Roasting a pig luau-style requires an investment of time and money, but is easy to do.
Whole roasted pig is a dish often romantically associated with the Hawaiian luau. You may envision slabs of brown-skinned, fall-off-the-bone tender pork piled high on your plate. You might even think about cooking a whole roasted pig luau-style yourself. Cooking a whole pig sounds like a daunting task, but if you are looking to feed an army of guests, pit-roasting a pig luau-style is an excellent choice. Add this to my Recipe Box.
Instructions
1. Contact your neighbors and the local fire department before your scheduled roasting day. You must let them know that you plan to roast a pig in-ground so that no unnecessary panic ensues.
2. Dig a pit. In Hawaii, the pit is called an imu and should be about 3 feet wide, 5 feet long and 1 foot deep for an average-sized 200-pound pig. If your pig is a little bigger or smaller, dig the hole so that it along with the remaining roasting materials fit snugly inside it.
3. Line the bottom of the pit with wadded newspaper. Add a layer of mesquite on top of that, and finally the volcanic rocks on top of the mesquite. Light the newspaper and let the fire burn for at least 1½ hours or until the rocks are white-hot. The fire should be monitored at all times to make sure it does not get out of hand. Should it escape the pit, make use of the garden hose to immediately put out the fire.
4. Use your shovel to spread the rocks evenly along the bottom of the pit. Remove a few of the rocks to place inside the pig. Cover the rocks with 6 inches of vegetation. Traditionally, banana or ti leaves are used, but you can use corn stalks or heads of cabbage.
5. Lay a large piece of chicken wire on top of the vegetation. Place the pig on top of the chicken wire and place some of the hot rocks inside it.
6. Put another layer of vegetation on top of and surrounding the pig. Put the soaked burlap bags on top of the vegetation.
7. Place several layers of thick plastic sheeting on top of the mound. The purpose of the plastic is to ensure that no air can get into the imu and no steam can escape.
8. Shovel dirt over the sacks to cover the entire mound. Pack on enough dirt so that nothing under it is showing but not so much that it is hard to remove.
9. Roast the pig for eight to 10 hours, or longer for larger pigs.
10. Remove the dirt and then the tarp. Have someone help you to roll the tarp off the pig so that no dirt falls into the pit. Remove the vegetation and have someone help you to carefully grab both ends of the chicken wire to lift the pig from the pit. Be careful, as the pig will be very heavy.
11. Put the cooked pig onto a large serving tray. The pork will be very tender and may fall through the chicken wire if it is not immediately transferred to an appropriately sized dish.
12. Cover the imu up with dirt so that the fire is contained.
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