I was sitting next to Butch Galdeira, CEO of Diamond Bakery, eating a tuna salad on a soda cracker with pickled onions and Tabasco. This humble yet awesome pupu was the creation of a dear friend, Greg Gomes, and is so popular it has survived the test of time. I even used to serve it at the restaurant when he came in, usually part of a large group having his special GG menu. It’s still on the menu at Waialae and often ordered by our Thirsty Thursday golf group, which GG was helped create.
I asked Butch, “Eh, this cracker is related to the hard tack yeah?”
He replied, “Yes it is,” then began a conversation on the subject.
At its simplest, hard tack is a cracker or biscuit made with flour, water and salt, and baked until dry. It was inexpensive to make and lasted a long time. It was used for sustenance in the absence of perishable food during long voyages. They called it the sailors biscuit. These voyages interest me because that’s how food items like salted meat, cod, salmon and chile peppers made their way to Hawaii.
That’s how we got dishes like lomi salmon, chile pepper water and bacalao salad as part of our culinary history. Not only did the immigrants bring food with them when they came here, but so did the visitors who touched upon our islands.
Besides putting a tuna salad on this cracker, I’ve seen kamaboko salad on top, ham and American cheese, chicken salad, and even corned beef salad.
I think putting something simple on the cracker elevated it to “canapé” status for entertaining. I know the cracker found many a bowl of clam chowder to crumble into, or for that matter any kind of soup, stew, or chili.
The cracker can also be used as a thickener or binder. Stale bread was used to thicken a pot of chopped tomatoes and garlic in broth. This is an old Italian peasant dish called ribolitta. This was both eating for survival in a poor time as well as not throwing food away.
Crackers can do the same thing. I like to crumble crackers into a crab cake mix instead of breadcrumbs or panko. It gives its own flavor while absorbing moisture. Some people put it into meatloaf. Huancaina sauce from Peru uses crackers to thicken condensed milk, chilies and herbs for a potato dish. Crackers have touched places all over the world because that was a big part of the voyagers’ survival and they brought it with them wherever they went.
Diamond Bakery started in 1921 and has been in business for more than 102 years. It was started by three Japanese immigrants, Hidegoro Murai, Kikutaro Hiruya and Natsu Marumoto.
Today, the bakery produces more than just these crackers. I recently went on TV to make the GG tuna crackers. I was so happy to make them and reminisce about Gomes. It brought back many great memories, as well as supporting Diamond Bakery for being a part of our culinary history in more ways than one.
Chef and restaurateur Alan Wong has wowed diners around the world for decades, and is known as one of the founders of Hawaii Regional Cuisine. Find his column in Crave every first Wednesday. Currently, Wong is dba Alan Wong’s Consulting Co.
