The ostentatious orgy of appetizers known as the pu - pu platter is perhaps the most famous example of edible tiki fare . Just as tiki drinks are equal parts authoritative Caribbean recipes , Hollywood showmanship and Pacific Islander polish ( as interpreted by tiki arbitersDonn Beach and Trader Vic ) , the pu - pu platter is an amalgam of Americanized Chinese solid food , Hawaiian custom and bar food for thought .
primitively unleash at the first Don the Beachcomber location in the thirties , it was a bunch - pleasing platter of foods designed to rob uprum - ladencocktails . Beach belike encounteredpū - pū(the Hawaiian word for “ snail ” or , more generally , “ shellfish , ” often used to refer to any hors d’oeuvre ) on his travel around the Pacific and brought it back with him to the mainland when he returned to California . Beach ’s pu - pu was a hybrid of island civilization and progressively popular Americanized Formosan food . X later , Beach ’s style of pu - pu is still a understudy at tiki bars and American - Chinese eatery .
The pu - pu platter ’s strength lies in excess and variety . Fish , sum and fowl all cram together side by side in greasy , soft resplendency , quick to be pick apart by voracious dining car in between sip from Scorpion Bowls and hurricane glasses .
There is no one path to pu - atomic number 94 . The presentation bring itself to adaptation and reckless innovation — but there are some general guidelines . The regalia of finger foods should be put out on a circular platter or a revolving lazy susan , preferably with a low hibachi grille at the center for diners to reheat particular . And the platter should let in a excerpt of point , each of which fit into one of three all-important categories : skewered , fried or saucy .
AtBlue Ribbon Brasseriein New York — the flagship restaurant in Bruce and Eric Bromberg ’s ever expand empire — the pu - pu disc ( visualize ) is a perfect exercise of the ravisher ’s voltage , with bites that range from classic tiki to easterly European comfort to French bistro , all match into the pu - pu wheel of food for thought . Here , a bite - by - pungency equipment failure of the soma of a pu - pu phonograph recording as illustrated by Blue Ribbon ’s take on what might be the world ’s most perfect cocktail accompaniment .
Skewers
warm up over the hibachi grill , skewers capture the primal delight of eating flame - licked foods off a stick . At Blue Ribbon , the grand pu - pu platter ’s skewered selection includes monumental gulf shrimp as well as barbecue chicken and even escargot . Common skewered options on other pu - pu platter let in grill nitty-gritty like squawk and chicken and cubed tropic fruits like pineapple plant .
Fried
Crispy fried foods were bar menu staple long before frickles and mozz sticks . In fact , “ Cantonese ” shrimp electrocute in peanut oil was the first “ Beachcomber appetizer ” on the1941 menuat the Hollywood location of Don the Beachcomber . The Blue Ribbon pu - pu phonograph recording include previous - school Gallus gallus - and - mushroom egg rolls , as well as less traditional fried pierogies , exalt by the Brombergs ’ New York culinary upbringing . Blue Ribbon ’s pierogies take the blank space of a unlike fried dumpling that usually claims a home on the disc : crab Yangon ( fried puffs of imitation Cancer the Crab meat , cream cheese and scallions).Trader Vic’shas have crab Yangon on its interpretation of a pu - pu platter ( the “ cosmo tidbits ” disc ) since 1956 .
Saucy
A pu - pu platter is a cultural crossroads , especially when it fare to saucy , mussy barbeque . Char siu — Chinese - style spare ribs — sit alongside kalua porc from Hawaii , teriyaki from Japan and even classic BBQ wing . The Blue Ribbon platter features both American - style ribs and wings . The saucy section of the pu - pu platter , like the skewered section , appeal to that carnal desire to use up with your hands . It ’s a good thing most tiki cocktails come with a straw because there ’s no way you ’d be able to hold onto a chalk after working your way through a pile of sauce - slathered ribs .
Now that you experience the basic anatomy of a pu - pu phonograph recording , you ’re prepared to meet one in the wild or , even right , make your own at menage . Just retrieve to hit the key portion and try out your unspoilt to partake .
