Crockpot Kalua Pork and Hawaiian Mac Salad
Servings: 8 servings
Ingredients
Kalua Pork
- 4 lb pork shoulder
- 1 tbsp Alaea sea salt
- 1¼ tbsp[ liquid smoke
Hawaiian Mac Salad
- 1 oz dried macaroni
- 1 large carrot, shredded
- 3 scallions, diced
- ½ tbsp onion powder
- 1½ tbsp granulated sugar
- ½ cup Japanese mayonaaise (or Best Foods/Hellmann's)
- ¼ tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Rub one tablespoon of Alaea (baked Hawaiian red clay) sea salt over all sides of a 4 pound pork shoulder. Note: It’s important to use Alaea salt when making Kalua Pork. It’s got a unique flavor due to the rich minerals, iron oxide and earthly clay flavor. You can buy it here.
- Place the pork shoulder in a crock pot and drizzle the liquid smoke over the meat. Place the lid on the crockpot and cook on HIGH for 5½ hours or until fall-apart tender. Remove the bone and fat and shred the pork with a fork. Keep the Kalua Pork warm until ready to serve.
- When the pork is getting close to done, make the Hawaiian Mac Salad. Cook 1 ounce (½ a box) of dried macaroni in salted boiling water until tender. Just follow the instructions on the back of the pasta box.
- Once tender, drain the pasta and place in a bowl. Stir in 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and ¼ teaspoon of salt into the hot noodles. Then, allow the noodles to cool to room temperature. If you are in a hurry, spread the noodles out on a baking tray to cool faster.
- While the noodles cool, shred one large carrot and dice three green onions (scallions). Stir the vegetables into the noodles along with the onion powder, granulated sugar, Japanese mayonnaise and black pepper. I highly recommend Japanese mayonnaise for its umami flavor, but if you can’t find it, Best Foods or Hellmann's Mayonnaise works too. Serve the mac salad immediately and while it's the creamiest.