You Really Don’t Have to Go to the Islands to Taste Authentic Hawaiian Flavors!

The host at our last dinner club taught us this lesson: With a tiny bit of research (via our friends Google, Yahoo, etc.), a bit of creativity and some dedication to your craft you too can replicate the tastes of authentic Hawaiian barbecue at home!

First, I must correct myself from an earlier blog posting (or two): I said our host was preparing “kahlua” pork for us. I had that so wrong! I had assumed that he was preparing something including Kahlua-brand liquor in it via a sauce or some other element. That was, in fact, not the case; thankfully, because this was SO MUCH better and more authentic. It was just like what I’ve been served at actual luau events in Kauai or Maui before; possibly even better!

Our host actually researched the Hawaiian technique for preparing “kālua” pork. Via some fact-finding of my own, I discovered on Wikipedia that **“kālua” is a traditional Hawaiian cooking method that utilizes an “imu” or underground oven. The word kālua literally means "to cook in an underground oven" and also describes the flavor of food cooked in this manner - e.g. the kālua pig (Hawaiian puaʻa kālua) which is commonly served at luau feasts.

**Traditionally, extremely hot volcanic (lava) rocks were placed in a hole approximately 6' by 4' by 3' and the hole was lined with vegetation such as banana leaves. A salted pig was placed inside and covered with more banana leaves to preserve the heat and flavor. Then, it was covered with burlap and soil, and left to steam all day. Once removed from the imu, the pig was ready to be served.

Since we have a serious shortage of volcanic rock in Nebraska, among other obvious barriers to preparing our meal this way, Jon (said host) came up with his own system. Bless him for doing so because it was truly delicious! Here are his step-by-step preparation instructions, along with my photos of his work in progress! Try it out yourself and enjoy some authenticity!

Jon prepared two separate 8# cuts of pork shoulder for our group of 12 (with plenty of leftovers for sandwiches and snacking) Here’s his recipe:

         Trim some, but not all, of the fat from the top side of the pork shoulder(s).

         Score the shoulder with criss-cross cuts.

         Sprinkle the shoulder with extra coarse pacific sea salt, freshly minced garlic and fresh black pepper making sure some of the salt gets down into the score marks.

         Place the meat on an outdoor barbecue smoker. Place strips of bacon on top of the meat to make sure it stays moist.

         Smoke at about 220 degrees with natural hardwood lump charcoal and hickory for 3 hours.

         Loosely wrap the meat in banana leaves and continue smoking for 4 or 5 more hours.

         Remove from the smoker, wrap the meat in new banana leaves (the smoker will make the others very crispy) and double wrap the meat in foil.

         Place the meat in an oven at 220 degrees and cook until it reaches an internal temperature of 185 degrees(about 8 hours).

         Remove from the oven, wrap it in more foil, wrap it in two towels and place it in a cooler. Pack the cooler with extra towels to make sure there isn’t much space.

Unwrapping the pork after taking it out of the cooler

         Remove the shoulder from the cooler. Remove the banana leaves, bacon and trim the fatty pieces.

         Place the pulled pork into a warm crock pot (with some of the juices from the foil) or serve to guests by unwrapping and shredding the meat as a meal presentation as they would at an actual luau.

         Sprinkle each serving of pork with a little pacific sea salt as it is plated.

Pulling apart the smoked meat

Jon at the helm of his ship!

** Quoted from wikipedia.