Smoked hawaiian meat

[Nefarious]

A friend of mine turns 70 in a couple of weeks and we are having a party for him. He spent many years in Hawaii so the party is themed, Hawaii 7-0. I am trying to find a good hawaiian meat to smoke. I looked at kalua pork from a shoulder but the only spice is salt and we have many people that need lower salt preparations.

Anybody that has an interesting alternative would be greatly appreciated.

 

[JLeonard]

We got some folks on here from the islands. Hopefully they'll chime in soon with some ideas for you.

Jim

 

[Retired Spook]

I lived in Hawaii for quite a few years and, unfortunately, salt is like a main course...

Maybe some grilled teriyaki chicken instead?

 

[chilerelleno]

You can do a lot more besides just the traditional Alaea red clay salt.

The traditional is simply Alaea salt, wrapped in banana leaves and cooked in a pit fueled by Kiawe wood (very similar to mesquite).
The pit being almost airtight infuses the smoke into the meat, very strong smoke flavor.
You just can't get this infusion of smoke through the banana leaves in a normal smoker, so ya gotta cheat.

I've been messing with both Kalua pork for awhile and here is what I've been doing for some very tasty Kalua pork.

I first marinate it overnight in,
Marinade
2C Orange juice
2C Pineapple juice
2C diced pineapple
1/2C Soy sauce
1/8C Fish sauce
3/4C minced ginger
3T minced garlic
4T salt

Since the salt is in the marinade and brines into the meat, it isn't like the traditional generous dusting directly on the meat before cooking.

I strain and keep all the pineapple, ginger and garlic with the butt, add a few splashes of liquid smoke (the cheat) around and atop the butt and then wrap in banana leaves and tie it up.
Then into the smoker till probe tender, generally around an IT of 205° +/-.

You can also do this in the oven or crockpot.
If you don't have twine you can set the wrapped butt in a dutch oven.

Banana leaves impart their own flavor to the meat, its a mild flavor, I don't know how to describe other than "Green".
Banana leaves can be found frozen at most Mexican markets or even ordered frozen from Amazon.
If you use frozen, be sure to completely thaw before trying to use.

 

[Brokenhandle]

Not a meat but I recently saw a recipe for Hawaiian Cole slaw, or Cole slaw with pineapple and it sounded interesting

Ryan

 

[Chris_in_SoCal]

I recently made a post about Huli Huli chicken and macaroni salad. Maybe that can give you an idea.

 

[Redicans]

Nefarious,

I would stick to a simple Kalua pig recipe in a smoker. No need to over salt. You can always add more after per individual plate. If you have access to some Banana leaves or Ti leaf all the better. Google making Kalua pig in a smoker. There are some great ideas out there. Raised in Hawaii myself and have done many Imu's over the years but never did try to replicate in a smoker but am planning on one tomorrow so this was interesting to see pop up! Just salt with rock salt if you don't have the Alaea Hawaiian red clay salt. Use Mesquite if you don't have Kiawe. I have heard of people finding Banana leaf in asian markets in many cities, an Idea to think about. If not available just rock salt and then wrap in butchers paper should be pretty tasty and add some Hawaiian flair with different sides to go along with it!! Hope this was helpful and hope everyone has a Great Time!!

Edit, You can order Banana leaf online I believe. Sounds like you have a few weeks to plan so that could work for sure. Also you can get the Alaea salt on Amazon. I have many friends with salt restrictions also and When we do Imu's we just go light on the salt. It's more the smokiness and the Banana leaf or Ti leaf or both if you can get them that really makes the flavor. As I said above you can always add more salt after if needed!!

Aloha,

Sean

 

[Filipino-Boy]

I would stick to a simple Kalua pig recipe in a smoker. No need to over salt. You can always add more after per individual plate. If you have access to some Banana leaves or Ti leaf all the better. Google making Kalua pig in a smoker. There are some great ideas out there. Raised in Hawaii myself and have done many Imu's over the years but never did try to replicate in a smoker but am planning on one tomorrow so this was interesting to see pop up! Just salt with rock salt if you don't have the Alaea Hawaiian red clay salt. Use Mesquite if you don't have Kiawe. I have heard of people finding Banana leaf in asian markets in many cities, an Idea to think about. If not available just rock salt and then wrap in butchers paper should be pretty tasty and add some Hawaiian flair with different sides to go along with it!! Hope this was helpful and hope everyone has a Great Time!!

