Rumaki is an old recipe from the mid 1900's when polynesian Pacific Island food was becoming popular in America. Many food historians credit Victor Bergeron for creating both the Mai Tai cocktail and rumaki. Victor Bergeron started a polynesian theme bar and restaurant in Oakland California that he later named Trader Vic's. Victor Bergeron was better known as Trader Vic! Trader Vic opened his polynesian theme bars and grills all over California and Hawaii. The chain of Trader Vic's restaurants became a success story. How and when rumaki came to be is still kind of a mystery, but most agree that rumaki was created in the 1940's. Whether Trader Vic really created rumaki and the Mai Tai is sometimes in question, but Trader Vic certainly helped rumaki to become one of the most popular hors d'oeuvres from the 1940's through the 1970's. Rumaki is still served occasionally at country clubs and yacht clubs that feature menus of good old days style food. Rumaki is still occasionally a hand passed hors d'oeuvre at cocktail parties. A person can go all year without thinking of rumaki, then on New Years Eve rumaki comes to mind. Rumaki has become one of the great traditional New Years hors d'oeuvres! There are a few cooking methods to chose from when making rumaki. Second rate cooks tend to just deep fry the skewered rumaki, till the bacon becomes crisp, then the brown sugar teriyaki sauce is poured over the rumaki before baking. That cooking method is not the best, because bacon can become very chewy when it is deep fried. Baking rumaki till the bacon becomes crisp and then saturating the rumaki with sauce and then holding the rumaki in a warming oven produces limp soggy rumaki that are dark brown in color. I am sure that many readers of this blog have had nightmarish experiences with poorly made rumaki at cocktail parties in the past. Having to try the host's awful looking appetizers and rumaki just to be socially polite is really never a good experience. That dreaded thought process of "I have to be socially polite and eat this rumaki, even though it does not look too hot and I will probably get sick in the next hour!" has gone through the mind of many New Years Eve cocktail party goers every year since the 1940's. Amateur home cooks who are party hosts do tend to let hors d'oeuvres sit out at room temperature for far too long, especially after having a few drinks. Greenish brown colored chicken liver that has been sitting at room temperature for hours is definitely a ticket for the train ride called the "Rancid Express!" Rumaki gained a reputation of "eat at your own risk" over the years. Cocktail party hosts and chefs that cooked rumaki went as far as to leave chicken livers out of the recipe. Rumaki without chicken liver is not rumaki! To avoid the risk of pathogen contamination and spoilage of hot hand passed rumaki at cocktail parties, it is best to follow Servsafe food handling rules. The minimum temperature for cooking chicken is an internal temperature of 165 degrees. The minimum holding temperature for hot food is 135 degrees. The minimum reheat temperature is 165 degrees. The maximum time limit for ready to eat food to be served is less than 4 hours. All food that has been sitting at room temperature for 4 hours must be discarded. If you follow the rules, then bad food experiences can be avoided at cocktail parties. I have made tens of thousands of rumaki while working at yacht clubs. So far, the cooking method that I use to make rumaki produces the best tasting, freshest looking rumaki that still has reasonably crisp bacon. The cooking method is easy and it makes use of common sense. A wire roasting rack in a roasting pan is all that is needed!
Rumaki: One bite size piece of chicken liver, one water chestnut wedge and one half of a bacon strip is needed for each rumaki. Make as many as you wish to make! The sauce is easy to make and the recipe can be adjusted for any amount of rumaki. Cut strips of smoked bacon in half. Cut small bite size wedges of water chestnut. (Boiled fresh water chestnuts or canned whole water chestnuts are best for this recipe. Cut bite size pieces of chicken liver. Lay half of a smoked bacon strip on a cutting board. Place a bite size chicken liver piece on the bacon. Place a small water chestnut wedge on the chicken liver. Wrap the bacon tightly around the chicken liver and water chestnut. Pierce and skewer all three ingredients with a plain toothpick, so the rumaki does not unravel. Place each rumaki on a wire screen roasting rack on a roasting pan. Bake the rumaki in a 325 degree oven, till the bacon becomes crisp and the chicken liver becomes fully cooked. The sauce can be made while the rumaki bake!
Teriyaki Sauce for Rumaki: This recipe makes enough sauce for 10 rumaki! Heat a small sauce pot over medium/medium low heat. Add 1/3 cup of water. Add 2 ounces of thin soy sauce. Add 4 tablespoons of brown sugar. Simmer and reduce the sauce, till it becomes a very thin glaze basting sauce consistency. The sauce should be very thin and not thick like a syrup or Japanese teriyaki sauce. Remove the sauce from the heat and set it aside. Finishing the Rumaki: After the bacon on the rumaki becomes crisp, remove the rumaki from the oven. Brush the rumaki with the basting sauce twice. Reheat the rumaki in a 300 degree oven. Baste the rumaki with the sauce one more time before serving. Use tongs to place the rumaki on a serving platter.
Viola! Rumaki that is not soggy or saturated with sauce. I have made rumaki like this at big cocktail party events and the guests like rumaki cooked this way. Rumaki like this disappears rather quickly, so make plenty! Comments from guests like "I usually avoid rumaki, but this rumaki is very good!" can be heard. That is what is called rumaki success! Yum! ... Shawna
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