I like to start out the year with a call for help, a tradition that often reaps rewards in recipes. It’s an out-with-the-old custom: Printed here are requests I received in 2013 that I could not fulfill. Through the kindness of strangers, I hope to bring a few recipes in with the new.

If you have any of these, please get in touch (contact information is at the end). Anyone whose recipe fits the bill gets a cookbook.

MOST LIKELY CANDIDATES

These requests are for recipes that at one time did exist as words on paper, but were lost. Someone, somewhere, must have them:

>> Linda Medallia cut out a recipe from one of the local newspapers for a thin, crisp, round cookie called a Vienne (although she’s not sure of the spelling), made with the usual butter, sugar, vanilla and flour (or possibly oatmeal). She remembers the cookie sheet was covered in foil before baking. I found recipes for Viennese cookies made with nuts, but Medallia says her cookie was nutless.
>> Dennis Tanimoto had a recipe for a spaghetti sauce that supposedly was a favorite of the late Mayor Frank Fasi. It would have been published in the Honolulu Advertiser or Star-Bulletin in the 1960s or early ’70s. It contained three kinds of ground meat — possibly beef, veal and chicken or pork.
>> Les Higashi says Star Market in Moiliili once gave out a recipe for a cranberry/apricot glaze for pork rib roast. He lost his and has never been able to duplicate the glaze.

THE LONG SHOTS

These requests are for dishes from restaurants and bakeries that have been gone for years. I call them “hope springs eternal” requests, but sometimes we get lucky:

>> Chantilly cake from Mililani Bakery
>> Stuffed lobster from Pearl City Tavern
>> Chicken from Hana Chicken (used to be near the old Pearlridge movie theaters)
>> Fried Noodles from Kanda’s in Aiea
>> Braised short ribs from Flamingo Chuckwagon
>> Teri pork chops from Columbia Inn
>> “Super ono Korean chicken wings” from Spindrifter Restaurant (formerly at Kahala Mall)
>> Hamburger steak with gravy and onions, from Jane’s at the corner of Piikoi and Waimanu streets
>> Or, another hamburger steak with fried onions and brown gravy from Liberty Grill on Fort Street Mall
>> Crispy ginger chicken or mahimahi with butter-mushroom sauce from Lawai Restaurant on Kauai
>> Canlis rice, a specialty of the old Canlis Restaurant in Waikiki
>> “Melt-in-your-mouth” mushroom chicken from the Continental on Young Street near the old police station
>> Peanut butter chiffon or cream pie from Bea’s Pies & Deli on 12th Avenue in Kaimuki

SCHOOL LUNCH FAVORITES

Nostalgia runs strong for cafeteria treats baked decades ago:

>> Cherry crisp from Highlands Intermediate school in the 1960s, when the cafeteria manager was Mrs. Hisanaga
>> Peanut-butter cookies or chewy chocolate brownies from Waikiki Elementary School, circa 1955 to ’60
>> Boston Cream Pie from Roosevelt High School from the mid-’50s, when the cafeteria manager was Mrs. Kaohu
>> Peanut Butter Chews, a bar cookie from Waialua High and Intermediate School, dating to the ’70s 
>> French apple pie from Stevenson Middle School during the mid-’50s
>> Meatless baked spaghetti from Queen Liliuokalani Elementary School, made in the 1950s by cafeteria manager Mrs. Morimoto

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Write “By Request,” Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, Honolulu 96813. Or email requests to  bshimabukuro@staradvertiser.com.