Just get some pork butt from Costco and sprinkle coarse sea salt on the meat add some liquid smoke and put in foil pan and cover meat with banana or to leafs and cover pan with foil and put in oven for couple of hours when you thinks it cooked through shred meat like pulled pork you can even do it a large roaster when cooked through meat should shred effortlessly

 

[Redicans]

Just get some pork butt from Costco and sprinkle coarse sea salt on the meat add some liquid smoke and put in foil pan and cover meat with banana or to leafs and cover pan with foil and put in oven for couple of hours when you thinks it cooked through shred meat like pulled pork you can even do it a large roaster when cooked through meat should shred effortlessly

Yep works fine also. Just sounded like he wanted to use a smoker, but you are right!

 

[Filipino-Boy]

Yep works fine also. Just sounded like he wanted to use a smoker, but you are right!

That’s how most people in Hawai’i now do it for small get together and you may need to add more salt after shredding pork and if meat is to dry and there’s no oil in pan add some chicken broth

 

[Nefarious]

Nefarious,

I would stick to a simple Kalua pig recipe in a smoker. No need to over salt. You can always add more after per individual plate. If you have access to some Banana leaves or Ti leaf all the better. Google making Kalua pig in a smoker. There are some great ideas out there. Raised in Hawaii myself and have done many Imu's over the years but never did try to replicate in a smoker but am planning on one tomorrow so this was interesting to see pop up! Just salt with rock salt if you don't have the Alaea Hawaiian red clay salt. Use Mesquite if you don't have Kiawe. I have heard of people finding Banana leaf in asian markets in many cities, an Idea to think about. If not available just rock salt and then wrap in butchers paper should be pretty tasty and add some Hawaiian flair with different sides to go along with it!! Hope this was helpful and hope everyone has a Great Time!!

Edit, You can order Banana leaf online I believe. Sounds like you have a few weeks to plan so that could work for sure. Also you can get the Alaea salt on Amazon. I have many friends with salt restrictions also and When we do Imu's we just go light on the salt. It's more the smokiness and the Banana leaf or Ti leaf or both if you can get them that really makes the flavor. As I said above you can always add more salt after if needed!!

Aloha,

Sean

I've located mesquite pellets, frozen banana leaves, and alaea salt. I plan on doing a test smoke tomorrow. I have a few questions.

Could I smoke on extreme smoke, 180°, for a few hours then wrap in the banana leaves for the duration of the cook. If I smoke this low it takes 5 or 6 hours to get to 150°ish. Plenty of time to get flavor from the banana leaves.

Can i put the salt on the butt and leave it in the refrigerator overnight to get better salt absorption, that way I can use less salt.

I can also add some mesquite chips to a pellet tube to get more smoke flavor is needed.

 

[Redicans]

I've located mesquite pellets, frozen banana leaves, and alaea salt. I plan on doing a test smoke tomorrow. I have a few questions.

Could I smoke on extreme smoke, 180°, for a few hours then wrap in the banana leaves for the duration of the cook. If I smoke this low it takes 5 or 6 hours to get to 150°ish. Plenty of time to get flavor from the banana leaves.

Can i put the salt on the butt and leave it in the refrigerator overnight to get better salt absorption, that way I can use less salt.

I can also add some mesquite chips to a pellet tube to get more smoke flavor is needed.

I have never used a pellet smoker but I would think that would be fine for a few hours. Yes you can salt it the night before. Couple of recipes I have seen do that. A few recipes I have seen even wrap the whole thing banana leaves and all in butchers paper after it hits 160*

Think the pellet tube would work also. Give it a shot and let us know how it turns out. I'm sure it will be tasty!!