Poke (fish salad)

Ahi tuna poke made with Shoyu soy sauce, sea salt, green onions, maui onions and Limu seaweed.

Poke with ahi poke (yellow-fin tuna poke) made with green onions, chili peppers, sea salt, soy sauce, sesame oil, roasted kukui nut (candlenut), and limukohu seaweed, shown here served on a bed of red cabbage

Spicy tuna poke made with sriracha and mayonnaise sauce covered in flying fish roe.

Poke /poʊˈkeɪ/ is a raw fish salad served as an appetizer in Hawaiian cuisine. Pokē is the Hawaiian verb for "section" or "to slice or cut". Ahi poke is generally made with yellowfin tuna but in modern poke recipes raw salmon, smoked octopus, to various shell fish and generally any bite size appetizer seasoned with the common "poke" seasonings can be considered Poke.

Ingredients

Modern poke can be found with a myriad amount of different ingredients and combinations. Aside from the common basic ingredients such as soy sauce and sea salt poke can be seasoned with ingredients such as, inamona (roasted crushed candlenut), sesame oil, limu seaweed, and chopped chili pepper, fish eggs, wasabi, green onions, Maui onions, sriracha, mayonnaise. Other variations of poke may include cured heʻe (octopus), other types of raw tuna, raw salmon and various kinds of shell fish.

The selection of condiments has been heavily influenced by Japanese and other Asian cuisines.

Octopus poke with Kim chi, sesame seed oil, crushed chili and sea salt.

Boiled shrimp seasoned with sesame seed oil, sea salt, onions, chili, and cucumbers.

Poke

He'e (octopus) poke with tomatoes, green onion, maui onion, soy sauce, sesame oil, sea salt, and chili pepper
Origin
Place of origin	United States
Region or state	Hawaii
Details
Course served	Appetizer
Type	Salad
Main ingredient(s)	Yellowfin tuna, sea salt, soy sauce, inamona, sesame oil, limu seaweed, chili pepper

History

The traditional Hawaiian poke consists of meat that has been gutted, skinned, and deboned. It is sliced across the backbone as fillet, then served with traditional condiments such as sea salt, candlenut, seaweed, and limu. Some Hawaiians would suck the flesh off the bones and spit out the skin and bones. During the 19th century, recently introduced foreign vegetables such as tomatoes and onions were included, and now Maui onions are a very common ingredient.

According to the food historian Rachel Laudan, the present form of poke became popular around the 1970s. It used skinned, deboned, and filleted raw fish served with wasabi and soy sauce. This form of poke is still common in the Hawaiian islands.

Use in other foods

Ko Olina’s Pizza Corner restaurant in Kapolei, Hawaii developed a pizza called "Original Hawaiian Poke Pizza", which uses poke on pizza.

Similar dishes

Raw fish dishes similar to poke, often served in Europe, are fish carpaccio and fish tartare. See also Hoedeopbap, a Korean cuisine, marinated raw tuna served over rice. Japanese sashimi also consist of raw fish or other animals.

See also

• Cuisine of Hawaii
• Ceviche
• Crudo
• Tataki
• Yusheng
• Sam Choy
• Hoe
• List of raw fish dishes
• List of hors d'oeuvre

References

• Laudan, Rachel. The Food of Fish, University of Hawai'i Press, 1996
• Titcomb, Margaret. The Native Use of Fish in America'i, University of Hawai'i Press, 1972

External links

• History of the poke contest