Oven-baked Kalua Pig

3 pound boneless pork butt

1 tsp Hawaiian salt

1/4 cup water

1 tsp liquid smoke

Wash the pork butt and pat it dry with paper towel. Place it on a piece of aluminum foil in a baking pan 9x12, 10x12 or whatever that is deep enough to collect the dripping. If you wish you may use ti leaves in place of the foil. Rub the salt evenly on the pork and pour 1/4 cup of water into the pan. Cover with aluminum foil and carefully seal the foil around the pan.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Place the pork in the oven and bake for 1-1/2 hour. Remove the pork from the oven. Carefully remove the aluminum foil [Watch out for hot vapor] and pour the drippings into a bowl and refrigerate. Flip the pork so the bottom faces up and put it back in the oven without the foil. Reduce the temperature setting to 300F and continue baking for another 1-1/2 hour.

Using two forks, the pork should shred easily. If not, return the pork to the oven and bake 15-minutes more. After the pork is nicely shredded, take out the bowl of dripping and carefully remove the solidified fat. Reheat the dripping in a microwave oven and adjust the salt taste of the dripping. When it is to your liking, stir in the liquid smoke and pour the solution evenly over the shredded pork and you have kalua pig that taste better than the ones from an imu. (Note: You may use one of those fat separating cups to separate the fat from the dripping. I prefer the refrigeration method)

Martini-Man, I do add 1/2 head of green cabage to this to make it the way I remember.