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How to make Kalua, a.k.a. cooking a pig in an imu
After a trip to Hawaii, where I tried to be on the thorough side of photo documentation, I'm trying my hand at travel blogging.
First up, is the process of making an imu. This is a Hawaiian tradition of making an underground oven and using it to cook pigs or vegetables or whatever you want to put inside. The cooked pig is called kahlua.
We cooked 3 pigs in two rounds of imus. The guys that came to do the work knew what they were doing.
Ultimately, the pig will be cooked by hot rocks within the hole. Let's take a step by step look.
Step 1: Dig a hole.
Step 2: stack firewood.
Step 3: Cover wood with rocks
This hole was built too big, and they ended up using a peice of roofing to make it smaller.
Step 4: prepare the pig while lighting the fire
This pig apparently went down easy. Our host went to ceremoneously take the pigs life. He offered it some food and splashed some wine on its head before taking it out. The 'pens', so to speak, where the pigs were were actually acres of land. The next pig wasn't so hungry and not as trusting. He took off and there was a lot of chasing before the deed could be completed.
Step 5: Make sure you get real deep in there
And get all those organs out
Try this link if imbedded video doesn't work
I don't think the heart was saved for anything, but it looks like it was set aside momentarily here in case anyone wanted to take a raw bite out while the head was twisted off
Step 6: String the sucker up, skin him and section him
Step 7: Next, break up some banana stalks to lay over the fire when the time is right. Not shown is the truck driving over the stalks to break it up.
The heart of that banana stalk is really smooth. Does it taste good Rob? It does.
Step 8: Hawaiian supermario watches over the fire and makes sure it burns well. I loved this guys outfit. It was pretty fun to watch him and the other guys around the fire. They spoke in hawaiin pidgeon, of which I could pick up a little of what they were saying. When he learned that I wasn't from there he was surpised I could understand any of it, and then he tried to mess with me, saying there was a snake next to me. He talked about the show 'Naked and Afraid' and how he couldn't understand why people have so much trouble in the wilderness. In Hawaii, where the weather itself is rarely an issue, people get pretty comfortable being outside. Well, these guys anyway. I think a lot of the inhabitants have gotten pretty 'Americanized' as Gwar would say.
Step 9: When the pig finally goes into the imu it's dark out and I don't have any good pictures. They let the fire go for a really long time. The idea is that they let the entire fire burn out, and it's only the heat from the stones that cook the pig.
When it all goes in things happen pretty quickly. The rocks get covered with broken up chunks of banana stalk as I showed before.
On that goes the the cages of meat and any vegetables. And those get covered with ti leaves. The ti leaves get covered with burlap that had been soaking in water
and for good measure the whole thing gets covered up by a tarp and finally dirt goes on top.
If anything goes wrong, the rocks will explode or the pig will explode. The guys setting it up gesticulate the event of an explosion. They've been doing this their whole lives and they've seen both these things happen. The one guy's mom wrote a book on cooking kahlua, and the other guy does the cooking for hotels. If the rock isn't right, it will explode. It needs to be a holey volcanic rock. If the pit isn't completely snuffed out, the pig will explode. Every two hours throughout the night somebody will check on the imu and make sure there's no smoke coming up. If there is, they'll add more dirt and some water.
The pig cooks at least overnight. After that, there's no harm in letting it sit for a while. The bulk of the heat has disapated and it will just stay warm underground. These pigs were uncovered after the wedding ceremony, and people pitched in to do the unveiling.
Here you can see the burlap uncovered
Here you see the ti leaves discarded to expose the meat beneath
And we all get ready to eat, yum.
Leaving just ashes behind. And some grates. And some leaves. And a pile of hot rocks. You get the idea. So give it a try if you're daring, but be warned that there are some explosions that could happen along the way. Just try not to eat the hole hog. And if you've got a pig at home in a pen and some corn to feed him on, then all you need is a pretty little girl to feed him when you're gone.
