Kalua Pork Smoker Style


 

Eric Aarseth

TVWBB Super Fan
Tomorrow morning I'm going to make kalua pork for the first time. If you Google "kalua" pork (as opposed to Kahlua, that tasty coffee liqueur) you will get many recipes that call for cooking a whole pig in an "imu" (earthen pit - Hawaiian style) or in a slow-cooker or oven. That VAST majority of the recipes call for the use of liquid smoke (mesquite to equate to the koa wood used in the Great State of Hawaii). There are some threads within TVWBB that date back to 2007 - 2010 that discuss briefly the use of the WSM. Even within those threads the majority of the discussion is a cooking method using an earthen pit or slow-cooker. No criticism of either of those cooking methods, but in God's Country (aka Alaska i.e. Texas's big brother) cooking via an earthen pit requires a jackhammer - ain't going to happen; I'd like to avoid at all costs liquid smoke, so slow-cookers and other non-smoke producing cooking methods are out. So here is my plan:

Ingredients:

Hawaiian Red and Black salt
Onion (raw, sliced)
Garlic (raw, crushed-knife blade not a press)
Ginger Root (peeled, sliced coins)
Banana tree leaves (purchased frozen, thawed and washed)
10 lb pork butt, bone-in, trimmed fat (less than 1/4 inch on exterior
Smoke Wood - Mix of mesquite and pecan pellets


Smoker:

Traeger Texas XL (Note 1: I couldn't afford the AK version because it was 3x the size of the TX); (Note 2: I'm using my Traeger vs WSM because of time); (Note 3: My experience thus far is that you get much better BBQ results with the WSM than with the Traeger).

Process:

1. Salt butt with red and black Hawaiian salt. Will salt liberally.

2. Place on smoker, smoke at 185 degrees or below for 2 hours.

3. Take off smoker. Bundle butt as follows: banana tree leaves, aromatics (onion, garlic, ginger), butt, aromatics, banana leaves. Tie bundle into an intact but loose bundle. I don't want it too tight, so no smoke can penetrate the leaves, but I also don't want it too loose because as the meat shrinks and the leaves become drier, gaps will open. Assuming I'm on my game I'll take pics.

4. Back on the smoker in a half-sheet aluminum foil pan. Will set temp at 225 and let it go. Temp will likely vary between 210 - 250. I anticipate the cook time to be about 8 hours (ambient temp will be about 25 degrees so could take longer). If I remember, I'll likely monitor meat temp with my Maverick probe. Target meat temp is the standard 190+.

My point of this post, is to give some point of reference of making kalua pork in a smoker, without liquid smoke and approximating the cooking method of an imu. I would use my WSM, but I don't have the time to tend the "fire", etc and so I'll use my Traeger instead. My experience thus far is that my results on the Traeger correlate nicely to what I can expect on the WSM, but with better BBQ flavor from the WSM :wsm:.

Questions - post them and I'll do my best to answer.
 
All is starting well. I have photos, but it looks like I need to have a Flickr account or some sort to load photos. Chris probably has instructions and hopefully I'll figure them out. Photos to come? :confused:

:eek: Success. Go to the FAQ menu at the top of the page. There is a section on how to upload photos.
Wrapped butt is on the smoker as we speak. The following are a few of the prep photos.

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[/url] 10 Lb Pork Butt untrimmed by alaskahacker, on Flickr[/IMG]
Untrimmed 10 Lb butt

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[/url] Salted Butt with Red and Black Hawaiian Salt by alaskahacker, on Flickr[/IMG]
Trimmed, deep scoring, red and black Hawaiian salt.

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[/url] An Alaskan Imu by alaskahacker, on Flickr[/IMG]
Alaskan Imu. WSM to the side today.

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[/url] Banana purchased frozen by alaskahacker, on Flickr[/IMG]
Frozen banana leaves were easy to find. DIRTY! Rinse thoroughly.

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[/url] 2 hour naked smoke by alaskahacker, on Flickr[/IMG]
The haze is the mesquite/pecan wood smoke. 2 hours at 125-135 F. The smoky smell was phenomenal when I brought it into the house to wrap in the banana leaves.

