Kalua Pork Roast

The week before Easter Sunday, a grand niece of mine posted on Facebook how she fixes a Kalua Pork Roast. Actually, I think her husband does it. They do a brine first and soak the roast in that before they cook it. Then another niece of mine said that she and her husband fixed one for Easter Sunday.


It has been quite some time since I fixed a pork roast like this. I knew I had a shoulder pork butt roast in the freezer. I took it out of the freezer on Thursday. That night before I went to bed, I put the roast in the crock pot and let it cook on low all night. About 11 am Friday I took it out of the crock pot and let it cool before I shredded the meat. Here's the roast right after I took it out of the crock pot. I've shredded about half of the roast at this point.

It was so good. I fixed a potato/macaroni salad, rice and the pork for dinner that night. I warmed some of it up in the microwave before serving it. Then last night (Saturday) we had more of it for dinner. There is still a little bit left.

Here is how I fix it. It tastes just like it has been cooked in the imu (underground oven-Hawaiian style).

1 shoulder pork butt roast (I think mine was 3 to 4 lbs. I don't remember exactly).

coarse salt

liquid smoke

Set crock pot to the low setting. Put a little bit of water in the bottom of the crock pot. Just a little bit so that just the bottom is covered. Roll the roast in a coarse salt. I use sea salt. Gently push the salt into the roast making sure it is completely covered. Sprinkle liquid smoke all over. Place the roast into the crock pot and let it cook on low for 10 to 12 hours.

Remove roast to a pan and let it rest for a little bit. Mine sat for about an hour. Then taking two forks, pull the meat apart and start shredding it. It is easier to use your fingers to shred the meat. And yes, the meat will be hot. Just work quickly. And that is it. If you like cabbage, saute some cabbage until soft, use either regular cabbage, bok choy or napa cabbage. I didn't fix any cabbage, we had to eat early because Gerry was giving a guy that works at Carmichael Cycles a ride home to Pleasant Valley.

Pleasant Valley is on Highway 49 south of Placerville. Placerville is on Highway 50 on the way to Lake Tahoe. It was a pretty drive up there. We saw quite a few deer grazing along the way. Dusk is usually when the deer come out to feed. Unfortunately, I wasn't quick enough with my camera.

I got a care box from my Hawaii blogger friend, Jalna. I need to take pictures of my goodies then I will post.

Our weather is back to being crazy. It was pretty ugly yesterday, windy and dark skies. Then today just as church was over, the rain started. It rained pretty steadily this afternoon then a couple of hours ago it started raining very heavily. I said on Facebook it was bucketfuls. It has stopped now and the sun is actually shining a little bit, I see blue sky. There is suppose to be rain through tomorrow.

Our card swap yesterday was a lot of fun. I've posted pictures of the cards we made on my Elegant Reflections blog. http://elegantreflections.blogspot.com/. Take a look if you are interested. :) Our next swap is in June. I will be hosting one here at our mobile home park in August.