Choice Morsel: International Doughnut Culture, Part 3

Portuguese malasadas are a Hawaiian staple and a Mardi Gras tradition.

text and photos by Tracy Schneider

If you’re wondering just how a Portuguese doughnut became a Hawaiian specialty, you’re not alone. The explanation goes something like this:

In the late 1800s, Portuguese workers from the Azores came to Hawaii to work in the sugarcane and pineapple fields. The children of these contract workers went into other fields (so to speak). One of them, Leonard Rego, worked in a large bakery in Honolulu before opening up his own small bakery, which he named Leonard’s.

The bakery sold traditional American fare — cookies, cakes and pies — but shortly before Lent one year, Leonard’s mother persuaded him to make the Portuguese doughnuts called malasadas, a Fat Tuesday tradition much like Polish paczki. Needless to say, Leonard’s malasadas became a big hit, and the bakery, now a Hawaii institution, has been serving them for more than fifty years.

Malasadas by North Shore Hawaiian BBQ

Fortunately, you don’t need a ticket to Hawaii to enjoy these deep-fried puffs of dough tossed with sugar and served hot. In Seattle, North Shore Hawaiian Barbeque makes wonderfully crunchy malasadas from an old family recipe. They're available every weekend at brunch. But don’t be late! By noon the malasadas almost always run out.

Malasadas by Kauai

They’re gone by noon at the Kauai Family Restaurant in Georgetown also, where they serve malasadas on Saturdays. But even if you arrive too late for hot malasadas, you won’t have to leave empty handed. You can purchase a tub of the restaurant’s own batter, made with potato yeast, and make malasadas at home.

We’ll be talking Chinese doughnuts next week. Didn’t know there were Chinese doughnuts? I’ve got four to share with you!

Want more doughnuts now? Read all about beignets and the power of paczki. Or listen — Choice Morsel was recently featured on KUOW.

Tracy Schneider, a “foodie” long before the term was coined, scours farmers markets, specialty food shops and out-of-the-way eateries for the choice morsel. She has eaten her way across Europe and Asia and now forages in and around the Pacific Northwest. Follow her weekly on the CAB and daily on Twitter.