We hosted our first ever, and now potentially Annual, Luau last weekend.  By my estimation, it was a success!  The tiki torches were lit, a grass skirt covered the beverage table, the Mai Tais were flowing, and the pulled pork dishes were plentiful.  Well, not exactly plentiful.  The pork went quickly which pleased me that people were enjoying it but drove me crazy that I under estimated the amount of meat that I needed!  We had a friend of a friend who professionally smoked one large pork butt for us (thank you Rick, Chip and Bill!) which we shredded and served with a variety of BBQ sauces — Stubs Spicy, The Salt Lick Original, Sweet Baby Ray’s.  It was phenomenal — the kind of flavor and texture only achieved by a real professional!  As an alternative to traditional BBQ pulled pork and in an effort to put some Hawaiian flair into my food offerings, I made some teriyaki pulled pork, and served it on Sweet Hawaiian Rolls with some pineapple salsa.  These little Hawaiian sliders were pretty delightful if I do say so myself.  Luckily I staged two of the sliders for a photo before my guests came. I’m glad I took the chance to eat them then, because by the time I went to get another one during the party they were gone.  This is a good sign, but again, I wish I’d have made twice as much.  We topped the sweet and savory teriyaki pork with the pineapple salsa (complete with a little kick from some minced fresh jalapeno).  All of those sweet and savory juices absorbed right into that soft sweet Hawaiian roll and created one little bite of Hawaiian heaven.  You must give these a try this summer! Served with Cilantro Lime RIce with Pineapple (coming in next post, also thanks to the Luau), this is an easy and delicious Hawaiian themed meal.

Teriyaki Pulled Pork Sliders (Makes about 24-30 sliders)

Ingredients:

6-8 lb pork shoulder (bone-in is ideal)

3 Tbsp brown sugar

3 Tbsp kosher salt

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper

1 white or yellow onion, sliced thin

1 16 oz. bottle of Teriyaki Marinade and Sauce (I tried Ken’s Steak House and Maui Mountain and preferred Ken’s). An extra bottle of teriyaki is nice in case you want to drizzle more on.

2-3 packages of Sweet Hawaiian Rolls, sliced

Directions:

In a small bowl, mix together dry rub — brown sugar, kosher salt, garlic powder, ground ginger and pepper.  Clean and dry pork shoulder.  Cover pork with dry rub messaging it in so it really sticks to all sides.  Heat large saute pan on high heat.  Sear all sides of pork shoulder (1-2 minutes on each side and on ends) until thoroughly browned.  Lay sliced onion on bottom of crock pot and place pork shoulder on the bed of onions.  Drizzle about half of one bottle of teriyaki sauce over pork and cook on low for 8 hours.  After cooked, drain the juices out of the crock pot (with pot holders to hold the crock pot, pour juices through a strainer placed in the sink in case any of the pork or onions escape).  Shred pork with two forks discarding fat and bone.  Mix in the rest of the teriyaki sauce and keep crockpot on warm or low.  Serve on sliced Sweet Hawaiian Rolls with Pineapple Salsa.

Pineapple Salsa (Makes enough to top 24-30 sliders)

1 20 oz can crushed pineapple

1/2 cup diced red pepper

1/2 cup diced red onion

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

2 Tbsp orange juice

1 fresh jalapeno, diced or a few shakes of red pepper flakes

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together.  Chill for at least two hours to let flavors meld together.

Mai Tais!