Kalua pig

[PorkQPine]

I have a couple of luau's coming up so I was thinking Pulled Pork would be good then I got the idea of Kalua Pig so looked up recipes and low and behold they are almost the same as what we do for pulled pork. The only difference seems to be that they are wrapped in Ti leaves or banana leaves while cooking.

Has anyone done this and what were your results?

 

[Crash]

Being born and raised in Hawaii, I hope I can help you out. At the same time, the info that I have for you would make almost any hard-core Quer nauseous. I can hardly believe that I am admitting this, but here goes.

Crock pot...a large one. You should be able to get two 8lb butts in one of the big ones. If that doesnt work (or you dont have a crock pot) double wrap in foil, place 2 butts in a full pan and into the oven at 300.

No need to inject, kalua pork is remarkably simple. Rock salt and......I can't believe I'm saying this....liquid smoke. Hickory flavored liquid smoke is best if you can find it.

2T of liquid smoke liberally rubbed into the meat and 2T of Rock Salt rubbed all over each butt. If the butt is enhanced, cut the Rock Salt down to 1T and 1t.

Cook one up at home and adjust your flavor profile from there.

Best of luck!

 

[PorkQPine]

Being born and raised in Hawaii, I hope I can help you out. At the same time, the info that I have for you would make almost any hard-core Quer nauseous. I can hardly believe that I am admitting this, but here goes.

Crock pot...a large one. You should be able to get two 8lb butts in one of the big ones. If that doesnt work (or you dont have a crock pot) double wrap in foil, place 2 butts in a full pan and into the oven at 300.

No need to inject, kalua pork is remarkably simple. Rock salt and......I can't believe I'm saying this....liquid smoke. Hickory flavored liquid smoke is best if you can find it.

2T of liquid smoke liberally rubbed into the meat and 2T of Rock Salt rubbed all over each butt. If the butt is enhanced, cut the Rock Salt down to 1T and 1t.

Cook one up at home and adjust your flavor profile from there.

Best of luck!

Cooking in the smoker should take care of the liquid smoke so I guess all I need to do is rub with rock salt and cook as normal.

 

[chad]

Kaluah pig is not "smoked" even if cooked in a imu (pit) so be very light on the smoke. But, yeah use good salt and light smoke. I've done this on a ECB and the WSM and wrapped in banana leaves and it came out fine.

Again, we often try to get smoke on everything and some recipes are just not heavily smoked. Same with Cuban pig - everyone wants "smoke" in a Caja China cooker - yeah you can add a smoke generator, but then you aren't cooking what the box was invented for. Cuban pork is traditionally "roasted" but not barbequed in the sense that it's heavily smoked.

Have fun! It's a party!!

 

[Visioneer]

I just bought a couple of pounds of "Hawaiin Sea Salt" for a Luau I'm doing in late August. I'll be watching this thread to see how things turn out for you. Please keep us posted.

 

[Big Ugly's BBQ]

Hawaiian Salt is good, but you can over do it with that coarse of grind. That being said, I prefer it to other salts unless I can fresh Sea Salt. I dont live in Hawaii anymore so I make do with whats available. I feel Crash's pain when he mentions Liquid Smoke, but that is how its done on the islands.

You can also use Spinach or Collard Greens to replace the Banana Leaves.

 

[Visioneer]

I was talking to a guy the other day that has done a lot of Kalua Pig in Hawaii and he said he always used liquid smoke too.
I tried banana leaves several years ago just to experiment but the ones I bought seemed moldy/musty. I read that they are supposed to have a white powder on them but this just seemed wrong to have that moldy/musty odor.

 

[chad]

I was talking to a guy the other day that has done a lot of Kalua Pig in Hawaii and he said he always used liquid smoke too.
I tried banana leaves several years ago just to experiment but the ones I bought seemed moldy/musty. I read that they are supposed to have a white powder on them but this just seemed wrong to have that moldy/musty odor.

You BOUGHT banana leaves? Oh, wait I see you are "up north". Sorry.

The ones I used were cut the afternoon I used them so no mold or white powder was to be found. I also grow ornimental ti plants, but my leaves aren't big enough to use without destroying the plants!!

I've used a single layer of foil, too. Anything to keep the moisture in will work.

 

[Big Ugly's BBQ]

Go to the local asian stores, you can find them in the frozen food area. let them get to room temp before using, the will be very brittle frozen.

I like using the big leaf spinach, the rendering fat cooks it, giving it the Lau-lau feel and taste to it.

 

[chad]

Go to the local asian stores, you can find them in the frozen food area. let them get to room temp before using, the will be very brittle frozen.

I like using the big leaf spinach, the rendering fat cooks it, giving it the Lau-lau feel and taste to it.

Now that's a great idea! Pork fat and spinach!! :mrgreen: A pairing made in heaven!!

 

[Visioneer]

The local Asian store is a little scary to shop at. It's a pretty dirty store. I went there a few weeks ago and bought some pork bellies but I didn't have a warm fuzzy feeling when I left.