This is more than you want to know about huli huli chicken.
My favorite chicken in the entire world is huli huli chicken; often pronounced as hui hui chicken in Hawaii. It is very simple to make but too many people put way more spices and junk on it and destroy the taste of real hui hui chicken. Cook books and internet recipes provide a long list of ingredients such as brown sugar, pineapple juice, soy sauce, mustard, etc., etc. Some recipes call for soaking chicken in a marinade overnight.
That is all good and I have no problems with those recipes. But in my mind’s eye, that chicken is not hui hui. True hui hui chicken must be flipped over in wire racks or prepared on a rotisserie over coals, and not baked in an 8x12 glass dish in an oven. I can not comment on the "true" nature of the marinades, rubs, or spices, but I believe they should be kept to a minimum to bring out the essence of the juice distribution from the flipping or rotisserie effect.
Real hui hui chicken is very simple. We lived in Honolulu for many years and often drove on Nimitz Highway to Waikiki on Saturday mornings. As we drove on Nimitz, we always passed a huge hui hui chicken operation. We could see the smoke and smell the BBQ chicken blocks away. From Nimitz, we could see people mopping the chickens with sauce and turning the chickens which were sandwiched between wire mesh resting on top of, as I recall, long cinder block fire pits.
We learned later they mopped a certain teriyaki sauce on the chickens. That place perhaps gets credit for being the original huli huli operation. However, hui hui chicken has been prepared by other Hawaiians somewhat differently. On Kauai, the best [my opinion] hui hui chicken is prepared using a certain Hawaiian wood to BBQ with. I do not recall the type of Hawaiian wood, nor can I find mention of it on the internet. But it is uniquely hui hui because it is fixed the traditional way of flipping the chicken in wire mesh over hot coals. Some folks use rotisseries. I doubt this technique is unique to Hawaii … but the special Kauai wood certainly is.
On my KK32, I prefer spit roasting chicken on a rotisserie with just light salt and pepper. Even without the special BBQ wood, this chicken is absolutely the best! It is amazingly moist and tender. The key thing is when the birds turn on the rotisserie, they baste in their own juices ... and some of the juices drip on the coals. Those drippings cause some smoke which also helps add taste to the chicken. Al la hui hui rotisserie chicken.
I am bragging in this video! Not only am I rotisserie roasting at 350*, I am showing off my Jackery solar generator which I use to power the rotisserie motor since I do not have electricity to my lanai area. Of course, I am enjoying Peter White doing “Groovin.” Listened to tunes on Spotify for about two hours as the rotisserie chicken roasted.
Sorry to get carried away with the huli huli chicken stuff. But what comes first - - the chicken or the egg ... KK!
djami in northern Virginia
HuiHui chicken October2022.MOV