Pacific Island Foods – Welcome to Rosemarie's Kitchen

Years ago, some friends opened a restaurant called “The Teriyaki Hut”. My friends were from Hawaii. Naturally their menu included some island favorites such as Kahlua Pig. I loved the stuff – it was about as close as you can get to the pit-roasted pig without roasted an entire pig beneath a bed of banana leaves and hot coals. I first fell in love with Kahlua Pig at a luau in Maui and then again in Moorea. Traditionally, a pig is roasted for as much as twelve hours in an underground oven called a imu. A fire made from mesquite wood is build in the pit. Rocks are placed in the pit to retain the heat long after the flames of wood has burned down. Once the rocks are heated, the pit is lined in banana leaves, just as the meat is wrapped in the same leaves. Wet burlap buries everything in the ground, allowing the smoke to circulate while the leaves help keep everything moist. While this dish is a tourist favorite at luaus throughout Hawaii and the South Pacific, it is no less delicious and well worth a taste.