This Forgotten Retro Bacon Appetizer Invented By Trader Vic Deserves A Comeback

Few ingredients are as universally loved as bacon. These delicious cuts of pork are most commonly associated with breakfast platters, but bacon has so many other delicious applications. With the help of a few extra ingredients, you can turn bacon into a gourmet appetizer. If you want to get really retro with it, you can try making rumaki, an old school bacon appetizer invented by Trader Vic. The dish is categorized as tiki cuisine, in part for the use of water chestnuts, which are more popular in Asian cuisines, and because of the sauce they are marinated in, which typically includes either soy sauce or teriyaki sauce mixed with ginger and several other ingredients. The result is a snack that combines savory with sweet in perfectly bite-size form.

Popular primarily in the 1950s and 1960s, this appetizer is basically bacon-wrapped water chestnuts skewered with chicken livers. Today, rumaki falls into the category of eccentric vintage appetizers we can't believe existed, but maybe we shouldn't lay these bacon-wrapped morsels to rest just yet. Some people still have fond memories of enjoying rumaki made by their grandparents, and nostalgia has pushed them to try the dish again. Regardless of if you have childhood memories of this dish or you're a curious foodie with a penchant for history, rumaki might just be the next savory-sweet appetizer you need to make.

If you're going the traditional route, you need three basic components: bacon, water chestnuts, and chicken livers. However, a lot of modern recipes skip out on the chicken livers or replace them with scallops or pineapple chunks. Regardless of the route you choose, the process is roughly the same. The first step is making a sauce for the components to marinate in.

There's no one right way to make the sauce for rumaki. Many recipes call for either a soy sauce or teriyaki sauce base, which can then be combined with other ingredients such as ginger, curry powder, brown sugar, or honey. Some people choose to make a spicy variant by adding chili sauce, hot sauce, or sriracha. Try experimenting with any combination of these ingredients until you find a rumaki sauce you really like.

Once the sauce is made, wrap each water chestnut in about a half slice of bacon and secure them with a skewer. If you're including chicken livers, wrap each liver with another half piece of bacon and skewer each liver piece onto a stick with a wrapped water chestnut. The skewered pieces should then be marinated in the sauce for at least one to two hours, although you can let them marinate overnight. After the marinating process is complete, cook the skewers in an oven set at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 to 20 minutes (or until the skewers are golden brown).