Kalua Pulled Pork

Ingredients:

4 - 5 lb pork butt (shoulder) roast
6 cloves garlic, 2 of them thinly sliced
2 Tbsp grated fresh ginger
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp coarse salt (try the real thing: Hawaiian coarse sea salt)
1 tsp pepper
2 Tbsp oil
1 - 14 oz can pineapple with juice
½ cup additional pineapple juice or water
2 tsp liquid smoke (optional)

Directions:

With a sharp paring knife, make 1” deep slits into the meat about 1 1/2” apart and slip a sliver of garlic into each slit. Rub the meat all over with the grated ginger, sugar, salt and pepper, working it into the slits.

Press Saute and when the display says Hot, add the oil  and brown the pork well on all sides. Press Cancel and add the pineapple and its juice and the additional juice or water.

Use a wooden spoon or a spatula to thoroughly deglaze the pot: scrape all the browned bits up off the bottom. Just shove the meat aside as you do this. Deglazing the pot will prevent the Burn warning.

Add the rest of the garlic and sprinkle the liquid smoke over the meat. Close the pot and make sure the valve is set to Sealing. Push the Pressure Cook (or Manual) button and use the + and - buttons to get to 90 minutes. When it beeps that it's done, leave it for 15 minutes natural release. Then flip the valve to Venting for a quick release and when the pin drops, transfer the pork to a plate or bowl and cover it with tin foil.

Scoop off and discard any excess fat from the cooking liquid. Press Cancel and then Saute. Allow the cooking liquid to boil down to about 1 cup. This can take several minutes. Then press Cancel.

Shred the pork with two forks and return it to the reduced liquid in the pot. Toss to coat the meat with the sauce. This is the closest thing to the pork I had in Hawaii when my parents took us to a luau there many, many years ago. Ahhhh… memories.