Luau Pig
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
Here is about as fine a way to barbecue pig as has ever been invented. I learned this from Pomar, my Hawaiian-Samoan neighbor, over the last 10 years while helping him cook a pig in the ground for parties and celebrations. It's a fair amount of work, and requires some unusual cooking tools, but it is well worth it for an outdoor party that will become legend.
Luau Pig
Materials
1 hog. A 95-pound pig did nicely for approximately 120 people.
4 to 5 bushels of grapefruit sized river rock or granite.
40 to 50 pieces of dry, split firewood, plus kindling.
Sheet steel, one or several pieces to total approximately 4' square.
Chicken wire, one 4' section for each pig-quarter.
Carpet scrap, approximately 1' longer in length and width of pit.
150' of wide, heavy-duty aluminum foil. Get the thickest you can locate.
2 to 3 12" bundles of newspaper, plus a container in which to soak them. A clean garbage can or large wheelbarrow works well. The Wall Street Journal is perfect as it's not loaded with inserts and every page is exactly the same size.
75 to 100 pounds of cast-off vegetables such as cabbage leaves, lettuce or corn shucks/stalks/leaves. Most grocery store produce departments will save this for you if you pick it up daily.
The Marinade
Mix together in a large mixing bowl:
24 oz Le Choy soy sauce
10-12 scallions, chopped
garlic, chopped from several cloves
4-5 bell peppers, chopped
2, 16 oz cans crushed pineapple
Cooking the Pig
1. Dig the pit 6" to 8" deep sized according to the sheet of steel and the pig.
2. Place sheet of steel in pit.
3. Surround perimeter-edge of pit with unsplit logs. This forms a barrier for all that follows.
4. Using small, dry kindling and small, split firewood arranged in tee-pee, start fire in center of pit.
5. Quickly, so you stay well ahead of the growing fire and moving from small, split firewood to the larger pieces, surround the starter fire with wood. Wood should be placed in a tee-pee shape but with enough spaces between logs to allow plenty of air circulation. Use 40 to 50 pieces of firewood. Don't be shy here. You want to insure that all the wood will ignite, but you need to move on to the next step while its still possible to be next to the fire. It's not time for beer just yet, but it had damn sure better be cold.
6. Quickly cover the mound of firewood with 4 to 5 bushels of rocks. Grapefruit-sized river rock is good, although granite will tend to split less as it's heated. Caution: As the rocks heat, moisture is forced from them causing some to explode. There is a native name for this that escapes me.
7. Ok, you've turned the oven on and are waiting for it to come up to temperature. It's now time to deal with the pig. Unless you need the ambience of a whole pig, one that has been split into quarters is easier to deal with when it is time to stand in your oven and remove it. Split the pig into quarters, and cut off the head. Generously rub the pig down with marinade or your own favorite sauce. Wrap each section and the head well with wide, heavy-duty aluminum foil. The thicker the foil, the easier it is to unwrap later. After the foil, wrap each section with chicken wire to keep the foil intact and to aid in removing from the pit later. If the rock-covered fire is doing nicely, and the pig is ready to go in, you may pause at this point for a cold beer.
8. After an hour or so most of the firewood should be consumed and the rocks will be falling into the center of the pit. Using a pole, spread the rocks out around the pit. You want enough rocks left in the center to form a bed for the pig to lay on, and enough rocks off to the side to build up around the pig and cover the top. Any unburned logs may be pulled out and hosed off.
9. Lay strips of wide, heavy-duty aluminum foil on the rocks in the center where the pig-sections will be placed. Place the pig-sections on the foil and cover them likewise with strips of aluminum foil.
10. Using tongs or shovels, surround and cover the pig with the hot rocks. This is very hot work and another cold beer goes very nicely at this point.
11. When the pig has been covered with hot rocks, completely cover the mound with long strips of the heavy-duty aluminum foil.
12. Cover the aluminum foil mound with vegetation. Cabbage leaves, lettuce, corn stalks and leaves work well. Pile it on, don't be shy.
13. Completely cover this mound of now-steaming vegetation with wet newspaper. This is your oven's insulation and you want all of the heat for the pig. Work around the bottom of the mound up to the top. There is no need to unfold the newspaper, use entire sections. Pile it on. Stomp it down well around the sides. Anywhere steam is escaping, put another section of wet newspaper.
14. Cover the wet mound of newspaper with a wet piece of carpet.
15. You're done for a bit. Pull a chair up to the mound and have another beer. As you get up for still another, wet the carpet down with the hose. For a 95 pound pig cut into quarters, 4 to 5 hours worked very well. An whole pig will take an hour longer (plus be far more difficult to wrap, remove from the rocks, and serve).
Removing the Pig
It's time to take the pig out. Your guests should be here at this point so you should no longer have to fetch your own beer. They will be surrounding the mound, and curiosity over what they are really having for dinner will produce more than enough volunteers for this step.
Pull off the carpet and carefully rake back the vegetation and foil cover. Remove one of the quarters or with a helper on each corner of the chicken wire lift the pig from the rocks. Remove the chicken wire, peel back the inner foil, and slice. As you begin remove meat from the bone those who were your helpers will feel bold enough to have earned a sample. Their expressions of bliss will embolden the onlookers.
