Ah boil up. We had boil up and fry bread for lunch the other day. It was yum. Succulent, delicious, tasty, with brisket not pork, and the starch vegetables were served separately. The cook reckons it was made with love.
Me? I am a foodie and I love boil up among other kai. Everyone else enjoyed it too. Maybe it was a combination of good food, eating with whānau and the fact that it was made with love.
If you were in the Philippines, it would be called nilagang baboy and it would be slightly different. Same idea though. Most indigenous cultures have a version of boil up. In Malaysia it’s called sup daging, in Portugal it is cozido and coddle in Ireland.
NAIA kaimahi Tamara Bisseker grew up eating a Lao version made by her dad called orr.
“Same idea really, it was about making a hearty meal out of what little protein you had at your disposal. I have no idea of specific history. Orr is something we all eat and every family has small differences here and there depending on region and what other vegetables are available.
“At home it was usually pork or bacon bones, boiled forever to make a broth. Pumpkin or whatever squash-adjacent vegetable was added, with greens. Pūhā or watercress was favoured but it works just as well with silverbeet. We also add bamboo shoots and sometimes freshly shucked corn.
“Dad said okra was added too, but that has only become a recent addition to our orr at home. Orr is thickened with rice powder, made from some of the soaked sticky rice prior to steaming which we would eat with orr.
“If Dad couldn't be bothered with this process, then we'd just eat the soup as is. It takes time to make, time that you only give to something if you care about who is going to be at the receiving end of the meal.
“Orr is probably a big reason why boil up is so sacred to me. It's emotional food, made by someone with care in order to show care for others.”
Wikipedia reckons boil up is a traditional Māori food, customarily a broth or a soup made from a balanced combination of meat and bones, with greens such as pūhā, watercress or cabbage, and kūmara or potatoes, boiled together, along with flour dumplings known as "doughboys". Everyone has a version. Me? I love watercress.
Some reckon boil up is born from iron pots, potatoes, and pigs which are easily fattened. That Māori took to pork and potatoes because both were relatively quick to get ready. Others say boil up is an iteration of the Irish boiled dinner. Still others say Māori have been making a form of boil up forever, even before the iron pots.
NAIA founder (and the cook behind our recent boil up) Charisma Rangipunga reckons her mum’s watercress boil ups are the bomb, her favourite. That sounds familiar.
“The protein doesn’t matter. Hers will always top others. When I asked my mum what her secret was, she said ‘sweet hands’. For me I think this is about care. It’s about knowing the process and being diligent with it to turn all those ingredients into something memorable. It’s also knowing that your cooking is coming from a place of love and enjoying equally the reaction of whānau sitting down at the table and enjoying the kai, as much as cooking the kai itself.”
“My Nan’s pūhā boil ups are my favourite pūhā boil ups. Since she passed, I have tried and tried to replicate the sweetness that she could get in her boil up. I am close, but not quite there yet.”
Sharing food matters. There is any amount of research out there to say that sharing kai is a primeval thing that links whānau together and makes them feel better. And let’s not forget about those preparing the kai.
Kai matters. It may be the taste, or the memories of home. And a well-made boil up is a thing of beauty. Boil up is a love language, Charisma reckons. I think she is on to it. Just don’t forget the salt.
Nā Mark Revington
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