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Kalua Pig


Chief Dick
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One of the pork shoulders I made last week was this type of pig. I've had it many times in Hawaii, so I've been wanting to do this for awhile. So here you go. The traditional recipe calls for using liquid smoke, because you are usually wrapping this up and dropping it in the ground with hot stones to cook all day, but I made a couple of adjustments. I did not use liquid smoke because I let the smoker do the trick to add the requisite smoke flavor..

 

7 lb. pork shoulder

Hawaiian Salt (I use this kind. My brother brought it to me when he lived there. Works great. This brand has a combination of seasonings and not just pure salt)

 

1. Take your pork shoulder, and use a knife to poke slits in it. Do it on top, sides, and bottom. Don't be shy: it gives the Hawaiian salt somewhere to go.

 

2. Take 2 tablespoons of the Hawaiian salt and rub into the pork shoulder on the bottom. Flip the shoulder over and do another 2 tablespoons of the salt. It doesn't seem like much, but it's plenty. Trust me. This stuff is really salty, and too much will kill it.

 

Put shoulder on smoker. Anywhere between 200-250 is fine. For the 7 pounder, I allocated about 10 hours for the whole process. I used a combo of hickory and apple wood.

 

For the first 5 hours, I kept the smoker closer to the 200 degree mark. At the 5 hour mark, take the shoulder and wrap it in banana leaves. I got the banana leaves at a local grocery. After wrapping in banana leaves wrap in foil.

 

I then threw the shoulder back on the smoker for the last 5 hours. I started ramping up my temperature as the day went on. First to 225, then I was about 250 for the last 2-3 hours. For the last thirty minutes, I threw the shoulder in a cooler.

 

Open the baby up, and she is ready to pull. Serve mixed with rice. I also added another tablespoon of Hawaiian salt once I pulled it. We also boiled some cabbage to mix in.

 

Good stuff. Turned out awesome. Now, you can also do this in the oven. Just add liquid smoke when you are seasoning it and right before you wrap it, and it can cook all day. You can google for ways to do it in the oven. Needless to say, it's just a twist on normal pulled pork and the flavors are real close to what you can get in the islands.

Edited by Chief Dick
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One of the pork shoulders I made last week was this type of pig. I've had it many times in Hawaii, so I've been wanting to do this for awhile. So here you go. The traditional recipe calls for using liquid smoke, because you are usually wrapping this up and dropping it in the ground with hot stones to cook all day, but I made a couple of adjustments. I did not use liquid smoke because I let the smoker do the trick to add the requisite smoke flavor..

 

7 lb. pork shoulder

Hawaiian Salt (I use this kind. My brother brought it to me when he lived there. Works great. This brand has a combination of seasonings and not just pure salt)

 

1. Take your pork shoulder, and use a knife to poke slits in it. Do it on top, sides, and bottom. Don't be shy: it gives the Hawaiian salt somewhere to go.

 

2. Take 2 tablespoons of the Hawaiian salt and rub into the pork shoulder on the bottom. Flip the shoulder over and do another 2 tablespoons of the salt. It doesn't seem like much, but it's plenty. Trust me. This stuff is really salty, and too much will kill it.

 

Put shoulder on smoker. Anywhere between 200-250 is fine. For the 7 pounder, I allocated about 10 hours for the whole process. I used a combo of hickory and apple wood.

 

For the first 5 hours, I kept the smoker closer to the 200 degree mark. At the 5 hour mark, take the shoulder and wrap it in foil. Put 2 whole bananas on the top. ( To make it traditional, you would wrap the shoulder in banana leaves, then wrap in Ti leaves. Banana leaves have a very high moisture content.) For my purposes, the bananas added moisture, plus it was just kind of cool to throw em in there.

 

I then threw the shoulder back on the smoker for the last 5 hours. I started ramping up my temperature as the day went on. First to 225, then I was about 250 for the last 2-3 hours. For the last thirty minutes, I threw the shoulder in a cooler.

 

Open the baby up, and she is ready to pull. Serve mixed with rice. I also added another tablespoon of Hawaiian salt once I pulled it. We also boiled some cabbage to mix in.

 

Good stuff. Turned out awesome. Now, you can also do this in the oven. Just add liquid smoke when you are seasoning it and right before you wrap it, and it can cook all day. You can google for ways to do it in the oven. Needless to say, it's just a twist on normal pulled pork and the flavors are real close to what you can get in the islands.

 

A group of us take pretty regular golfing trips and usually stay in cabins where we can cook. A couple of the guys are Hawaiian and make this on every trip. They get it started in the morning and after playing 36, it's ready to go and disappears quickly. We definitely don't take smokers but I've seen them do it in crock pots and the oven. One time, they even dug the smoking pit. It's awesome stuff.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Made this again for Super Bowl Sunday. I was able to locate banana leaves at one of the local grocery stores. After the first 5 hours, I wrapped the shoulder in banana leaves and then wrapped in foil.

 

Added a ton more moisture (not a surprise, considering banana leaves are all moisture). Really, really good.

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  • 9 years later...
  • 1 year later...

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