# Anyone have a recipe for Kulua Pork?



## n00bchef (Apr 11, 2006)

So I just got back from Hawai'i and at the Luau we attended we had some Kulua Pork. (Basically it's a pig slow roasted in a dug-out put wrapped in tea-leaves and such...) When it's cooked they shred it and serve it that way.

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone had a recipe for this that I could do in my oven or charcoal barrel BBQ? The pork had a great flavor and was very tender, my wife also loved it so I would love to be able to make this for her.

If anyone has a recipe for this (or something similar) I would love to try it, thanks!

-Jason


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## crazytatt (Mar 5, 2006)

Unless you can dig out an earthen pit in the yard, slow inderect heat on the grill is going to be the way to go.

A Boston butt(shoulder) is the optimum cut for this meal. AS far as meat preperation, little can be done, or you can season how ever you want. the hole idea of this dish is the end result. Fork tender, shreadable, lucious pork.

You can easily find banana leaves in any of your local asian grocer, they a usually in the frozen food isle. Thaw what you need, and refreeze the rest, they hold up great. I 'ld score the pork a little to promote even cooking, and allow the seasonings to get in there good. Prep is simple, just bundle your pork in the banana leaves, and secure if needed with some butchers twine.

If you have an out door gas grill, get one side ripping hot, leaving the other side off. Place the pork on the OFF side, and lower the heat on the other side to low. Let it rip for hours....I;ld venture to say 6-8?

I've done this in a charcoal grill. same preperation of meat, but cooking is a little more involved. Get ALOT of charcoal, and secure a burlap bag. Soak the burlap bag in salt water overnight. Start off with about double the coals you think you will need. Get them goin, and let them start to smolder. Once they are all in embers, wring out as much water as possible from your burlap and wrap the pork pbundle in it. Dig a pit in the coals, and burry the bundle. You might want to use a charcoal chimney to have back up embers goin, so you can top it off from time to time. They are available at most home/hardware stores fo 10 bucks or so. Once again, this is going to cook for a looooooooong time...

Hope this will help a little. And don't forget the poi.


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## aprilb (Feb 4, 2006)

For anywhere from 3 to 5 pounds of pork, use 1 to 2 TB liq smoke, 1 - 2 TB sea salt, foil and/or banana leaves. Rub the meat with the smoke and then the salt, wrap and slow roast.

Crazy Tat's recipe sounds like a great one. We'd have a yearly BBQ here during one of the local festivals. The Fire Dept would make a huge pit, torch a load of mesquite into coals, (burns really hot and long) cover with a layer of basalt, wrap beef like Crazy Tat mentioned, only using layers of heavy foil before the burlap, chuck it in the pit and cover it with sand for 3 days.

I would definitely use Banana Leaves for the pork because they add a great flavor. I use them whenever possible for tamales. Although I've seen just as many recipes using foil and anything from a slow cooker to an oven set at 400 for 4 hours.

Crazy Tat's method would come out better than any of the oven or slow cooker methods.

Question though, would you want to keep the burlap moist, like using a smoker? Ayand...in that instance would you need the liquid smoke? Hmmmmmmm......although pretty much every recipe I found called for it. <double hmmmmmmmm.....>

I've also seen recipes using terra cotta clay pots from a nursery. I wonder if one of those (sterilized of course) could be used for an application like this.

April


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