We thought it would be a great idea to photograph a dish called Crispy Pata, a deep-fried pork shank. Authentic, toasty brown — but alas, on a plate it looked, as our food stylist said, “like a dead hamster.”

Tasted great, though, so although the pata did not get to pose for a beauty shot, it was much appreciated.

Everything else produced during that photo session in March was scrumptious looking and wound up on the pages of “A Filipino Kitchen,” the latest in the “Hawaii Cooks” series, a partnership of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and Mutual Publishing.

Author Adam Tabura’s book follows editions on Korean, Portuguese, Okinawan and Chinese cooking, all focused on those cuisines as they have evolved in Hawaii.

Veteran cookbook writer Muriel Miura and I have edited all the books in the series, and in Tabura’s we feel that we have something unique, as this is a cuisine that doesn’t often get the beauty treatment.

We invite you to dig in.

About the chef: Tabura is a 20-year veteran of resort kitchens on Lanai, Maui and the Big Island who shot to fame as part of the Aloha Plate team that won Food Network’s “The Great Food Truck Race” in 2013.

But before all that came a childhood on Lanai, where Tabura grew up largely under the watchful eye of his grandfather, Efipanio Tabura, who came to Hawaii from Cebu in the Philippines at age 9.

Isolated from the influences of fast food and supermarket convenience, Tabura learned to hunt and fish at an early age, and was part of a community that cooked together, ate together, learned together.

“The Filipino Kitchen” reflects this unique perspective and the homestyle dishes that Tabura was taught by his grandfather, grandmother Florence and mother Helena, as well as family, friends and neighbors on Lanai.

Tabura also traveled to the Philippines to explore the roots of the cuisine and the many variations by province, or as he puts it, “to understand the hundreds of types of nationalities within the nationality.”

Other Filipino chefs and restaurants also contributed (sari sari and shrimp sarciado recipes from Elena’s Restaurant in Waipahu are here, for example). The recipes cover the familiar — adobo (in many forms), lumpia, sinigang and pancit — but also contemporary Filipino-inspired dishes that reflect Tabura’s classical training and the contributions of chef friends such as Sheldon Simeon, owner of Tin Roof on Maui and another Food Network darling.

Also a major contributor was Tabura’s friend, Frank Abraham, producer of the show, “Cooking Hawaiian Style.”

In his own words: Tabura uses stories of Lanai to give the recipes context, such as this one about asking his grandfather to make him a lunch of KFC-style chicken, something you can’t get on Lanai.

“He said, ‘Boy, what you want that for?’ And we said we saw it on TV. So he laughed and said OK and we went back into the yard to play.

“Meanwhile, he and his friends slaughtered three chickens from the farm, and he came home and fried ’em in the backyard. It smelled real good and we were excited to think we were getting Kentucky Fried Chicken, but it was far from it.

“We said, ‘Grandpa, this not like the one on TV.’ He said, ‘The stuff on TV junk anyway.’”

It was a disappointment at the time, “but now as a chef I look back and realize that what Grandpa gave us was the real thing, gathered and prepared fresh. … Really, it was priceless. Fast food is fast for a reason. Real food was Grandpa’s version.”

About the photos: Culinary students at Leeward Community College prepared the dishes under Tabura’s direction in two days of intensive cooking, plating and photography.

The exercise gave the students a hands-on introduction to professional food styling and photography, and gave us access to a huge kitchen and many hands to prepare the food.

Tabura dove in as a teacher and coach, passing on tips from his professional life. To wit: Always cut green beans on the bias. It shows you took care in preparing your dish. Even if the beans are hidden — inside a lumpia roll, let’s say — if someone should see the beans they’ll know you prepped the dish by hand. Beans that were frozen, canned or cut by a machine won’t look like that.

LCC instructor Matt Egami said his students — many of them from Filipino backgrounds — really connected with Tabura’s personal journey. “Every student relayed to me that they were amazed, not just by his skill and knowledge, but by his passion and obvious love for food and cooking.”

Putting it all in context: I’ll let food historian Arnold Hiura handle this one. He wrote an introduction to Tabura’s book, on the development of the cuisine:

“It may have been easy to overlook Filipino food in the past, but no longer. Not only are Filipinos the fastest-growing ethnic group in Hawaii, but nationally, Filipinos comprise the second-largest Asian American ethnic group in the United States with a population of approximately 2.5 million. Already, Filipino food is sweeping through such foodie hotbeds as Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York City. And, as America discovers just how varied and intriguing Filipino food is, the sky is indeed the limit.”

ADOBO FRIED CHICKEN

Tabura writes: “Since our family always marinated chicken, and I loved fried chicken best, when I was a kid I told my mom, ‘Can we try breading the chicken and frying it?’ So we tried it. A nontraditional family favorite was born.”

• 3 pounds boneless chicken thighs and/or wings, cleaned and dried
• Canola or vegetable oil, for deep frying

>> Marinade:

• 1-1/2 cups cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon ground peppercorns
• 2 dried bay leaves
• 2 teaspoons sugar

>> Seasoned flour:

• 1/2 cup EACH flour and cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon EACH salt, pepper and garlic salt
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten

Combine marinade ingredients in blender; blend well. Pour over chicken in mixing bowl; mix well and marinate up to 12 hours in refrigerator.

Place chicken on wire rack, reserving marinade. Refrigerate 8 to 10 minutes to air dry.

Heat oil in deep pan or fryer to 350 degrees. Combine seasoned flour ingredients in shallow pan. Dredge chicken in mixture on all sides, one piece at a time. Shake off excess flour, then place each piece in hot oil. Cook 7 to 8 minutes, until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.

Meanwhile, place reserved marinade in small pot; bring to simmer. Reduce by half, then taste and adjust seasoning with vinegar and sugar, if needed. Drizzle marinade reduction over fried chicken pieces. Serves 4.

Approximate nutritional analysis, per serving (not including adjusting seasonings to taste): 770 calories, 49 g fat, 13 g saturated fat, 175 mg cholesterol, greater than 1,500 mg sodium, 37 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 4 g sugar, 45 g protein