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Lava rocks in the egg

Nickk
Nickk Posts: 2
edited November -0001 in EggHead Forum
Hello, I am new to the forum and bought myself an egg last May mostly to try out for Hawaiian foods like kalua pig, lau lau and to experiment with things like smoked taro roots and other typical Hawaiian foods when I can find them on the mainland.
Just wondering if anyone has ever used lava rocks or ceramic briquettes in their egg? Would it hurt or crack the inside of the egg? I would like to use the egg to heat up my lava rocks so I could put them inside my kalua pig while it cooks like I would in an imu. Just trying to experiment a little bit!
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Comments

  • 3Pedals6Speeds
    3Pedals6Speeds Posts: 439
    Welcome to the forum.

    I don't think heating the rocks on the grid (above the charcoal) and then using the heated rocks to stuff the meat with would hurt the egg any. So long as they don't explode from heat (and if they did, why would you use them?) I don't see any way they'd hurt the egg. I'm not sure how hot they'll stay once inserted into anything you might put them in, but who knows, go for it, and let us know.

    BTW - if you do, make sure to post pictures. We looooove pictures here.
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  • boston_stoker
    boston_stoker Posts: 794
    Welcome to the Club.

    Are you going to cook a Kalau pig in your egg? Some have cooked small pigs in eggs before. Just curious. If you do, definitely let us know how it turns out and what you did.
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  • Nickk
    Nickk Posts: 2
    The plan was to make kalua pig, but to try to mix some of the old traditional imu methods with the egg. The lava rocks stuffed inside might give a little more smoke flavor like traditional kalua pig.
    I have tried a few other methods for kalua pig on the egg, and so far this is my favorite (my family and friends too!).
    1- 7-8lb pork butt with a nice thick fat cap on top sliced right down the middle to salt the inside and out of the pig.
    Hawaiian sea salt
    6-12 ti leaves with stems cut off
    1 package of frozen banana leaves
    Kiawe or guava wood from Greg at www.hawaiiguava.com

    Basically, I let the pork sit out for a few hours to bring it up to room temperature and cut horizontally down the middle so I can salt the inside and out. After that, wrap it up first with several ti leaves, then start wrapping with several layers of banana leaves. I leave it on the egg at about 225-250 for at least 12 hours, but have gone as long as a full day without drying it out. I use a water pan on top of the plate setter to create steam and layer more banana leaves inside the egg for flavor and start with 1 piece of wood and add a second 6 or 7 hours later when I refill the water pan. This last time I also put a few lau lau's (salted pork with a little fish wraped in several taro leaves) in with the pig. If I am going to smoke pig all day, I might as well fill it up! The taro may or may not have helped with the flavor of the kalua pig, but no body seemed to complain! This last batch cooked for a full 20+ hours with cool down in the egg. When it came out, it fell apart with a nice layer of fat still intact on top that was easy to pull off and throw away.
    Next time, there will be pictures!
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