Post #628077 by TikiRootsRocka on Thu, Mar 8, 2012 8:58 AM

Looks great everyone!
Here's my step-by-step Kalua pork and cabbage.

1. Rub and lather your pork butt/shoulder with red and black Hawaiian sea salt and hickory and mesquite liquid smoke.
   

2. Wrap pork in layer of cabbage leaves and put in roasting pot.
   

3. Cover and cook in oven at 250 for about 4-5 hours. "Low and slow." We want all the fibers in the meat to breakdown.
   

4. Remove and discard outer cabbage. Remove pork from juice, let cool, and shred.
   ***Here's one of my secrets...While shredding, you'll come across some nice juicy fat nuggets. Squeeze these fat nuggets in your hands so the fat is oozing out from between your fingers. Redistribute fat through shredded pork. We need to bring back some of the fat back into the meat, so ladel and mix in a little of the juice.
   

5. Remove the juice from the roasting pot and save it. Put your roasting pot on the stove, fill it with chopped cabbage, and ladel a couple ladels worth of juice over the cabbage. Cook the cabbage down over medium heat, mixing as necessary.
   

6. When I serve kalua pork and cabbage, I've learned to mix the pork and cabbage together ahead of time, especially if people are serving themselves. People don't realize that the two go hand-in-hand and that you need the cabbage to cut the salt. You also need the rice. The three compliment each other perfectly. Proportionally, I also think a higher cabbage to pork ratio is best.
   

Here, I've also got a little tsukemono cabbage and always gotta have some rice!

I also think this is one of those dishes that is best served the next day. There's something about the way the fat settles and redistributes on slow cooked meats, that tastes better re-heated.

Thanks for looking and enjoy!

Have a nice day!