Sheldon Simeon’s new cookbook, “Cook Real Hawai‘i,” proves many things about the Maui chef — he’s got storytelling panache, recipe chops and star power.

His publicist lists the magazines that have or will be featuring him: Food & Wine, Bon Appetit, Fine Cooking, Sunset, People, Men’s Health … not to mention the online publications Robb Report, The K itchn and Eater, and ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

“It’s great to be able to share Hawaii,” Simeon said during a 30-minute phone conversation, just a blip in a day overflowing with press calls. “Even if it’s just a can of sardines.”

The 100-plus recipes comprise “Cook Real,” released Tuesday by Clarkson Potter, a national publishing house prominent in the cookbook field. They are humble with a touch of haute, reflecting his family, his Filipino roots, his life. They do include a sardine pupu, as well as a boatload of stews, stir-fries, fried foods and quick meals that bear that hard-to-define culinary tag: “local food.” As he writes in the book, “they’re foods that represent my culture and family, foods of great celebration and bounty, of poverty and humility.”

Chapters cover cooking styles — “Heavy Pupus,” “Hibachi Styling,” “Fry Action,” for example, and “Sim Simmer,” a chapter dedicated to the slow, low cooking favored by his father, Reinior Simeon. In this chapter you’ll find recipes for mahimahi luau, pork belly adobo and pig’s feet soup, Okinawan-style — “the ones where a surplus of time is a crucial ingredient.”

Simeon grew up in Hilo (class of 2000, Hilo High) amid an extended family of great cooks, his parents’ home a weekend gathering place for food and drink. He started cooking with his dad “right out the womb,” he said. “We were taught from an early age that food is everything. Food was a reward and it was discipline — ‘No, you not going eat if you don’t do this …’ The Simeon family, we respect food.”

His cooking career began on Maui, though, and after he opened Star Noodle in Lahaina in 2010, he began to draw national notice, including nominations for a James Beard Foundation Award and for best new chef from Food & Wine. Then Bravo’s “Top Chef” came calling. Twice.

Following a Top 3 finish during his first “Top Chef” season in 2013, Simeon’s prospects really took off. He opened a fine-dining restaurant in Wailea called Migrant, moved on to another, the critically acclaimed Lineage, and in between them opened Tin Roof in Kahului. He’s since left Lineage, but remains on duty daily at Tin Roof, the casual yet celebrated restaurant he and his wife, Janice, launched in 2016 with their life savings.

In fact, it’s easy to account for his time lately, he said. “It’s Tin Roof and this cookbook. And cheerleading.” That would be his daughter’s cheerleading season. He has four kids (ages 7, 9, 11 and 14) and a restaurant that may as well be the fifth, especially with tourism picking up on Maui. “I just worked 17 hours yesterday,” he said. “Last week I worked 100 hours.”

The cookbook project was launched four years ago, taking three years to write. He had big intentions: To correct skewed views of Hawaii he encounters whenever he’s away from home, offering instead a clear picture of the depth, variety and heart of local cooking. He also wanted to put an exclamation point on a critical lesson learned — that the simple dishes of home could and should have a place in the most refined settings. He didn’t have to abandon his soul food to be taken seriously.

The book’s title gave him pause — “that’s real bold” — but he came to realize it represented his true design. “Let’s do that,” he decided. “Let’s put the word ‘real’ in there.”

Simeon realizes that he has a platform to tell the stories of his home. He plans to use it well.

“Early on I was just a kid in the middle of the ocean cooking noodles and trying to get noticed by the outside world,” he writes in the book. “Now I understand the responsibility that comes with the attention. Maybe all these opportunities were put in front of me for a larger reason. My grandpa came to Hawaii in the hopes of making a better life for his family, and here I am two generations later, trying to do the same for mine, this time by sharing the Hawaii I know with the world.”

The Simeon family always had a huge stash of canned sardines on hand for nights when dinner had to be quick. “If you were really slick, you could fry the sardines over the fire without taking them out of the can,” the chef recalls. His technique of rinsing sliced onions well in ice water lightens their bite and increases sweetness.

Sardine Pupu

The Simeon family always had a huge stash of canned sardines on hand for nights when dinner had to be quick. “If you were really slick, you could fry the sardines over the fire without taking them out of the can,” the chef recalls. His technique of rinsing sliced onions well in ice water lightens their bite and increases sweetness.

