How did your ribs turn out?
Did they cook or taste any different?
Were they totally fall off the bone?
Now going off topic just a bit,
We have wild pigs in our neighborhood in California and have enjoyed numerous whole hog cooks at my neighbors house.
Damn those are tasty and I can’t wait until the next time.
California has nice pig hunting, too bad we don’t have wild hogs here in Washington.
I can say that because I’m not in agg or have ever had my yard turned over.
Our dogs ( blue heelers and pits) have always kept them away too.
I have never done ribs or whole hogs with banana leaves but I would love to.
A few of the island guys I used to work with would do whole hogs with them.
I would think using leaves would be similar to aluminum foil but will take more direct heat (pit coals).
Several of my old coworkers told me I really needed to bury cook one with banana leaves for an island style cook.
When I asked them where to get the leaves they told me Amazon had them.
Apparently cooking a hog in a pit isn’t all that complicated.
It’s basically lots of coals, lots of hot rocks in a pit, a prepped / seasoned pig, wrapped in banana leaves, tied up and and backfilled for a day.
There is actually a bit more to it like a safety layer to keep dirt out of the cook and a few other misc items but it sure doesn’t seem like rocket science.
My neighbor buddy has a tractor and another friends family raises hogs up here.
I think doing a hog for 7/4 would be a kickin party.
They were absolutely the most tender, fall off the bone ribs I've ever done. More so than pink paper or foil. They cooked just a hair under 5 hours, 3 of which were wrapped. The WSM held an almost constant 244-251 degrees through the whole smoke. I was pretty surprised by that, as I've had issues in the past with my 14" (which is what I used, only did 1 rack) going hot and not coming back down. After I pulled them, I went out later to check and it did hit 294, then started to cool as the charcoal ran out. It was 3/4 of a chimney lit on top of 3/4 ring full in the bottom.
I got my inspiration from watching hog cook videos from Hawaii. All of the videos I watched are basically just as you described it, wrap in leaves, bury in coals, cook and enjoy.
I was actually quite surprised by the amount of banana taste that was imparted into them. They were several layers of leafs and a good soaking of pineapple juice, but there wasn't much pineapple flavor. The banana wasn't overpowering, but added a layer of 'sweet' to the meat, if that makes sense? One of the things I wanted to do, but in the excitement with the truck hitting the power line behind us forgot to, was glaze it with the juice of some bourbon soaked cocktail cherries before I pulled them off. Maybe it's best though, as that might have removed the banana flavor?
All in all, I'd definitely recommend trying it sometime. The ribs were uber cheap (like $5 a rack) so it wasn't a painful venture if it didn't work.
Supposedly, Michigan also has a feral hog issue, but in all the time I've spent hiking and deer hunting, I've never come across any, nor seen any sign. A friend years ago did a boar hunt and gave me some chops, they were the tastiest pork product I'd ever had until I started doing this smoker thing. I'm sure wild hog would be incredible smoked Hawaiian pit style, and agree that would make for a great 4 July Luau!
If you try it, let us know how it turns out!
v/r,
jason
