(upbeat music) - [Beryl] We all love a little bite between meals, a sweet treat or a savory snack sometimes just hits the spot.

- Ooh, that's sticky.

- No matter where you're from, snacking is a thing.

I've never made one, I've only eaten a ton of them.

My name is Beryl.

I love spam.

And this show explores how our foods can bring our different cultures together.

And this is our snack foods episode.

Today I've paired up Josh and Irma to swap snacks.

Josh will make Irma's Puerto Rican pastelitos de guayaba.

There's like three things to do.

- [Josh] And I've completely messed it up like a bunch of times.

- [Beryl] And Irma will make Hawaiian spam musubi.

- That looks amazing.

- Both are handheld snacks and both I would like to have right now.

It's like wrapping a spam present.

I wanna eat- - A present for me.

- Yeah.

(both laughing) - How many people does it take to unfurl puff pastry?

- Look at that America.

(laughing) - I don't understand.

- Let me go grab a towel.

- I need a napkin.

I need an adult.

(upbeat music) - Hi Irma, my name is Joshua.

Today you're gonna be making one of my favorite snacks and a very traditional Hawaiian dish called musubi.

- Okay.

Spam musubi.

- [Josh] My family comes from the island of Oahu and I spent a lot of time there growing up.

- I have not made sushi rice.

- So musubi is rice and spam wrapped in seaweed.

Can grab and eat and go.

And the only place that you can find musubi is home in Hawaii.

I remember making it with my dad.

When I started having my own kids, he sent me a musubi maker, it was just like this, "Hey, you're a father now", gift.

- We got you a musubi maker.

- Okay.

I've never seen one of these, but.

- So this is the musubi maker.

And then it also came with our spam cutter.

Most important thing ever.

Oops.

- Oops.

- And a tiny spoon.

- Five second rule.

(both laughing) (upbeat music) - Each family makes it in a little bit different way.

My family prefers the spam.

- [Beryl] Have you ever cooked with spam before?

- Once.

One of the contestants from, "The Great American Recipe", Foo, he made a banh mi with spam, so we replicated that at home.

And I liked it, it was like nice and salty, so.

- Oh, so this might be good.

- Yeah.

(spam sizzling) This sizzling sound is why I am constantly watching cooking shows.

It's so relaxing.

- I love spam.

I love it.

- [Josh] I've enjoyed passing that on to my children so that they feel special and connected to their culture.

- That looks amazing.

- You can make it by hand, it's much more difficult.

And also, rice is rather sticky when you're working with it.

- Ooh, that's sticky.

- There's no shame in using the musubi maker.

I would say you can't have enough water.

Keep your fingers wet and it'll keep the rice from sticking to you and everything else.

I like to use furikake and you can get that at any Japanese or Asian food market, and it's just a sprinkle flavoring that goes on rice.

- [Beryl] Boom.

That was a really good first go.

- Yeah, we'll get a little better as we go.

- Musubis are always good.

I really think it's like the best on the go snack.

- I've never made one, I've only eaten a ton of them.

- We make musubis on special occasions and when we need them to go somewhere.

If I could have a musubi every day, I probably would, and for a while I did.

- This was fun.

It's like wrapping a spam present.

I wanna eat- - A present for me.

- Yeah.

(both laughing) - I hope you like making musubis as much as I do.

Take care.

Love Joshua.

- That's nice.

See that?

Look at that America.

(Beryl laughs) Oh my God, these look so cute.

I can't wait to try one.

(upbeat music) Mm.

That is good.

I expected the saltiness from the spam, but I did not expect the sweetness from the rice.

Vinegary and sweet and salty all at the same time.

And then you get like a little umami from this seaweed, which I don't normally like, but I like it here.

I like it here a lot, it balances well with the sweet rice.

So I'm gonna take another bite, 'cause... (upbeat music) I thought the process of making these was gonna be a lot harder, but it was surprisingly simple.

A little sticky.

Ooh, that's sticky.

It's a meal all in one little dish, look at it.

(upbeat music) - Cheers.

(both laughing) - Cheers.

(upbeat music) Mm.

- Ooh.

- Mm-hm.

- I love it.

Josh, this was amazing.

Thank you.

- Thank you, Josh.

(upbeat music) - I love it.

I could eat like 10 of them.

(Irma giggles) (upbeat music) - Dear Josh, my name is Irma and you're gonna be making Puerto Rican guava pastries.

- I'm making guava pastries.

- What do you need?

- I need puff pastry, guava paste and powdered sugar.

