Lu'au questions.
 

Hey guys,

For the 4th of July, I'm trying for the first time a lu'au style feast.

I've done some extensive research and am confident I can get the imu and prepration part down. However, I can't seem to find much information on how to marinate the pig itself.

I've read about adding salt and an apple in the mouth for flavor. Does the pig get marinated or does all the flavor come from the pig and vegetation?

Also being from Colorado, I don't have acess to some of the vegations like banana stalks. What do you guys recommend? I've read about cabbage, corn stalks and cottonwood leaves.

I'm thinking about throwing in some lemon grass. Have anyone tried it?


Thanks in advance.

Sounds good bro... man, wish I could be there :icon38:

In Hawai'i...we dont particularly have lu'au parties and, essentially...a lu'au is a potluck where family and friends bring in their special dishes to share with everyone. That's how we do it in Hawai'i. These are the typcial stuff you can make or find.

Recipe for Kalua Pork
http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1727...240195,00.html

Lomi Salmon
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/reci..._14615,00.html

Laulau you can order
http://luauking.com/laulaus.html
or make
http://maindish.allrecipes.com/AZ/LL.asp

poi? good luck finding that on the mainland

if you want an authentic lu'au. you need to make an imu
http://www.ehow.com/how_6296_make-imu.html

^^thanks, I tired searching those sites before and couldn't find anything. guess you have to know what you're looking for.

Wish you and your gf could make it to :(

If you _really_ want poi, they sell freeze dried poi in a jar. I know some folks who had a baby with bad allergies. The baby couldn't eat much of anything else, so before moving to the mainland, that's what they stocked up on. My Mom, a retired nurse, actually said that it's a common food for babies here with allergies.

Too bad you're not in California. You can get all kinds of food from Hawaii there, or even go to places that serve many of the kinds of food you'd find at a luau.

If you know where to look you can find things. For me, I can find poi pretty easily at asain markets here but it's just not as fresh or tasty. I can get my hands on banana leaves, ti leaves but I wish I can get some fresh banana stumps.

God, I would die to live in Hawaii. You guys are so freaky lucky!

:o
That should do well enough, poi is not usualy fresh and definately not tasty. IMHO

take it from someone who has done imus alot. all you need is some good ol hawaiian salt, if not then the regular salt is good. and an apple in the mouth:icon22: its prabobly just a myth that you see on tv all the time cuz i have never ever used it. ever. its all about the way you put it in the imu and for how long. let me go check with my buddie on the good way to set it up. i ussually just help put it in and take it out. i'll get back to you....

Yeah, every where I've read it states Hawaiian salt, but honestly I have no idea what that is and if I can use sea salt instead.

^^^thanks for your help and looking forward to more suggestions.

yes, mainly hawaiian salt is sea salt. The more popular hawaiian sea salt has hawaiian red clay rich in iron called alaea.

http://www.saltworks.us/shop/product.asp?idProduct=116

Good luck in putting a pig in the imu. Most of us here just do the liquid smoke with pork shoulder in the crock pot (much easier and faster). And, you don't have to see the sorry looking face of the pig coming out of the imu.

as suggested I would recommend sticking with items that you can cook in a traditional kitchen (poi, lomi lomi salmon, lau lau, etc.) and if you want to do kalua pig I'd see if you can't find it already prepared at an asian or hawaiian product type market. cooking a pig in an imu is a science that I would attempt w/o someone with experience. you'd need lava rocks (which I doubt are readliy available where you are), banana leaves, ti leaves, etc. plus it takes a lot of man hrs to do this. if you can't find kalua pig in stores, then just make it yourself on the stove as suggested.

i agree with every thing said except for the banana leaves parts. its not a must have for the pig to be wrapped in. you can just use potato sacks or something similar. and for the rocks you don't need lava rocks just ones with no holes in em. cuz if theres holes then youll here a loud puff meaning the rock exploded. believe me. theres was some close calls.

i highly agree with showstoppertk about not attempting this without an experienced person but then if you rreeeeeaaally want that lu'au feeling then feel free. oh and make sure you call the fire department cuz over here we have to notify them before we start our fire. i'm sure you can guess why we need to do that so....good luck with yo lu'au

yeah burlap bags are fine, although with the rocks you might want to be weary of the composite of the rocks you use. you might want to try using sauna rocks (which you can order online or maybe find at sauna stores) since they can handle high temps and dispurse a lot of steam. don't just go outside and grab whatever rocks you find. this might be ok in hawaii, but different regions and climates produce different rocks, some of which can explode at high temps or release bad or poisonous gases.

good point on the rocks. totaly forgot on the different area thing...

Like Aloha350z said, the crockpot or oven kalua comes out great too, the liquid smoke works wonders, very easy and just shred meat with a fork after. Practically instant kalua pork, you can worry about other stuff like having a local hula halau or having some live hawaiian music, is always good too!

I understand your concerns and appreciate your advice. I'm really excited about doing this from scratch. I know this is my first time but it won't be my last. Experts start from somewhere right?

Anyways, I'm either using lava rocks or river rocks which I can buy at a local rock store. As for bananan leaves, those are common items at our local vietnamese markets.

Anyways, I dug the imu today. I'll post pics tomorrow. Its 5'x4' and 4' deep. I don't plan on cooking a big pig.

My pain concern at this point is preparing the pig. Its just one of those things that I'll have to tackle and learn on a trail basis.

Don't worry too much about seasoning the pig, maybe just lightly brush it with a liquid smoke mixture and just put sea salt all over it and it will be great. By the time you take that sucker out, it's going to be all falling apart and super moist. You're gonna have a ton of kalua pork. Remember, you can always add more salt when you are shredding it too, once it's out of the imu, so i wouldn't worry too much about it.

more imu info
http://www.primitiveways.com/Imu1.html

^^ that site was how I got interested in the Lu'au. So far, I find it to have the best info with pics.

I'll post pics along the way if anyone is interested. Thanks again for all the help.