• 2 (3.75-ounce) cans sardines in olive oil (the tomato sauce kind are good, too)
• 1/4 medium sweet onion, thinly sliced into half-moons
• 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• Gochugaru (Korean chile pepper flakes), to taste
• 1 tablespoon shoyu
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup chile pepper water (below)
• Freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 2 teaspoons lemon olive oil (below)

Carefully remove sardines from can, reserving oil.

Place onion in a bowl; cover with ice. Rinse under cold water, stirring, to melt ice. Drain and dry on paper towels.

Heat a skillet over medium-high. Add sardine oil, garlic and gochugaru; saute until garlic is lightly browned and fragrant. Carefully add sardines, shoyu and vinegar, stir to loosen any bits in bottom of skillet. Let liquid evaporate, then transfer sardines to a plate. Top with onion and chile pepper water. Season with pepper and drizzle with lemon oil. Serve immediately. Serves 2 to 4.

Approximate nutritional information, per serving, based on 4 servings: 190 calories, 15 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 115 mg cholesterol, 460 mg sodium, 2 g carbohydrate, 0 g fiber, 0 g sugar, 12 g protein

“Pocho” Steamed Clams With Portuguese Sausage

This recipe is Simeon’s nod to the Hawaii Regional Cuisine movement — the chefs and farmers who first merged the homestyle flavors of the islands with upscale presentations. He says it’s one of his favorite things to eat at home.

• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) salted butter, divided
• 1/2 medium red or green bell pepper, minced
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup minced or crumbled Portuguese sausage
• 2 pounds littleneck or Manila clams
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
• 1 cup sake or dry white wine
• 1/2 lemon

Cilantro sprigs and Thai basil leaves, for garnish

In a large, deep skillet or Dutch oven, melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat. When butter is foamy, add bell pepper, garlic and sausage; saute until garlic is fragrant, 1 minute. Add clams and ginger, then deglaze with sake. Cover and let steam until clams open, 3 or 4 minutes (toss any clams that won’t open).

Squeeze lemon over clams and stir in remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Garnish with cilantro and basil. Serves 2 to 4.

Approximate nutritional information, per serving, based on 4 servings: 360 calories, 23 g fat, 11 g saturated fat, 80 mg cholesterol, 750 mg sodium, 8 g carbohydrate, 0 g fiber, 1 g sugar, 15 g protein

Tailgate-Style Lomi Squid

If he’s lucky, Simeon says, a friend might give him a fresh-caught squid, but otherwise he’ll head to the freezer case at an Asian market.

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• 1/2 medium sweet onion, diced
• 1/2 cup diced tomato
• Garlic salt, to taste
• Freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 2 pounds large whole squid (or squid tubes), cleaned
• 2 tablespoons neutral oil
• Tabasco sauce and/or chile pepper water (below)
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced
• 2 teaspoons lemon olive oil (below)

In a small bowl, combine onion and tomato; season with garlic salt and pepper. Set aside.

Heat a grill to medium-high. Pat squid dry, then coat with oil. Massage a liberal amount of garlic salt into squid for a minute or two until seasoned all over.

Grill squid quickly, turning once, until opaque but tender, 1 to 2 minutes per side (don’t overcook). Cool slightly, then separate head from tentacles; remove quill from inside head, if necessary. Slice head lengthwise and grill interior another 1 to 2 minutes. Slice body into 1/2-by-2-inch pieces and cut tentacles in half.

Serve with tomato-onion salad spooned on top and season with Tabasco or chile pepper water. Top with scallions and lemon olive oil. Serves 2 to 4.

Approximate nutritional information, per serving, based on 4 servings: 300 calories, 12 g fat, 1.5 g saturated fat, 515 mg cholesterol, 125 mg sodium, 10 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 2 g sugar, 35 g protein

Chile pepper water: Combine 1/4 cup white vinegar, 4 cloves crushed garlic and 8 thinly sliced Hawaiian chile peppers in a jar. Dissolve 2 teaspoons sea salt or kosher salt in boiling water and pour into jar. Chill 1 day before using. Adjust salt if needed. Makes 2-1/2 cups.

Lemon olive oil: Combine zest of 4 lemons in 2 cups extra-virgin olive oil in saucepan; simmer over very low heat (don’t even let it bubble) for 15 minutes. Let cool 1 hour, then strain out zest. Oil will keep about 1 month at room temperature. Makes 2 cups.