- [Irma] They're super delicious and I enjoy them warm, fresh out of the oven.

This pastry is so easy to make.

And I love it because it just gives me a blast of my culture.

- [Beryl] Irma said this would be easy.

- I know she did.

But I've screwed up much easier things.

- The guava fruit inside is typically found in the Caribbean and has it tastes similar to like a mild raspberry.

- Looks like grainy, it's like a grainy jam.

- It reminds me of home.

And honestly, it's like having a little party in your mouth.

This pastry can be found in just about every Latin bakery, and it is wonderful with coffee.

- [Josh] This is not easy to work with.

- Any party I've ever been to with my family, there's some sort of guava pastry involved.

So the memories take me back to my childhood.

- I've never worked with puff pastry before.

- If you're making this dish for the first time, don't panic, it's so easy.

- I'm just not very delicate with this.

- Here.

Move over.

- Okay.

(both laughing) - All right, I thought I could do it.

(Beryl laughs) - [Irma] We live in a world where there is access to so many foods and dessert options, they're endless.

- How many people does it take to unfurl puff pastry?

- This one brings me back to a different setting, you know, I can hear music, I start swaying my hips to dances remembered, food shared and so many memories.

The simplicity of this dish makes it the perfect snack.

You're gonna be able to impress your family and friends in such a small amount of time.

They're gonna believe you spent hours making them.

And most importantly, they will taste the love you put into them.

And they're gonna ask you for the recipe, which you can share.

- Can my daughters help out?

- Yeah.

- Hey ladies, would you come here please?

- You're on camera.

(laughing) - How fun.

- [Beryl] Are you girls dessert people?

- Yes.

- Yes.

(laughing) - So just grab your guava piece.

- Mine stick to the table a little bit, so.

- Yeah, it's very sticky.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, I learned that early on.

- Ooh, this one looks good.

Ta-da!

(Josh laughs) - Daddy, we have Pam.

- I couldn't find the Pam, so.

I already looked there.

- It's right here, Pam.

- Okay.

- [Beryl] You have Pam, my miss.

- You look in one spot and then you're like, "It's not there, we don't have it".

- [Irma] You would probably wanna adjust the baking temperature depending on the type of oven you have.

So you're gonna have to keep your eye on it.

- So I have an electric coil oven, and Irma said, "If you have an electric coil oven, bake them at a lower temperature".

So we are at 350 and we're gonna throw them in.

- Guava pastries are a handheld delight.

They're super flaky, so you need to eat them over the counter or wearing some sort of bib.

I hope you love these guava treats as much as I do.

And once you've had them, please feel free to make them your own in the future.

I hope you have a lot of fun making this pastry and that you'll be able to share your recipe with your family and friends.

Love Irma.

(upbeat music) - I think these turned out all right.

I'm really excited to try it.

(upbeat music) That's really good.

It's really messy.

Well we'll clean up later.

(upbeat music) And it's not too sweet.

And a little touch of powdered sugar really kind of enhances the kind of tangy sour of the guava.

It's a nice balanced treat.

When I got the recipe, I realized it was baking and I'm not good at baking.

The guava was not the consistency that I thought it was gonna be, stuck to the knife and wasn't easily cutting.

And then the dough... - You've got man hands.

- I know.

I was not prepared for the mess, really, that it kind of turned into for a minute there.

There was a few moments of panic throughout, but I think we pulled it off.

Oh, she said to poke a hole.

- There's like three things to do.

- [Josh] And I've completely messed it up like a bunch of times.

- Which one should I take?

- The huge one.

- Yeah, take that one.

- The big one.

(Josh laughs) - It kind of tastes like a guava croissant, almost.

- Oh my God.

- Mm-hm.

- This is so messy though.

- It is.

- The guavas all over my face.

- Irma was right.

Wow.

This is good.

Cheers.

Cheers.

(upbeat music) Cheers.

You have none left.

- I know.

(laughing) - Just eat it all.

(upbeat music) - I don't understand.

- Let me go grab a towel.

- I need a napkin.

I need an adult.

(upbeat music) I hope you enjoyed this episode of, "Pan Pals".

Let me know in the comments if you have a go-to snack that we should all be trying.

By the way, if you like home cooking, you should check out the latest season of, "The Great American Recipe".

The show features eight talented home cooks in a competition that celebrates the diversity and flavors of foods across the US.

You can watch the first episode here on the PBS Food YouTube channel, and check out the rest of the season every week on the PBS app and your local PBS station.

Check it out in the links that are in the description.

(upbeat outro music)