce into a smooth dough. Turn the mixer off and dump the dough onto the counter. Knead a few times until the dough comes together. It should be elastic and not very sticky. Form it into a ball. Scrape out the bowl of the mixer, spray the bowl with nonstick cooking spray, and put the dough ball back in. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and let it rise for an hour.

When the dough is done rising, preheat the oven to 425, line a baking sheet with parchment, and fill a wide-mouthed soup pot or Dutch oven with 2 1/2 quarts of water. Stir the baking soda into the water and put it on the heat to boil. Dump the dough out onto the counter, shape it into a long rectangle. Cut the rectangle in half longways and then cut each half into six equal pieces.

Form the pretzel knots. Roll each portion of dough into a log about 1 inch in diameter and about 6 inches long. Arrange the log in a U-shape. Take the end of the left arm of the U, cross it over the right arm and then tuck it under the right arm, to form a twist. Fold the twist downward toward the bottom of the U. Then turn the whole thing over. (See photos) If you have time, you can let the formed knots rise for an additional 20 minutes. Once all of the pretzels are formed, plop them gently in the boiling baking soda bath, three at a time. Turn them over after 20 seconds, boil 20 seconds more. Fish them out with a slotted spoon and set them on the baking sheet. Brush each one with beaten egg and sprinkle it with everything bagel spice. Slide the knots into the oven and bake for 18 minutes.

While they are baking, make the schmear. Mix salmon, cream cheese, caper brine and hot sauce, if desired, in a small bowl until well combined.

Serve the knots warm with schmear.

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Big Breakfast Focaccia

(serves 6-8)

Ingredients: 2¼ teaspoons (1 packet) active dry yeast

2 teaspoons honey

5 cups bread flour (preferred) or all-purpose flour

1½ tablespoons + ½ teaspoon sea salt

¼ cup plus 3 tablespoons olive oil

¾ pound loose breakfast sausage

6–8 eggs

1½ cups sharp white Cheddar cheese

1½ tablespoons fresh herbs like rosemary, sage, and thyme, finely chopped

Method:

The afternoon before the day you plan to serve your bread, proof your yeast by whisking it and the honey into 2½ cups lukewarm water in a large bowl. Let it sit for a few minutes to make sure the yeast is active. (It should get foamy. If it doesn’t, start over with new yeast.) Add flour and salt and mix with a spatula to make a shaggy dough. Pull the dough from the bowl and on a floured surface with floured hands, briefly, lightly knead, not too much, just until all the flour is mostly combined. Form into a rough ball. Scrape out the bowl and then add ¼ cup of olive oil. Roll the ball lightly in the oil in the bowl and then cover it and refrigerate overnight. You can leave it as little as 4 hours or as long as 24 hours. It should at least double in size.

At least 2½ hours before you plan to eat, pour 2 tablespoons of oil on a rimmed 12×16-inch baking sheet and spread it to the edges with a spatula so it’s well distributed. Make a dough ball with forks. Facing the bowl, use 2 forks to hook and fold the edge farthest from you toward the center of the bowl. Turn the bowl a quarter turn, and repeat 3 more times, deflating the dough while forming a ball. Dump the ball onto the oiled sheet pan, and drizzle the extra oil on top. Use oiled fingers to gently stretch it into a rectangle shape. Allow it to rise for at least 90 minutes in a warm place, until the stretched dough mostly fills the pan.

About 45 minutes before you plan to eat, preheat your oven to 450° F. Make 6–8 golfball-sized balls of aluminum foil. Pour another tablespoon of oil over the dough and use your fingers to press lots of dimples into the dough, at the same time lightly stretching it toward the edges of the pan. Take your foil balls, dip 1 side in oil, and press them oil side down in equidistant spots on the rectangle of dough to make craters to hold your eggs. Sprinkle the focaccia with ½ teaspoon of sea salt. Put the pan in the oven and set your timer for 15 minutes.

While the dough bakes, brown your sausage crumbles. When the timer goes off, pull out the bread, remove the foil balls, and very carefully crack an egg into each crater. (If the crater doesn’t look deep enough, you can hollow it a little more with a spoon.) Sprinkle on sausage and cheese. Return to the oven for 10 more minutes. It should be golden, the cheese should be melted and browned, and the eggs should be done. Sprinkle with herbs before serving.

This recipe originally appeared in Edible Alaska. Subscribe!

