Huli Huli Sauce

1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
1 cup pineapple juice
2 tbls packed brown sugar
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp ginger, minced (I used candied, as that's what I had)
1/2 tbl rice vinegar

Mix everything together in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer and let reduce until it's thick, about 20-30 minutes.

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"Huli!" the cooks holler (apparently), just before turning the ten foot long rigs laden with dozens of glazed chicken. The customers stand in the tropical sun, waiting for their sticky, sweet and garlicky lunch, smelling the woodsmoke and flower scented breeze. Or so I'm told.

See, I've never been to Hawaii. And between not being into beaches, fruity drinks, lava, giant bugs or tropical heat I've never been too interested in going. But now that I know there's a unique barbecue there to put in the "pro" column along with dancing girls I might just be into giving it a visit. Heh.

Huli huli is like a cross between barbecue and teriyaki sauce. I had never had it, but I read about it a while ago and was intrigued so decided to make some. I did a little research and it turns out there are tons of different ways to make it ranging from what looks like completely savory to sickly sweet. From what I've gathered it's traditionally put on chicken and huli huli apparently means "turn turn", "end over end" or something to that effect in reference to how it's cooked. So after being a schoolboy for a while I mixed and matched what I found and made this.

I don't usually do ingredient shots, but since there's only really one step to this I thought I would. You know, to pad out the post a bit.

Because all you do is take that stuff, put it in a pan and simmer it until it's thick. Then you use it like a sauce. What am I going to do with it? Well, you'll just have to wait and see, now won't you. Because I'm a mean man like that. Heh.

I liked it, although I can't vouch for it's authenticity. Who out there has had real huli huli sauce? If you have, what did you think of it?