I am not sure if any of you read my post yesterday about digging a Kalua pit on which we cooked a 50†pizza, but this is the real reason for digging the hole in the ground and setting fire to it. Following advice from the experts (Huskee and Keith), We dug out a hole about 4 foot wide, 7 foot long and 3 feet deep, lined it with rocks and build a big fire.
I bought 2 good size Butts, which I prepped with my home made rub and a spot of liquid smoke. Before wrapping them in banana leaves and chicken wire, I put a temperature probe into each one. The probes were connected to a thermometer above the ground, which meant that I could check the temperature without digging up the pork.
Unfortunately I was not able to marinate the butts. Despite ordering 2 pork butts, the farmer accidentally sent me 30lbs of rib and loin, (which I did not want to slow cook overnight). An emergency phone call later saw the butts delivered, but they arrived too late for the proper treatment.
The pork went into the pit about midnight, and the pit was covered over and left for the night. As the beers went down, the pork temperature went up and all looked to be well. However, come 10am the next morning, checking the thermometer it became apparent that the temperature had peaked at about 180. The plan had been to reach 205 by this time, and then leave the pork in a fauxbro to rest until lunch. What we ended up doing was uncovering half the pit, and adding a few more logs which got the pork up to temp an hour or so later.
I think the problem was caused by 2 things. (1) we burned silver birch logs which burn quite quickly. There was loads of yew available which would have made a much better slow burn. (2) we did not cover or seal the pit properly. As I had made a metal door that conducts heat, we lost a lot of heat overnight by not putting a decent soil cover over the lot. In fact there were gaps where you could see the smoke coming up all night.
Shortly before the pork was ready we sent the kids to the field next door to pick some corn. Then whilst the pork rested I finished off the crackling on the BBQ. It was a brilliant experience which taught me a lot. I hope you like the pictures.
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