Kalua Pig with Cabbage

Ingredients

• 4 lb bone-in pork shoulder
• 1 1/2 tbsp coarse Hawaiian sea salt or coarse sea salt
• 1 tbsp liquid mesquite smoke
• 6 ti leaves or banana leaves, optional
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 small head green cabbage, about 1 1/2 lb
• 2 spring onions
• Steamed white rice, to serve

Before you cook

• Pat the pork shoulder dry with kitchen paper.
• Pierce the meat all over with a small sharp knife, about twenty times.
• Rub the coarse salt into the pork, working it into the cuts.
• Rub the liquid smoke over the whole surface.
• Rinse the ti leaves and strip out the tough central ribs if you are using them.
• Core the cabbage and cut it into eight wedges.
• Slice the spring onions thinly.

Steps

1. Heat the oven to 300F.
2. Line a deep roasting tin with two large sheets of foil laid in a cross.
3. Lay the ti leaves over the foil to make a bed.
4. Set the pork on the leaves, fat side up, and pour the water into the tin.
5. Fold the remaining leaves over the top of the pork.
6. Bring the foil up over the meat and crimp it into a tightly sealed parcel.
7. Roast the pork for 5 hours without opening the parcel.
8. Open the foil carefully, keeping your face back from the steam, and test the meat with a fork; it should shred with no resistance.
9. Lift the pork onto a board and let it cool for 15 minutes.
10. Pull the meat apart with two forks, discarding the bone and any hard gristle.
11. Skim the fat from the juices left in the tin.
12. Return the shredded pork to the tin and toss it through the juices.
13. Tuck the cabbage wedges in among the pork.
14. Cover the tin with foil again and return it to the oven for 25 minutes, until the cabbage is tender but still has bite.
15. Taste the pork and add a little more coarse salt if it needs it.
16. Scatter the spring onions over and serve with steamed rice.