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This particular version is inspired by apple crisp with dried apples and cranberries, but please, once you get the hang of it, riff hard. Follow the basic proportions, but customize a granola that fits all your tastes and mood.

This recipe is also sort of fun because you can get all the ingredients at Costco and you technically only need one measuring cup. Measure the oats, then pepitas and seeds — or whatever nuts or seeds you’re working with — then fill the empty cup halfway with syrup and halfway with oil. And done! With a single cup to wash.

Remember: you can sub in two cups of just about any combination of raw seeds and nuts that you fancy. You might try slivered almonds, or pecans or walnuts with the dried apple recipe. You could do a combination of those and some sunflower seeds or pepitas, aka pumpkin seeds. And, once you’re experimenting, you can also use two cups of any kind of dried fruit and change the flavor profile by switching up the spices. About a tablespoon and a half of spice is usually sufficient.

You might try, for example, dried apricots and sour cherries with pistachios and cardamom. Or go dried pineapple, banana chips and shredded coconut! My family loves dried blueberries and golden raisins with lots of allspice. So long as all your ingredients are fresh — smell those bulk section nuts and seeds to make sure they aren’t stale! — you can’t really go wrong. This granola also makes a great gift.

Spiced apple crisp granola

Makes 16 ½ cup servings

Ingredients:

4 cups of rolled oats

½ cup olive oil

½ cup maple syrup

1 cup pepitas

1 cup sunflower seeds (can sub slivered almonds or other nuts)

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon allspice

½ teaspoon cloves

1 teaspoon vanilla

½ teaspoon sea salt

1 cup finely chopped dried apples (sweetened preferred)

1 cup dried cranberries

Method: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Combine oats, oil, syrup, pepitas, seeds, spices, vanilla and salt and mix well. Cover a very large 16- by 22-inch sheet pan, or two smaller sheet pans with parchment. Spread the granola on the pan(s) in a very thin layer. Bake for 15 minutes. Stir. Bake for another 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 20 minutes. Stir on the pan to break up any large pieces. Add dried apples and cranberries. When completely cooled, pour into a container with a good seal. Store in a cool dry place for up to one week.

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You could make a version of this oatmeal by sprinkling in ground cardamon, cinnamon, even ground ginger for that matter. My version calls for whole spices that I use when making chai and steeps the oats the way I steep my tea. The flavor is mellower and more tea-like than if you were to use ground spices.

I used 7-minute steel-cut oats from Bob’s Red Mill, which are available in quantity at Costco (where, incidentally, I got a decent deal on dried cherries and pepitas). You could use regular steel cut oats, just follow the package directions to adjust the ratio of milk to dry oats. You could also make this recipe with regular steel cut oats in a slow-cooker overnight on low. In that case, I would increase the liquid by at least a half-cup. They come out much silkier with the overnight method. (You kind of can’t beat waking up to warm breakfast in a good-smelling kitchen.) Boost the protein by adding your favorite nuts instead of the seeds or a scoop of tahini. Throw in other spices like clove, black pepper or star anise. I like to serve mine with plain Greek yogurt and a sprinkle of cinnamon. I don’t sweeten, because the milk has enough sugar for me, but you can also drizzle in some maple syrup.

My favorite hack: If you aren’t eating all the oatmeal immediately, you can scoop it while it’s hot into a small loaf pan or other small container. Then you can keep it, covered, in the refrigerator for several days where it will become very firm. Slice portions and heat to serve. Makes a great quick breakfast.

Chai-spiced steel-cut power oats

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 cup 7-minute steel cut oats (I used Bob’s Red Mill)

2 cups whole milk or non-dairy milk of your choice

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon allspice

6 cardamon pods

2 cinnamon sticks

2 silver-dollar-sized coins of fresh ginger

1 tablespoon maple syrup (optional)

1/2 cup dried cherries

1/2 cup yellow raisins

1/2 to 3/4 cup pepitas, sunflower seeds or nuts of your choice

Method:

Over medium-low heat, mix all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir constantly while it simmers for 7 minutes until thickened. Remove the ginger and cinnamon sticks. Serve with Greek yogurt and a splash of syrup.

This recipe was originally published in the Anchorage Daily News.

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According to Kenji Kusano, one of Anchorage’s most seasoned sushi chefs, and his wife, Sandy, who was raised in Hawaii, the hardest part of making musubi is getting the rice right. They insist on rinsing it well and soaking it before cooking it in a rice cooker. Stove-top cooking is hard, but Kenji gave instructions (below) for that as well. According to Sandy, the traditional method of making musubi is to use unflavored rice and fry the Spam. She buys her musubi forms in Hawaii and says Walmart has the best, cheapest rice and nori.

