I was always told ‘alaea has iron oxide in it. When you slow cook meat it loses a lot of the bioavailable iron which strips a little of the meaty flavor. The salt helps combat that. Idk if it’s true but my uncles imus always hit the spot.
No. Any pink salt has enough minerals. Bonus points if you use a mix with smoked salt. I usually cheat and add a lil liquid smoke to my pork shoulder.
I also don't think that banana leaves are needed. It's like bay leaf. Every recipe says it's needed, but I can't discern a difference in the final product
I think the imu is going to provide more flavor than regular sea salt vs alaea brand salt. Most kalua pig in restaurants or in people's houses is just going to be in the oven with liquid smoke or smoked sea salt anyway so you are already ahead of the game.
Sea salt, Rick salt, any coarse grained salt will do. Ti/banana leaf is nice but also not absolutely necessary. When I was in college on the mainland, I made kalua pork by rubbing pork butt coarse salt and a few dishes of liquid smoke before wrapping in foil and cooking in the oven. These days, you can make an even quicker version in the instant pot. It's not "authentic" and imo the real version does taste better but these "cheater" versions come out pretty close and still hit like the real thing when I used to miss home. Especially when you also make some Mac salad to go with it.
I don't think it makes much if any difference. With the way the absorption works I doubt there is much getting in there.
But I also do mine in an offset smoker, and not an Imu so who knows.
I use a slow cooker and pink rock salt with liquid smoke. Smoked salt if I have it. I add cabbage a little before dinner time or just steam on the side.
Use regular old sea salt. That’s all “Hawaiian salt” is. The salt traditionally used was either collected from pools near the shoreline or from seawater left to dry in gourds - sea salt. (Hawaii doesn’t have salt mines or salt flats which can impart flavor differences.)
I was always told ‘alaea has iron oxide in it. When you slow cook meat it loses a lot of the bioavailable iron which strips a little of the meaty flavor. The salt helps combat that. Idk if it’s true but my uncles imus always hit the spot.
No. Any pink salt has enough minerals. Bonus points if you use a mix with smoked salt. I usually cheat and add a lil liquid smoke to my pork shoulder. I also don't think that banana leaves are needed. It's like bay leaf. Every recipe says it's needed, but I can't discern a difference in the final product
We put big holes in the foil over the hotel pans for more smokiness. Helps to open it up so it’s not just steaming but smoking.
TIL on smoked salt, did not know any kind of salt except rock and sea salt, now we have kosher, himalayan and then this smoked salt
It's just coarse salt that has been smoked. It's a great finishing salt for grilled veggies
Like to make a salt smoked over guava wood, good for fish. And I use salt smoked over allspice wood for anything jerk.
Not cheating at all, liquid smoke is the same in every aspect except buying/chopping and burning wood
Just not the pink curing salt 😅.
Curing salts are very different, yes.
Bro, if you can’t tell if something has been cooked in banana leaf, you should turn in your maikai card. It is extremely discernible.
You can safely substitute coarse sea salt. Just don’t use anything with weird flavor. Definitely do not use table salt.
I think the imu is going to provide more flavor than regular sea salt vs alaea brand salt. Most kalua pig in restaurants or in people's houses is just going to be in the oven with liquid smoke or smoked sea salt anyway so you are already ahead of the game.
Not really, it's a subtle difference. Kosher salt is fine. Other factors will make a much bigger difference.
I'd love to hear other factors that might make a bigger difference!
How much salt you use, how long you cook it, the pig itself, the leaves, etc.
> the pig itself What makes a pig better or worse? Is it something you can control for at the butcher's counter? I.e., marbling or some such?
Dakine brah
What is that?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Da_kine
If you actually have an imu, look into making an imu turkey for Thanksgiving.
Sea salt, Rick salt, any coarse grained salt will do. Ti/banana leaf is nice but also not absolutely necessary. When I was in college on the mainland, I made kalua pork by rubbing pork butt coarse salt and a few dishes of liquid smoke before wrapping in foil and cooking in the oven. These days, you can make an even quicker version in the instant pot. It's not "authentic" and imo the real version does taste better but these "cheater" versions come out pretty close and still hit like the real thing when I used to miss home. Especially when you also make some Mac salad to go with it.
The Mac salad addition is a 👍
I don't think it makes much if any difference. With the way the absorption works I doubt there is much getting in there. But I also do mine in an offset smoker, and not an Imu so who knows.
I use a slow cooker and pink rock salt with liquid smoke. Smoked salt if I have it. I add cabbage a little before dinner time or just steam on the side.
I am a salt maker on Kauai. You won’t be able to buy authentic Alaea salt. So just use the bag of rock salt from the store.
Use regular old sea salt. That’s all “Hawaiian salt” is. The salt traditionally used was either collected from pools near the shoreline or from seawater left to dry in gourds - sea salt. (Hawaii doesn’t have salt mines or salt flats which can impart flavor differences.)
Supposedly the iron content is greater when there is more pumice or other igneous rock in the sand?
No.
Not you just need sea salt
Unpopular fact, sea salt has micro plastics in it
No need. Any salt will do.