8586249391_c5eaaf93ab.jpg
[/url] Layers ready to wrap by alaskahacker, on Flickr[/IMG]
Base layer (leaves, onion, crushed garlic cloves, ginger root coins). This step made life easier. Scored butt needed gentle hands. Banana leaves tore easily. Criss-cross allowed me to keep the aromatic layers intact until I could tie the bunch.

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[/url] Ginger and Garlic studded love by alaskahacker, on Flickr[/IMG]
Butt studded with ginger and garlic love!


8587339630_9d5973e8d5.jpg
[/url] Wrapped and ready to cook by alaskahacker, on Flickr[/IMG]
Handmade rimmed pan from doubled sheets of HD foil. Tied bundle. Two layers of leaves. Started with the idea of only one layer, but leaves tore too easily. The leaves stayed fairly intact when I tightened the string, but low confidence the leaves will stayed intact enough by the end of the cook. Tidy bundle - no drips or leaking during transfer from kitchen counter to smoker. Temp control set at 250 F. Outside temp is about 25 degrees with some wind. I will watch for the smoker to hold a temp between 230 - 270 F.
 
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not a bad process you got going. will probably come out better than you think.
i had many a kalua pork done in the oven w/liquid smoke that tasted great.
even most hawaiian/local families can't or don't have the time to do it in a pit
so the oven method is the most popular. nothing wrong with liquid smoke except to
find the right proportion to use. i did it that way but used banana leave then wrapped
that in ti leaves. foil can take the place of the ti leaves.
even pork done in the imu has very little smoke flavor.
 
Photobucket is easy to use for pics. Looking forward to the completed cook.

Ended up using Flickr because apparently I had started an account with my yahoo email. Seems to work ok. Mac is a pain in the butt to toggle between screens. No right-click stinks.
 
Except for a luau in HI, I think the only way I've ever had kalua pork has come from an oven or slow-cooker and used liquid smoke. Over the years though I've just fallen in love with the wood smoke flavor you get by cooking over wood smoke.

No ti leaves at the market I got the banana leaves. I opted to not wrapped in foil. My hope is that gaps will form in the banana leaves and allow more smoke in. I think part of the charm of kalua pork, however, is also the moist meat which I'm assuming comes from the steaming process. So I might lose that steaming effect without the foil. I suppose to best way to figure it out will be to use foil next time to measure the difference.
 
I'm very interested to hear/see the finished product - I made a poor attempt at a "Hawaiian" themed cook a couple weeks back. Did some Huli Huli chicken (came out good) and some ribs. This, however, looks like it could be a killer meal.
 
yea, like anything else, you have tobtry differant things one change at a time till you arrive at what you like. even in hawaii the pork tasted differant family to famly.
course mt favorite is kalua pork with cabbage, chopped and mixed together. whats intersting is that if you eat poi with it it actually inhances the taste.
 
Eric that looks great so far. Fresh pineapple to go with the pork?
Just out of curiosity why would the WSM take longer if you worked at the same cooking temps?
 
Eric that looks great so far. Fresh pineapple to go with the pork?
Just out of curiosity why would the WSM take longer if you worked at the same cooking temps?

No fresh pineapple tonight - kids aren't fans, wife can't it so didn't fuss with it.

WSM - the cook doesn't take longer. I was referring to the time to set up and clean up. The Traeger is wood pellet fired (electric burner). It is sort of like a gas grill, just turn it on and go. It doesn't replace my WSM, but there are times when I don't have the time to fuss with tending the fire. I'm cooking this same meal in about a month for some other folks, if I have time I'll definitely use the WSM. Todays weather at times causes problems for my WSM as I don't have all the gaps sealed. Windy, snowy, temps dropping.

*** Edit: so after I typed this, I went out to check on the smoker. Guess what - I think my WSM would have been more reliable. That "reliable" Traeger fire has gone out and by the feel of things, probably for at least an hour or so. So I have to pull the damn thing apart, get it started and put it all together. The whole time I'm thinking, thank god I have my WSM to back me up - and why didn't I just use that to start with. Smoke is billowing again, I've bumped the temps to try and regain some time.
 
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Eric that pork looks super!! Pretty amazing post...how'd it turn out?

Totally with you on the liquid smoke...yuck...
 
Eric that pork looks super!! Pretty amazing post...how'd it turn out?

Totally with you on the liquid smoke...yuck...

