Laulau Recipe (Mountain Stew edition)
Cody Black, known on Instagram as @mountain.stew, kindly shared his laulau recipe with us.
A laulau in its most simple form is pork, fat, and salt wrapped up in luʻau leaves and cooked until ready to eat. The most common meat used is pork butt, although any cut of meat that holds up well to a long cook time may be used. You’ll see additions like salted miso butterfish, sweet potato, or other vegetables, as well as beef or chicken used in place of pork. Pork fat is the traditional fat for laulau, but you could use a heaping scoop of Naked Cow sweet cream butter if you like. I like using mushrooms and aromatics in my laulau, and I’ve used both Ali’i mushrooms and shiitake mushrooms—they hold up well to long cook times and provide great flavor. Aromatics such as lemongrass, ginger, and Makrut lime leaves add a very nice complex flavor depth to the laulau without compromising on the traditional laulau flavor. I don’t really care for potatoes in my laulau, but I highly recommend using popoulu bananas if you can find them. If you cook the popoulu bananas before they get too ripe, they hold up very well to a long cook time and have a really nice neutral starchy flavor. Salt is an incredibly important component that can make or break your laulau, and not all salts are interchangeable. I use a flake sea salt which I find to be slightly less salty than square crystal sea salt, so know your salt and try not to overdo it. You can always add more if you need to but you can’t take away.
Laulaus generally require a long cook time in order to ensure that the luʻau leaves are fully cooked through. Improperly cooked luʻau leaves will cause an itching or burning sensation in the mouth and throat that none of your dinner guests will appreciate. The most common method for cooking laulaus is by steaming, but for this recipe, I’ll be using the InstantPot to make things quicker. Laulaus can be wrapped in ti leaves or in aluminum foil—for this recipe I use aluminum foil because it’s easier and quicker. This recipe is just a guideline and example of how diverse or simple a laulau recipe can be. Adjust components to your particular taste, add in or take out items as you see fit, and experiment with different foods.
Recipe:
4-5 small to medium luʻau leaves (or 3-4 large leaves)
1 heaping tablespoon of salt (adjust to taste and to your variety of salt)
¼-½ lb of meat (pork butt, pork cheek, etc)
Small chunk of pork fat or butter/tallow
1-2 small to medium size mushrooms (Aliʻi mushroom, shiitake mushroom, etc)
Small chunk of Pōpōʻulu banana (or sweet potato)
¾ stalk lemongrass, cut to fit
A few thick slices of fresh ginger
2-4 Makrut lime leaves, depending on size.
Aluminum foil (with ti leaf optional)
- Clean and organize your luʻau leaves with the largest on the bottom and the smallest on top. The pointed tips of the leaves should be facing you, and you’ll see a natural curve in the leaves where you’ll want to place your filling.
- Sprinkle half your salt down on the leaves first and put your meat in. Depending on what type of salt you use and your taste preferences you may require more or less, so some experimentation is required.
- Add in the rest of your aromatics, starches, fats, and mushrooms in any way you see fit, and sprinkle the rest of the salt over everything.
- Wrap the laulau up like a burrito. The pointed tips of the luʻau leaves should be facing towards you, so find those tips and bring them up and over your filling and tuck them just underneath the meat if you can. Now fold in the two sides and while trying to keep everything tight and compacted, roll the laulau up into a nice little package.
- Wrap your laulau tightly in aluminum foil. You could place one or two ti leaves in the foil prior to wrapping your laulau if you desire. Try to keep everything as tight as possible.
- Pressure cook on high for at least 2 hours and use the natural release until you can open the pot (or natural release for at least 20-30 minutes if you’re too hungry). This cook time will vary on how big your laulaus are. If they’re on the bigger side then cook for 2.5 hours on high pressure. If they’re super jumbo massive with lots of luʻau leaves, then cook for 3 hours. This is another area where some experimentation will be required based on your ingredients and on your cooker. If you use a steamer, then it will be at least double the amount of time, so 4-6 hours. If you do use a steamer, you can open it and check a test-laulau for proper doneness.
- Serve with white rice, your poke of choice, kim chee, poi, and whatever other foods you want to go along with the meal.