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Saturday, March 10, 2012

Hawaiian Kalua Pork with Apple Coleslaw

I found this on Pinterest and tried it a couple weeks ago.  It is supposed to taste like the slow-roasted pig that they serve at luaus in Hawaii.  There are lots of recipes online - one of them used bacon to get the smokey flavour, but most of them called for liquid smoke so I went and bought a bottle.  I discovered that the smokey campfire smell kind of gets on my nerves after a few hours -- I put this in the crockpot before bed so that it would be ready for supper the next day, and in the middle of the night my eyes and throat felt like I'd been sitting around a campfire all night.  I was worried the whole house would stink of smoke, but it seemed to dissipate (or I just got used to it).

KALUA PORK
3 lb. pork shoulder roast
1 tbsp. liquid smoke (1-2 tsp. might be enough)
1 tbsp. coarse sea salt (Hawaiian sea salt if you have it - I couldn't find any at the store so I used regular sea salt - don't grind it.)

Remove any fat from the roast.  Rub with sea salt.  (You could also stuff some garlic cloves into it if you like.)  Place in a slow cooker and add liquid smoke.  Cook on low for 16 hours.  Remove from slow cooker (carefully, because it will all fall apart on you!)  Shred with two forks.  I wanted there to be a little bit of crispiness to the meat, so I scooped half of it into an oven-safe frying pan and put it under the broiler for about 10-15 minutes.  (I saved the other half for supper the next night.)  We ate this with rice, grilled pineapple rings, and apple coleslaw.  Freshly squeezed lime juice would be a nice garnish as well.

APPLE COLESLAW (from Canadian Living)
2 apples, thinly sliced (like matchsticks)
4 c. cabbage, shredded
1 c. carrots, shredded
2 green onions, sliced
1/4 c. cider vinegar
2 tbsp. oil
2 tbsp. water
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp. Lemon Dilly dip mix
salt & pepper

Toss first four ingredients together.  Whisk remaining ingredients together and pour over salad.  Let it sit for 15 minutes before serving.
This is likely the closest we'll ever get to Hawaii!
This was so tender and delicious - the kids loved it!  Now that I have a bottle of liquid smoke, I'm sure I'll make this recipe more often (although I might wait until it's warmer out so I can leave the windows open while it cooks!)

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