Ernest Frank Morgado (1917 – November 5, 2002) was a

Portuguese-American Portuguese Americans ( pt, português-americanos), also known as Luso-Americans (''luso-americanos''), are citizens and residents of the United States who are connected to the country of Portugal by birth, ancestry, or citizenship. Americans and ...

businessman and community leader known for creating

huli-huli chicken Huli-huli chicken is a grilled chicken dish in Hawaiian cuisine, prepared by barbecuing a chicken over mesquite wood, and basting it with a sweet huli-huli sauce. History In 1954, Ernest Morgado, a naval intelligence officer during World War I ...

Early life

Ernest Frank Morgado was born in 1917 in

Hilo, Hawaii Hilo () is a census-designated place (CDP) and the largest settlement in Hawaii County, Hawaii, United States, which encompasses the Island of Hawaii. The population was 44,186 according to the 2020 census. It is the fourth-largest settlement i ...

, a second-generation

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

American with ancestry in the

Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...

. He graduated from

Saint Louis School Saint Louis School, located in the neighborhood of Kaimuki in Honolulu, Hawaii, is a historic Roman Catholic college preparatory school for boys. It was founded in 1846 to serve Catholics in the former Kingdom of Hawaii. Located within the Roman ...

Kaimuki, Hawaii Kaimukī is a residential neighborhood in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. History In the 19th century the area was a farm of King Kalākaua, where ostriches roamed wild over the mountain side. It later became the site of a carnation farm for f ...

, and served as a

chief petty officer A chief petty officer (CPO) is a senior non-commissioned officer in many navies and coast guards. Canada "Chief petty officer" refers to two ranks in the Royal Canadian Navy. A chief petty officer 2nd class (CPO2) (''premier maître de deuxi� ...

in naval intelligence during World War II.

Career

After the war, Morgado built the first mechanized

feed manufacturing Feed manufacturing refers to the process of producing animal feed from raw agricultural products. Fodder produced by manufacturing is formulated to meet specific animal nutrition requirements for different species of animals at different life stag ...

facility in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. As president of Hawaii Grain Corp. in the 1960s, Morgado oversaw the development of the first

grain elevator A grain elevator is a facility designed to stockpile or store grain. In the grain trade, the term "grain elevator" also describes a tower containing a bucket elevator or a pneumatic conveyor, which scoops up grain from a lower level and deposits ...

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

. From 1974 to 1981, he served on the Hawaii Board of Agriculture. Morgado co-founded the Portuguese Chamber of Commerce in 1977 with city councilman John Henry Felix. He entered the ''

Guinness Book of World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

'' for the largest chicken barbecue, cooking 46,386 halves at a fundraiser for

ʻIolani School Iolani School, located at 563 Kamoku Street in Honolulu, Hawaii, is a private coeducational college preparatory school serving over 2,020 students with a boarding program for grades 9 - 12 as well as a summer boarding program for middle school gra ...

in 1981.

Huli-huli chicken

With chicken farmer Mike Asagi, Morgado founded the Pacific Poultry Company in 1954. They served barbecued chicken – marinated in a

teriyaki ''Teriyaki'' (kanji: 照り焼き) is a cooking technique used in Japanese cuisine in which foods are broiled or grilled with a glaze of soy sauce, mirin, and sugar. Fish – yellowtail, marlin, skipjack tuna, salmon, trout, and ...

-like sauce, his mother's recipe – at farm bureau meetings starting in 1955. His chicken recipe became popular, and he began selling it at private functions and fundraisers, and later in Europe, Japan, and the contiguous United States. The chicken was cooked between two grills, and when one half was done, someone would shout " huli", the Hawaiian word for ''turn''. Morgado registered the trademark " huli-huli" with the

Territory of Hawaii The Territory of Hawaii or Hawaii Territory ( Hawaiian: ''Panalāʻau o Hawaiʻi'') was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from April 30, 1900, until August 21, 1959, when most of its territory, excluding ...

in 1958 and the federal government in 1965. He first sold it bottled in stores in 1986, and though he never published a recipe, many people have come up with their own, inspired by the original sauce.

Personal life

The Honolulu Portuguese Chamber of Commerce awarded the "Council's Cup" to Morgado in 1981. For many years, he was a member of the Outrigger Canoe Club in Honolulu. Until his death at age 85, on November 5, 2002, Morgado served as honorary

vice consul A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...

to Portugal. He was proud of his Portuguese heritage and recounted the history of the Portuguese in Hawaii when he traveled to mainland Portugal, the Azores, and

Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...

. He was married to Norma Fay for 54 years, and had three children, Jaren, Brent, and Kathleen, as well as eight grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morgado, Ernest 1917 births 2002 deaths Hawaii people of Portuguese descent Businesspeople from Hawaii Chefs from Hawaii 20th-century American naval officers People from Hilo, Hawaii 20th-century American businesspeople