Kalua Pork

It can be hard when you need or want to feed a crowd to know what to do that won't cost you an arm and a leg. And the more complicated the dish you pick the more exhausting time it is going to take to put it together leaving you feeling stressed and frazzled for your party. That is why this recipe is such an amazing one. Besides the fact that it only has THREE ingredients (four if you count water), it is a fix-it-and-forget-it recipe. The pork turns out flavorful and tender and it is also versatile. You can serve it over rice or potatoes or on rolls with barbecue sauce like we like to do. The cut of meat you will need is pork butt or shoulder (same cut). You can buy a 15 lb. package of this stuff for $30 from Costco. Feeding a large crowd for $30? Yes please.

The recipe and picture are courtesy of Mel's Kitchen Cafe and can be found at this site here: http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2009/08/kalua-pork.html

KALUA PORK
From Mel's Kitchen Cafe
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*Mel always makes a ton of this when cooking it because it freezes well but feel free to scale down the recipe as needed.*

10-12 pounds pork shoulder butt roast (don’t substitute a leaner cut of pork or it will be dry)
1 bottle liquid smoke
2 tablespoons sea salt (or hula salt if you can find it)
1 1/2 cups water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Trim roast of large pockets of fat (but leave some fat on there to help the pork stay tender while cooking). Place pork in large roasting pan (the aluminum, deep roasting pans you can buy at the grocery store work great if you don’t own a heavy-duty roasting pan). Rub 2-3 tablespoons of sea salt into pork. Pour the bottle of liquid smoke over and around the pork. Pour the water around the pork.

Cover roasting pan TIGHTLY with two layers of aluminum foil.

Bake for 5-7 hours (don’t uncover while baking – let the steam and heat work it’s magic!).

Shred with two forks and serve with rice or on rolls with barbecue sauce.

*NOTE: If you want to put it in a crockpot cook it on low for 14-16 hours.