Indoor Barbecue: Pressure Cooker Kalua-Style Pork with a Pineapple-Mango Salsa

If you’ve ever had genuine Hawaiian barbecued pork, this traditionally involves roasting a suckling pig in a pit with hot rocks, banana leaves and kiawe wood (the Hawaiian version of mesquite). Since this is a lot of work, here’s a quicker way to replicate the tender texture with the smokiness– and making this is a pressure cooker. The pork butt turned out tender and delicious. I served this with sticky rice and a fresh mango-pineapple salsa for an indoor BBQ on a rainy day. It might not be exactly like in Hawaii, but it sure came close enough.

 

Hello friends!  I’m back from my self-imposed little vacation from my blog. To my world of invisible internet friends, one might think that every meal I make is blog worthy. I hate to burst anyone’s bubble, but that’s just not true.

Every once in a while, I simply lose my cooking mojo, and I resort to making a quick and simple pasta, soup, or some kind of quick skillet dinner.  My camera remains shut off, as I try to get something on the table in 30 minutes or less.  My husband never complains, knowing that I’ll be back to trying out new recipes, photographing them, editing and writing and sharing them with all of you– after he’s eaten them, and given me his honest feedback.

I’m always delighted  when my readers write to tell me that they have finally taken the plunge into using a pressure cooker.   Pressure cooking has an undeserved level of fear that it really doesn’t deserve.  If more people, who swear that their slow cooker is one of their most beloved cooking method, would try pressure cooking–they would quickly change their minds!  (However, if you want to make this recipe, you could do it in a slow cooker. Just increase the cooking time from one hour to 8 hours.)  See what I mean? Pressure cooking is a real time saver, and my slow cooker gets a little lonely– though I still use it on occasion.

I have shared several recipes from America’s Test Kitchen’s cookbook, “Pressure Cooking Perfection“.  When I downloaded the book into my kindle, I wasn’t sure if I’d make a lot of their recipes. 

I was so wrong!  This will be the seventh recipes I’ve made, and enjoyed, from this book (you can find my recipe index here.)

If you’ve ever had genuine Hawaiian barbecued pork, this traditionally involves roasting a suckling pig in a pit with hot rocks, banana leaves and kiawe wood (the Hawaiian version of mesquite).  I don’t know about most of you, but this is a lot more work than I’m willing to invest!  In the tradition of America’s Test Kitchen, they figured out a way to adapt this recipe so that you can make it at home.
Using a boneless pork butt and a pressure cooker is a perfect solution to achieve really tender meat.  From start to finish, this dinner was ready with about 15 minutes of prep work, and 60 minutes of letting the pressure cooker do the rest of the work.  On a work night, this is a blessing!

To mimic the flavor of wrapping the pork in banana leaves, green tea is mixed with salt & pepper.

I did see that America’s Test Kitchen’s sister website “Cook’s Country” has this recipe developed for grill.  Since I subscribe to all of their magazines (Cook’s Illustrated, included), I will try this version during our summer months.  On a rainy, cold day– this is just a little piece of the Hawaiian Islands at your fingertips.

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Indoor Barbecue: Pressure Cooker Kalua-Style Pork with a Pineapple-Mango Salsa

If you've ever had genuine Hawaiian barbecued pork, this traditionally involves roasting a suckling pig in a pit with hot rocks, banana leaves and kiawe wood (the Hawaiian version of mesquite). Since this is a lot of work, here's a quicker way to replicate the tender texture with the smokiness– and making this is a pressure cooker. The pork butt turned out tender and delicious. I served this with sticky rice and a fresh mango-pineapple salsa for an indoor BBQ on a rainy day. It might not be exactly like in Hawaii, but it sure came close enough.

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Course: main

Cuisine: American

Servings: 6

Author: Debby – www.AFeastfortheEyes.net

Equipment

• Pressure Cooker

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon green tea leaves about 2 bags
• Salt and pepper
• 1 4-pound boneless butt roast
• 2 cups water
• 1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke

SALSA:

• 4 pineapple slice rings preferably fresh pineapple
• 1 mango seeded and peeled
• 1 jalapeno minced with membrane and seeds removed
• 1/2 small red onion finely mined
• 1/4 cup cilantro finely minced
• Juice of one lime
• Salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

• Combine tea leaves, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper, then rub mixture evenly over pork.
• Combine water and liquid smoke in pressure cooker pot and add spice-rubbed pork.
• Lock pressure cooker lid in place a bring to high pressure over medium-high heat. As soon as the pot reaches high pressure, reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 1 1/2 hours, adjusting heat as needed to maintain high pressure.
• Note: I use a digital/electric pressure cooker. I simply locked the lid and set my pressure cooker to "high" and cooked for 60 minutes— and my pork was tender and cooked perfectly.)
• Remove pot from heat and allow pressure to release naturally for 15 minutes. Quick release any remaining pressure, then carefully remove lid, allowing steam to escape away from you.
• To serve, transfer pork to carving board, tent loosely with aluminum foil, and let rest 15 minutes; discard braising liquid.

Salsa:

• Finely chop all the fruit; add jalapeno, fresh cilantro, onion and lime juice. The cilantro tastes best if allowed to macerate, refrigerated, for a few hours or overnight.

Notes

Recipe source: “America’s Test Kitchen “Pressure Cooker Perfection”

Tried this recipe?Mention @afeastfortheeyes or tag #afeastfortheeyesblog!

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