Kalua Pig for Luau

greeneggonmyface

I am planning on making a BGE version of this Hawaiian Luau 'must serve' pork dish. For one thing, I don't feel much like digging a huge hole in my backyard, nor do I plan on using an entire pig for this.
So, I was thinking about just cooking a big ole pork butt on the egg. The recipe for Kalua Pig is easy, just pig, course salt, liquid smoke all wrapped up on Ti leaves. Can't I omit the liquid smoke and Ti leaves if I'm cooking it in the egg? Wouldn't some nice fruitwood chips serve as a good smoke flavor? And, wouldn't it stay nice and moist just by itself being cooked in the egg without having to wrap it in leaves? Any suggestions and info appreciated... Aloha!

WooDoggies

greeneggonmyface,[p]Yes, yes and yes. :~)[p]If you wrapped the butt in ti leaves, it would work much like foil and give you more of a steamed or pot roast style butt in the end.... with no bark and little smoke penetration.
Without the leaves you will get a dry, smokey outer crust with nicely moist insides.[p]The fruitwood along with the lump should give you all the smoke flavoring you want. If you can get chunks, go with them over chips. If all you have is chips then you probably will have to add handfuls throughout the cook..... I can't think of any fruitwood that wouldn't work.[p]Without the ti leaves and liquid smoke, sounds like you're gonna end up with a straight forward pork cook to me..... and aint nothing wrong with that!
What kind of sides are you thinking about to keep the Hawaiian theme?[p]John[p][p]

char buddy

greeneggonmyface,[p]kalua pig is just pulled pork done Hawaiian style.[p]Cook a kalua pig on the BGE like you would pulled port, only substitute liquid smoke and hawaiian salt for the rub and wrap it in banana leaves. Before wrapping it, make slits in the shoulder and just salt and smoke the 'wounds.' [p]For fun you might eliminate the liquid smoke and add extra chunks of guava wood (or similar fruit wood) to the lump. [p]The banana leaves in a Kalua recipe are there to retain moisture. Normally you wouldn't need them in a BGE cook. Try it once with the leaves and once with them just to see what happens. [p]

char buddy

WooDoggies,[p]hey - you beat me by 15 minutes. Man I'm slow.

WooDoggies

char buddy,[p]Faster'n me, Biddy!
Cookin today?[p]Woo "Hunt & Peck" Doggies

Unknown

greeneggonmyface,
Ive tried that before.. I didnt like it at all..
The banana leaves impart a flavor I wasnt crazy about.. The meat itself was a gray steamed kinda boring piece of meat..[p]All the things I like about butt were missing.. The flavorful outside, the texture, the smokiness.
If Id give a Barbecued Pork butt a A.. The Kalua style Butt I did, Id give a D...[p]
Dylan[p]

greeneggonmyface

So, I think I'll just cook the butt with a good rub and some wood chunck the way we normally do and just 'call it kalua Pig' for the guests sakes.
besides the pork, we are also making Coconut Chicken, Lomi Lomi Salad, Hawaiian Style Macaroni Salad w/Crab Meat, Fruit and cheese platter, Coconut and Pineapple Cake, Banana bread and of course... besides the keg o' beer... Mai Tai's and Blue Hawaii's!
So, throw on your grass skirt and coconut bikini and come get lei'd!

char buddy

WooDoggies,[p]I cooked a leg of lamb yesterday in time for the remember JJ moment. I thought that was a good way to remember him.[p]So today we're doing leg o'lamb leftovers. [p]Sausages tomorrow and at some point this week I'm doing a salt-crust beef roast.[p]stay tuned.[p]c-biddy

WooDoggies

greeneggonmyface,[p]Where do you live? That menu sounds terrific and I have a few Hawaiian shirts that are just dying to come out of winter storage.[p]I looked up Lomi Lomi and all I came up with was some type of massage.... and what about that coconut chicken.... would you mind enlightening me?[p]John[p]

greeneggonmyface

WooDoggies,[p]We live in Atlanta... Lomi Lomi is kind of like ceviche salad.. made with smoked salmon, diced tomato, scallion and lime juice. It's very good, light, refreshing. The coconut chicken is a recipe I made up based on a Thai recipe we had someplace locally. It comes out different each time, but basically you add coconut milk, shredded coconut, lemon grass, thai garlic chili sauce, s & p to any kind of chicken you like... marinate overnight, then grill. It's easy and great!

WooDoggies

greeneggonmyface,[p]Hey, thanks for the followup.... [p]The Thai coconut milk marinade for the chicken sounds great.... do you mix all of the ingredients cold or is it simmered first..... and how much does the coconut milk flavor carry over into the finished chicken? High or low heat approach to the grilling?[p]Curious, too, about the ceviche. Is the smoked salmon of the cold smoked (the kind you put on bagels) variety or the cooked, flakey kind..... and would you mind posting proportions of the ingredients?[p]Thanks and Large Beers!
John