A very useful tip from Hula Hands, a Hawaiian restaurant that has been selling musubi in Anchorage for 18 years, was to pay close attention to temperature, keeping the rice and Spam as warm as possible and immediately wrapping it in Saran to keep the moisture in and soften the seaweed.

Kenji made me a very delicious musubi version of a ham and cheese sandwich, with lettuce and a tempura-battered pocket full of American cheese. That led me to experiment with sandwich fixings. My favorite was a musubi version of a breakfast sandwich that references a drive-thru Egg McMuffin in all its melty American-cheese glory. It’s not health food, but it’s pretty damn delicious.

Basic Spam musubi

(Makes roughly 10 pieces)

3 cups (dry) Calrose rice, rinsed well, and soaked at least an hour before cooking in a rice cooker, using package directions. (Stove-top isn’t preferred, but see instructions below for cooking in a pot.)

One package hand-roll-sized nori seaweed sheets. These are available at some Asian groceries and on Amazon. Regular will also work, but have to be cut to size with sharp scissors.

One can reduced-sodium Spam.

Optional: Teriyaki sauce, Furikake rice seasoning (available at Asian markets).

Materials: One musubi form (available at Asian groceries and on Amazon for about $7). You can also used a rinsed Spam can, cut with a can opener on the bottom edge, but watch those sharp edges.

Cook rice and keep warm in rice cooker. (If you desire, add Furikake seasoning to the rice to taste and mix well. This is how they do it at Chevron.) Thinly slice Spam into roughly 10 pieces and cook in a frying pan (no oil necessary) over medium heat until golden brown on both sides. Wet the musubi form and set it on a damp plate. Fill the form a little less than halfway with rice. Layer a slice of fried Spam, and, if desired, a splash of teriyaki sauce. Fill the form the rest of the way with rice. Press gently with the plunger to compact. While pressing plunger with one hand, slide the form up with the other to free the musubi. Carefully peel the plunger from the top layer of rice (a sharp knife can help if it sticks, remember to keep it wet.) Roll tightly in a slice of nori and wrap that tightly in Saran right away. It’s best warm. When ready to serve, slice in half with a serrated knife. Keeps, well wrapped, for a day or so at room temp.

McMuffin Musubi 

You’ll need all the ingredients above, as well as:

Five sheets of America cheese singles

Three eggs

Optional: Gochujang, Frank’s hot sauce, Tabasco or Sriracha

Beat three eggs well. Coat a small frying pan with a generous layer of olive oil and heat over medium-low heat. Pour the eggs in to form a thin layer. Cook for about 5 minutes, until just set. Turn off heat and allow to cool and firm up in pan, on the stove for 3 to 5 more minutes. Remove from pan in one piece with a spatula and set on a cutting board. Using the plunger of the musubi form as a guide, use kitchen shears or a sharp knife to cut into rectangles. Cut American cheese singles in half.

Follow instructions for making musubi above, but add a layer of American cheese, egg and a squirt of hot sauce. Warm Spam and rice will melt the cheese. Serve immediately.

Kenji Kusano’s stove-top musubi rice 

Rinse 3 cups Japanese short grain rice: Put it in a bowl, cover with water, stir in a circular motion, replace the water 4 or 5 times, until it’s clear. Once it’s rinsed, leave it to soak in a bowl for 45 minutes. Drain it. Place it in a pot with 3 cups of water over medium heat. Once it boils, turn it down to low. Set the timer for 15 minutes. When the timer goes off, the water should be mostly absorbed. Turn the heat to high for up to 30 seconds, until you can hear the rice crackle on the bottom of the pan. Cut off the heat, leave it be on the stove, covered (this is essential), for 15 minutes. DO NOT OPEN THE LID.

Musubi step-by-step:

Step 1: Dampen plate, musubi mold and plunger. Fill the mold a little less than halfway with warm rice.

Step 2: Place a piece of warm fried Spam in the mold.

Step 3: Fill the musubi mold to the top with rice.

Step 4: Press the plunger firmly to compress the musubi.

Step 5: Roll the musubi in nori seaweed. (If you can’t find hand-roll size seaweed, cut it to the width of the mold with sharp scissors.) Immediately wrap in Saran to soften the seaweed.

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