Kalua "Pig": 1st Attempt

Kalua pig is one of those quintessential local dishes you will find at any gathering or diner. Traditionally, kalua pig is cooked in an imu (a large hole in the ground that acts as an oven). The meat is rubbed with salt and wrapped in ti and/or banana leaves then cooked with hot stones and burning koa wood. After hours of slowly cooking in the ground, the meat absorbs the smoke from the wood and banana leaves. Most of the kalua pork found in restaurants is an oven-roasted pork shoulder rubbed with salt, wrapped in ti leaves, and cooked with liquid smoke.

This is my very first attempt at cooking local-style food. I decided to use just the ingredients I had on hand already, so there is some tweaking to be done.  I will most definitely be trying this again in a month or two so I can compare the results. I didn't have ti leaves or banana leaves so I improvised based on other kalua pig recipes.

Lately I have been getting into using jackfruit as a meaty substitute. The stringy flesh of this fruit resembles pulled pork. In fact, a lot of vegans use it for their barbecue recipes. You can find canned jackfruit at Asian and Indian markets. It's usually less than $2 so it's a nice, cheap alternative to meat. The young/unripe fruit in brine is the kind you want. Be sure to rinse off the brine before cooking with it. The mature fruit (typically in syrup) is sweeter. Fun fact: JuicyFruit gum is jackfruit flavored.

For this recipe:

- 1 20oz can of young jackfruit. Rinsed and shredded.
- 2 tsp of Hawaiian salt (any sea salt should work)
- 1/2 tsp liquid smoke.
- 1 banana
- 1 tbsp olive oil

How to make:

Preheat the oven to 350.

Rinse the jackfruit.

This is what it looks like right out of the can. After rinsing the pieces, shred it by hand.  There will be a couple harder pieces. I like to cut them up and keep in my dishes because I don't like to waste anything (or I will snack on the harder pieces while preparing my food).

In a medium bowl, mix the jackfruit, oil, salt, and liquid smoke. Once everything is all mixed up, put it in casserole dish lined with tinfoil. Throw in the banana (sliced longways) since we are not using banana leaves to cook or wrap the jackfruit.

Wrap that shit up. For right now, we are pretending the tinfoil is our ti/banana leaves. Next time, I am totally using leaves in my cooking. Throw the dish in the oven for an hour and half at 350. Once your kitchen smells of mesquite smoke and banana, you know it's ready.

Tada! Sorry I am not the best food photographer. It's another skill I hope to improve upon in the coming months.

Once it cools a bit, serve with a scoop of rice (I like my rice seasoned with furikake).


Final results:

So my first attempt wasn't a complete failure. It has a smokey, slightly salty taste. The banana gives just a hint of sweetness. Very simple flavors, but quite tasty. Any vegan would be happy to have this at their next luau.

I was missing some key elements though. Next time I will use ti leaves or banana leaves to wrap my jack fruit. Or my other option is to use a slow cooker. I will try both methods in the coming months and compare results.