Hawaiian Pig
The Hawaiian Pig can be a great option if your kettle grill and your 125-pound pig don’t seem to match. After all, not everyone has a big cooker, but everyone owns a shovel. As Tom Sawyer once said, “Digging the hole can be half the fun”—or something like that. And the moist and tender results from a homemade earthen oven are hard to match with any cooking apparatus. In Hawaii large volcanic rocks are used to line the imu, or underground oven. These rocks hold the heat for an extended period of time, ensuring a proper cook. You can substitute river rocks if they are taken from a “dry” river or creek bed. Rocks from a wet stream have trapped moisture and when they heat they can explode and send shards of sharp rock whistling through the air. You will also need to find banana leaves and/or ti leaves. Banana trees are often used as ornamental plants for residential landscaping, and leaves can be harvested with no damage to the tree. They are also available frozen in many Latin and Caribbean markets. Ti leaves can be acquired at your local florist, but they can be expensive.
Recipe information
Yield
serves: 70
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Dig a hole 7 feet long by 4 feet wide by 2 1/2 feet deep. Pile dirt on one side of the pit only. You will be working on the other three sides.
Step 2
In the center of the pit build a large fire from a quarter cord of wood or 160 pounds of charcoal. When the fire is burning hot, add 20 to 30 large dry river rocks to the fire with a long-handled shovel. Continue to pile more wood or charcoal around and on top of the rocks. The fire is ready for cooking when all the charcoal is lit or the wood forms a bed of hot coals. With a long-handled shovel, make a shallow depression in the middle of the coals and rocks where the pig can lie. Push extra rocks aside and use them later to pile on the sides of the pig.
Step 3
Lay out one sheet of chicken wire on a table and place the whole pig on top, belly up. Use a sharp knife to score the inside of the hog’s hams and shoulders.
Step 4
In a small bowl, mix the salt, soy sauce, garlic powder, black pepper, and MSG, if using. Rub the seasoning blend evenly on all exposed meat inside and outside of the cavity.
Step 5
With a long-handled shovel remove 3 to 4 large rocks from the fire and place them into the cavity of the pig. Immediately wrap the pig with the second sheet of chicken wire and secure with baling wire. On each end of the pig, make handles out of baling wire, extending 3 feet from the chicken wire. These will be used to lower your pig and to recover it from the pit.
Step 6
Place a layer of banana leaves over the hot rocks and coals. Using the baling-wire handles, lower the pig into the pit. Cover the pig with more banana leaves. With the shovel, push extra rocks around all sides of the pig. Cover everything in the pit with the wet burlap sacks. Cover the sacks with the canvas tarp. Starting at the edges of the tarp, cover the whole pit with dirt.
Step 7
After 12 hours of cooking, unearth the pig. Using the baling wire handles, remove the pig from the pit. Unwrap the chicken wire from the pig and let the pig rest for 30 minutes prior to serving. The pig can either be offered whole, letting the guests use tongs to pull their own meat, or hand-pulled, chopped, and served.
Cooking Method
Step 8
Underground
Suggested Supplies
Step 9
1/4 cord of wood or 160 pounds charcoal; 20 to 30 large river rocks 8 to 10 inches in diameter (from a dry riverbed); 10 burlap sacks, soaked in water; a 12 x 10-foot canvas tarp; two 4 x 6-foot pieces of chicken wire; a spool of baling wire; 5 dozen banana leaves or 10 dozen ti leaves; shovel
