Musubi Makers
Other Hawaiian dishes

Loco moco

A scoop of rice, a hamburger patty, brown gravy over the whole thing, and a fried egg on top. It is the plate you order when you are really hungry, and it was born just down the road in Hilo.

rice, patty, gravy, and an egg on top

What it is

Loco moco is built in layers. You start with a scoop of hot white rice, lay a pan-seared hamburger patty on it, pour brown gravy over the top, and finish with a sunny-side-up egg so the yolk runs down into everything. It is cheap, filling, and just as at home at breakfast as it is at dinner. Every drive-in and diner in Hawaii has its own version.

A short history

Loco moco started in Hilo in 1949. Two spots there, Cafe 100 and the Lincoln Grill, both get credit, and Cafe 100 still calls itself the home of the loco moco. The story goes that it was made for a group of teenagers, the Lincoln Wreckers sports club, who wanted something cheap and filling that was not another sandwich. Rice, a patty, and gravy in a bowl did the trick, for about a quarter.

The name came from one of the boys, George Okimoto, whose nickname was Crazy. Loco is crazy in Spanish, and moco got added on because it rhymed and sounded good. The fried egg showed up later, and honestly nobody seems to know exactly when. It just stuck, the way the good ones do.

How to make it at home

The gravy is the part worth caring about. Make it in the same pan you sear the patties in so it picks up all the browned bits.

Loco moco

Serves 4

You need

  • 4 cups cooked white rice, hot
  • 1 lb ground beef
  • 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tbsp butter or oil
  • 1 small onion, sliced thin
  • 2 tbsp flour
  • 2 cups beef broth
  • 1 tbsp shoyu, 1 tsp Worcestershire
  • 4 eggs

Steps

  1. Mix the beef with the salt and pepper and form 4 patties. Sear them in a hot pan a few minutes a side, then set aside. They finish in the gravy.
  2. In the same pan, cook the onion in the butter until soft. Stir in the flour and let it cook a minute.
  3. Pour in the broth a little at a time, whisking, then the shoyu and Worcestershire. Simmer until it thickens into gravy. Slide the patties back in to finish.
  4. Fry the eggs sunny side up in a separate pan, so the yolks stay runny.
  5. Build each bowl: rice, a patty, plenty of gravy, and an egg on top. Break the yolk and dig in.

The gravy is the whole thing

You can be sloppy about almost every other part of a loco moco and still end up happy. The gravy is where it goes wrong. Three things fix it.

First, do not wipe the pan after you sear the patties. All that stuck-on brown is the flavor. If the pan looks dry after searing, add the butter and let it melt into those bits before the onion goes in.

Second, cook the flour. Once you sprinkle it over the onion, give it a full minute in the fat, stirring, before any liquid touches it. Skip that and the gravy tastes like raw flour, which is a specific chalky flavor you cannot hide.

Third, add the broth slowly. Pour in a splash, whisk it smooth, then another. If you dump it all in at once you get lumps, and no amount of whisking after the fact really brings it back. If it does go lumpy, pour it through a strainer and carry on. Nobody will know.

The gravy should coat the back of a spoon but still run off the patty and puddle into the rice. If it is too thick, thin it with a little more broth. If it is too thin, let it simmer another few minutes.

Ways people build it different

The rice, gravy, egg frame stays put. Almost everything else is fair game, and every family has a version.

The patty is the usual swap. Teriyaki beef, kalbi short ribs, Portuguese sausage, a chicken katsu cutlet, spam, or a scoop of chili all get used. Some places do a hamburger steak with onions mixed into the meat, which I like better than a plain patty.

The gravy moves around too. Some cooks go mushroom, some do a Japanese curry instead, and plenty of drive-ins use a brown gravy from a mix and are not shy about it. Curry loco moco is worth trying at least once.

The egg is where people get particular. Sunny side up is standard, and the runny yolk is doing real work as a sauce. Over easy is fine. Scrambled is not loco moco, though I have seen it served that way to kids who will not eat a runny yolk.

Questions I get

What rice should I use?
Short or medium grain white rice, cooked a little on the sticky side. Long grain stays too separate and the gravy runs straight through it to the bottom of the bowl.
Can I make it ahead?
The patties and gravy, yes. Keep them together in the fridge for up to three days and reheat gently, adding a splash of broth to loosen the gravy. The egg has to be fresh, and the rice is better fresh. Reheated fried egg is sad.
Is it a breakfast or a dinner?
Both, and plenty of people eat it at two in the morning. Cafe 100 in Hilo serves it all day.

If you want more island cooking, here is how I make spam musubi, or head back to the rest of the Hawaiian favorites.

Where I read up on this