Pipikaula ("beef rope") is a
Hawaiian cuisine
The cuisine of Hawaii incorporates five distinct styles of food, reflecting the diverse food history of settlement and immigration in the Hawaiian Islands.
In the pre-contact period of Ancient Hawaii (300 AD-1778), Polynesian voyagers brough ...
dish of salted and dried beef similar to
beef jerky
Jerky is lean trimmed meat cut into strips and dried (dehydrated) to prevent spoilage. Normally, this drying includes the addition of salt to prevent bacteria growth before the meat has finished the dehydrating process. The word "jerky" derive ...
.
Pipikaula was eaten by Hawaiian
cowboys (
paniolo
A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the '' vaquer ...
s). It was usually
broiled before serving.
History
In the 19th century John Parker brought Mexican cowboys to train the Hawaiians in
cattle ranching. The Hawaiian cowboys of
Kamuela
Waimea is a census-designated place (CDP) in Hawaii County, Hawaii, United States. The population was 7,028 at the 2000 census and 9,212 at the 2010 census. Since each U.S. state cannot have more than one post office of the same name, and t ...
and
Kula came to be called ''
paniolo
A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the '' vaquer ...
s''. Cattle ranching grew rapidly for the next one hundred years. In 1960, half of the land in Hawaii was devoted to ranching for beef export, but by 1990 the number had shrunk to 25 percent.
The ''paniolos'' chewed ''pipikaula''.
With the influence of Asian cooking, beef strips are commonly marinated in
soy sauce.
When beef is dried in the sun, a screened box is traditionally used to keep the meat from dust and flies. Dried meat could often be found as a relish or appetizer at a ''lū‘au''.
References
{{reflist
Hawaiian cuisine
Beef dishes