Holding right now at 190 - 192 with my Maverick probe. Double-checked with the thermapen and got temps at 188 -190. Technically it is done, but with my mid-cook break, I'm going to hold it longer to ensure its completely broken down. Will be pulling once I see the temps on the Maverick start moving up to 194/95.

Edit: Pulled at 195. Banana leaves and ginger gave a very different smell than I am used to when pulling a butt off the smoker. As I started to pull the pork the smell was the most predominate. I started getting quite concerned that I had put way too much ginger on in the wrap. My other concern was that the wonderful smoke aroma I had when I pulled the butt to wrap in the leaves was gone (faint). I mixed all the pulled pork together and took a few bites. Slight salt, ginger and garlic, very faint smoke. Good flavor, but not a home run.

First - way too much ginger. I had probably a cup of sliced ginger on either side (2 fat 4" tubers sliced). Cut the ginger in half. Garlic was good. Salt ok, but could have used a saltier crust to get mixed in with the interior. Smoke flavor - I'm thinking this is why people use liquid smoke - I wrapped the meat and my smoky flavor seemed to disappear. The pork is cooling and will sit in the fridge overnight. I'll pull it out in the AM and see how it smells and tastes. It could be I'm desensitized to the smoke because I've had my nose in it all day. One thought is that once the pork is pulled, I could put it back in the smoke for 30 - 60 min before serving.

Another idea to get more smoke flavor is to cook the butt "naked" much further into the process and not wrap until after it starts to reach 160 - 170 and then wrap. Ultimately to acheive the smokiness I'm looking for, it may mean just laying banana leaves above and below the butt, but not wrapping so it is not cut off from the smoke.

I'll update tomorrow.

EDIT (Tomorrow):

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[/url] End of Cook by alaskahacker, on Flickr[/IMG]
195 F - Ready to take off the smoker

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[/url] Now the taste test by alaskahacker, on Flickr[/IMG]
Ready to Pull - Very Aromatic

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[/url] Finished Product by alaskahacker, on Flickr[/IMG]
Finished Product

The end product is good, but not what I was shooting for. I'll list the pro's and con's.

Pro: Hugely strong flavor infusion of garlic (5 crushed gloves top and bottom); Mild to medium infusion of ginger flavor. Unlike the garlic which seems to be throughout the meat, the ginger flavor is more limited to the surface. I initially posted that I thought the ginger was most predominate, but I was wrong it was the garlic. Very tender and moist. The leaves worked just like foil and held in the juices etc very well.

Con: No/very faint smokey flavor or smell. No penetration of smoke through the leaves. I didn't get the impression that the leaves added anything to the flavor. I'm thinking you can get the same or very similar result by simply using foil.

I had never tried to infuse a pork butt with garlic and such. This method worked very well. I used 3 oz salt, I would use 1 - 2 oz more.

Takeaway: If I want "kalua" pork, I'm simply going to bbq the butt and only use the hawaiian salt as the rub. I will not wrap the butt as that process seemed to ensure there was no smokey flavor or aroma (I know no why folks use liquid smoke). If I really needed to try to infuse a flavor, I think I would first look to inject. If I didn't want to inject, then I might try to wrap with the aromatics much later in the cook - maybe when the meat hits 170 F. That's just a guess, no food science about it.
 
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SWMBO wants to do a Luau for the 4th. Kalua pork and Huli Huli chicken. I am going to try to adapt this recipe with all the pros and cons and using foil vs banana leaves.
 
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Eric, thanks for your great original post. And thanks to Dwain for reviving it, or I never would have come across it. This looks like a great idea for a cook, and I'm always trying to find a new challenge.

I had the honor of being invited to an authentic Hawaiian luau back in the '80s. It's a fascinating style of cooking, and the pig was great.
 
banana leaves impart a very subtle flavor. better when steaming and such. if you are not used to it you can miss it. but you see the reason for using liquid smoke. a little goes a long way. kalua pork should be simple with not to much stuff added to it.
 
Bumping this up. I'm doing Kalua pork for the first time, and was hoping to find a topic like this.

If you have tried this, please post notes/tips/tricks. Specifically about how much of the red & black salt counts as "liberal." I have found it for $5 for 3oz each, will those 6 ounces cover 2 butts?

I'll probably do the modified foil version and wrap later in the cook.
 
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