Getting Creative with SPAM

Who hasn’t heard of Spam, the mysterious mystery meat that has been long the butt of jokes and saviour of busy moms at the same time? It might not be the healthiest of food choices, but this tinned wonder will give you a delicious meal in minutes.

If you’re tired of serving Spam straight out of the can though, and have tried all the different kinds of sandwich spreads to go with your special Spamwiches, here are some equally yummy Spam recipes you can try. And in case you are not that into processed food, just skip the rest of the article and head straight to the end for a homemade vegan SPAM recipe that will surely silence even the harshest of SPAM’s critics.

Spam Salads

Feel like using Spam for a relatively healthy meal? Then throw in the greens and toss it with Spam for a healthy Spam salad. No matter what kind of salad you make, you can almost always substitute Spam for the main protein, making salad preparation much faster and easier. Of course, that would mean choosing the right Spam flavour to complement your salad choice (i.e. Spam Over Roasted Turkey or Spam with Bacon) for slightly more authentic salad feel. It would also be a good idea to use Spam Lite in place of other Spam flavors since it’s the least fat content, which means the choice will be in line with your healthy meal theme.

Here are some Spam salad recipes you might want to try:

• Spam-a-licious Not-So-Caesar Salad
• Light and Easy Green Pea Salad with Spam
• Spam Skillet Potato Salad
• Spam Broccoli Pecan Salad
• Marinated Spam Vegetable Salad
• Lisa’s Ham and Egg Salad

Spam Casseroles and Stew

Casseroles take time to cook, so it would defeat the purpose if you’re looking for super-fast Spam recipes. However, if time is not that big an issue and you want something more filling for dinner, then the following spam casserole recipes just might be right for you.

• Spam Pasta Casserole – This recipe is definitely filling and will give you a complete meal, with the pasta for carbs, Spam for protein, and the celery and tomatoes for veggies.
• German Spam Casserole – Now this recipe is definitely not your usual casserole with ingredients like duck eggs, Limburger cheese, and ,of course, the Spam.
• Creamy Scalloped Potato Bake – If you’re looking for a fat-free heart-friendly casserole, then this is one recipe you shouldn’t even be considering. Loaded with cheese, butter, olive oil, and the creamy alfredo sauce, this is one Spam recipe that you can bet will please your tastebuds.
• Mulligan Stew – This Spam stew recipe is perfect if you want something that is not too rich, but is equally filling.

Spam Sushi and Musubi

This will probably get the purists’ gag reflex going, but Spam lovers will surely love elevating the Spam by using it for more exotic dishes like the sushi and omusubi, also called onigiri.

Sushi, which is made of vinegared rice (shari), and omusubi, which is made with plain or lightly salted rice, are both very flexible in that you can virtually use any kind of filling you wish to go with the rice. This means that whether or not purists agree to the use of Spam, Spam Sushi Maki Rolls can still indeed be technically called a sushi. The same goes for Sushi Musubi, which might not be in-demand in Japan, but is definitely a big hit in Hawaii.

Making Spam Sushi and Musibi is also a great idea if you want to get your kids to try something different without shocking their palates with raw fish. By introducing sushi and omosubi to the kids while using a more familiar ingredient as filler, they will be less likely to reject the food offhand and increase the chances that they will actually want to try out more traditional sushi and other international food in the future.

Homemade Vegan Spam (Soyteena)

If you’re strictly against anything processed or you don’t eat meat, then fear not because we also have a homemade spam recipe for you. Obviously, what you’ll get won’t be real Spam, but apparently the recipe below will produce something pretty similar to SPAM. I’m betting that the vegan SPAM will have more texture to it than the canned variety the rest of us are used to, but since you don’t really eat SPAM anyway, you won’t be able to compare! The photo may also not look that appetizing, but hey, neither does a whole slab of SPAM.

So go ahead and try out this recipe, and maybe you’ll get an idea of why so many people are hooked on SPAM.

Vegan Spam Recipe¹

Ingredients

• 1 cup dried soybeans
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup tomato juice
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 1/3 cup finely chopped celery
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 1/3 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 cup cornmeal

Instructions

Chop the celery and onion

Place the soybean in a blender and pulse several times until they are pulverized to a powder.

Add all other ingredients except the cornmeal.

Blend until smooth

Place in a bowl and stir in cornmeal until completely mixed.

Oil two cans (the size 14.5 ounces of tomatoes come in; normal can size). Put half of the mixture into each.

Cover each can with foil and secure with a rubber band.

Place the cans into a Dutch oven or large pot and fill with water so they are 1/3 of the way submerged.

Bring the water to a boil, then cover, reduce heat, and simmer, steaming the SPAM for two hours (or longer).

Remove cans from pot and allow to cool, then remove SPAM from cans.

 

Photos via Arnold Inuyaki, Tastebook, Food.com, I Eat Food

1. I Eat Food [↩]