You now have a bit of a feeding frenzy on your hands. Caution should be employed here if you are the one doing the cutting and chopping. There will be no lack of volunteers at this point, and you may prefer to stand back with a beer. 8-)
Luau Pig
Materials
1 hog. A 95-pound pig did nicely for approximately 120 people.
4 to 5 bushels of grapefruit sized river rock or granite.
40 to 50 pieces of dry, split firewood, plus kindling.
Sheet steel, one or several pieces to total approximately 4' square.
Chicken wire, one 4' section for each pig-quarter.
Carpet scrap, approximately 1' longer in length and width of pit.
150' of wide, heavy-duty aluminum foil. Get the thickest you can locate.
2 to 3 12" bundles of newspaper, plus a container in which to soak them. A clean garbage can or large wheelbarrow works well. The Wall Street Journal is perfect as it's not loaded with inserts and every page is exactly the same size.
75 to 100 pounds of cast-off vegetables such as cabbage leaves, lettuce or corn shucks/stalks/leaves. Most grocery store produce departments will save this for you if you pick it up daily.
The Marinade
Mix together in a large mixing bowl:
24 oz Le Choy soy sauce
10-12 scallions, chopped
garlic, chopped from several cloves
4-5 bell peppers, chopped
2, 16 oz cans crushed pineapple
Cooking the Pig
1. Dig the pit 6" to 8" deep sized according to the sheet of steel and the pig.
2. Place sheet of steel in pit.
3. Surround perimeter-edge of pit with unsplit logs. This forms a barrier for all that follows.
4. Using small, dry kindling and small, split firewood arranged in tee-pee, start fire in center of pit.
5. Quickly, so you stay well ahead of the growing fire and moving from small, split firewood to the larger pieces, surround the starter fire with wood. Wood should be placed in a tee-pee shape but with enough spaces between logs to allow plenty of air circulation. Use 40 to 50 pieces of firewood. Don't be shy here. You want to insure that all the wood will ignite, but you need to move on to the next step while its still possible to be next to the fire. It's not time for beer just yet, but it had damn sure better be cold.
6. Quickly cover the mound of firewood with 4 to 5 bushels of rocks. Grapefruit-sized river rock is good, although granite will tend to split less as it's heated. Caution: As the rocks heat, moisture is forced from them causing some to explode. There is a native name for this that escapes me.
7. Ok, you've turned the oven on and are waiting for it to come up to temperature. It's now time to deal with the pig. Unless you need the ambience of a whole pig, one that has been split into quarters is easier to deal with when it is time to stand in your oven and remove it. Split the pig into quarters, and cut off the head. Generously rub the pig down with marinade or your own favorite sauce. Wrap each section and the head well with wide, heavy-duty aluminum foil. The thicker the foil, the easier it is to unwrap later. After the foil, wrap each section with chicken wire to keep the foil intact and to aid in removing from the pit later. If the rock-covered fire is doing nicely, and the pig is ready to go in, you may pause at this point for a cold beer.
8. After an hour or so most of the firewood should be consumed and the rocks will be falling into the center of the pit. Using a pole, spread the rocks out around the pit. You want enough rocks left in the center to form a bed for the pig to lay on, and enough rocks off to the side to build up around the pig and cover the top. Any unburned logs may be pulled out and hosed off.
9. Lay strips of wide, heavy-duty aluminum foil on the rocks in the center where the pig-sections will be placed. Place the pig-sections on the foil and cover them likewise with strips of aluminum foil.
10. Using tongs or shovels, surround and cover the pig with the hot rocks. This is very hot work and another cold beer goes very nicely at this point.
11. When the pig has been covered with hot rocks, completely cover the mound with long strips of the heavy-duty aluminum foil.
12. Cover the aluminum foil mound with vegetation. Cabbage leaves, lettuce, corn stalks and leaves work well. Pile it on, don't be shy.
13. Completely cover this mound of now-steaming vegetation with wet newspaper. This is your oven's insulation and you want all of the heat for the pig. Work around the bottom of the mound up to the top. There is no need to unfold the newspaper, use entire sections. Pile it on. Stomp it down well around the sides. Anywhere steam is escaping, put another section of wet newspaper.
14. Cover the wet mound of newspaper with a wet piece of carpet.
15. You're done for a bit. Pull a chair up to the mound and have another beer. As you get up for still another, wet the carpet down with the hose. For a 95 pound pig cut into quarters, 4 to 5 hours worked very well. An whole pig will take an hour longer (plus be far more difficult to wrap, remove from the rocks, and serve).
Removing the Pig
It's time to take the pig out. Your guests should be here at this point so you should no longer have to fetch your own beer. They will be surrounding the mound, and curiosity over what they are really having for dinner will produce more than enough volunteers for this step.
Pull off the carpet and carefully rake back the vegetation and foil cover. Remove one of the quarters or with a helper on each corner of the chicken wire lift the pig from the rocks. Remove the chicken wire, peel back the inner foil, and slice. As you begin remove meat from the bone those who were your helpers will feel bold enough to have earned a sample. Their expressions of bliss will embolden the onlookers.
You now have a bit of a feeding frenzy on your hands. Caution should be employed here if you are the one doing the cutting and chopping. There will be no lack of volunteers at this point, and you may prefer to stand back with a beer. 8-)
