Kalua Pork and cabbage and questions

Caradoc said:

definitely can't trust the MES probe, I'm gonna have to buy one.

I've also got a whole bag of taro leaves I gotta use now too, lau lau is apparently on the menu this week.  Any recommendations?

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I got my Mav 733 from Todd. I think it's worth the extra $10 to have two hybrid probes. I don't know if his sale is still one but might be worth it to order. A lot of people here on SMF don't like the gen 2 MES. I live off-grid so an electric smoker isn't an option for me.

To make lau laus just cube up pork and lightly salt it with alae salt and wrap with the taro leaves and steam for about three hours. You could also do it with bone in chicken thighs. If you want to throw a smoke element into it cold smoke the salted pork/chicken with your MES and the amnts with the power off for an hour then wrap and steam. you can use ti leaves to hold together or wrap in aluminum foil.

You could also boil the leaves until tender add in cut up chicken or tako (again could be smoked) and ciconut milk.look up a recipe for chicken luau or squid luau.

I was I your neck of the woods last weekend!

I'll be following along again... I've never done Kalua in a smoker.

Btw, do a search for my "uptown funk" thread... I'm sure you'll see a lot of familiar places! ;)

Caradoc said:

BTW, that video was awesome.  My daughters are a lot younger, but the little one is pretty athletic, I'm seeing lots of either soccer or volleyball in her future. 

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If she plays soccer for the mililani ayso region tell Dunston I said hi!

Back before the recession I use to take my oldest over there to play for Leahi soccer club and they practiced at CORP; just down the road from you...

Btw, the mililani girls won the D1 championship game just after we win the DII game. I was rooting for them! I HATE the ILH!!!

I hope your smoke turned out...

Don't give up Caradoc!

Since going to Hawaii in July I have been making Kalua pork. Here is how I have made it & so far I have not had any complaints on it yet.

I use a pork butt for this & banana leaves.

I take a disposable tin pan & line the bottom with 2 leaves, dropped in opposite directions.
Then put some salt and pepper on top of the leaves.
Then lay the pork butt on the leaves, then put salt & pepper on the butt.
Wrap the leaves up over the top of the butt.
Cover with tin foil & put in fridge over night. (Sometimes I let it sit for up to 2 days.)
Take butt out of fridge 30-60 min before cooking.
Warm up smoker to 225°.
Pull tin foil off of butt (may need to use a couple of toothpicks in top to hold leaves closed.
Putt butt in smoker till it gets an IT of 160°.
Recover with 2 sheets of tin foil & cook to 195°-210°.
Pull butt out of smoker & set on counter while I get out the crock pot.
Once I have the crock pot out & warming up to just warm (I'm not trying to recook it just keeping it warm to serve it) I pull the butt out of leaves & pan & put in the crock pot.
I then poor all the juices from the pan into the crock pot & pull the butt.
When all done pulling stir it up a bit and mix in the juices.
Let sit for about 15 min then serve & let the meat melt in your mouth.
Just for your info I use a pellet grill with Mesquite & an A-Maze-N Tube with Pecan pellets.

BTW I did 30lbs on Friday for the people I work with her is a pick before pulling

As always

Let'er Smoke

Caradoc said:

Didn't come out again.  Was tough and overcooked.  Edible, but nobody really liked it.  Did not pull apart at all.  Can't think what went wrong.
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Well the 4 year old is gonna start in the Mililani AYSO in the fall.  My older daughter tried when she was six, but she really isn't a fan of anything that resembles work or effort, so she mainly chased butterflies and hated every minute of is, and you can imagine how well that went over...

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How are you measuring your IT? It sounds like it was undercooked... Again. If it pulls apart and is dry it was overlooked; if it doesn't pull apart and is dry its undercooked.

Don't trust the MES therms!!! Get a good therm like a mav or an igrill. That way you'll know what is actually going on in your smoker!

I'd suggest starting your smoke in the early am and if it's done early great. If not, you'll have more room for error to get that on the dinner table. Again not an expert here: I've never cooked PP in a smoker! Kalua in an imu? Yup, at least at work. I just love Hawaiian style smoked meat to much to go all the way to pulled pork...