Dutch Oven Kalua Pork Tacos
Pork shoulder over coals for three hours, then shredded into tortillas with pineapple and cabbage.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 12 oz
- cal / oz
- 52
- protein
- 42 g
- serves
- 8, scales
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 180 min
- total time
- 195 min
- water
- 240 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Dutch oven
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Pork shoulder or butt | 4 1/2 lbs | bone-in is fine, it cooks the same |
|---|---|---|
| Liquid smoke | 1 tbsp | this is the whole point, do not forget it |
| Light soy sauce | 1/2 cup | |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp + 1 tsp | the teaspoon is for the slaw |
| MSG | 1 tsp | optional |
| Salt | 1 tbsp | |
| Black pepper | 1 tbsp | |
| Water | 1 cup | |
| Apple cider vinegar | 2 tsp | |
| Sesame oil | 2 tsp | |
| Pineapple | 1 cup | canned chunks, drained, travel better than fresh |
| Limes | 2 | |
| Shredded cabbage | 1 bag | red or green, pre-shredded saves a cutting board |
| Onion | 1/4, chopped | |
| Cilantro | 1 bunch | |
| Corn or flour tortillas | 1 package | |
| Charcoal briquettes | 1 bag |
Method
- Light a full chimney of briquettes, or burn a campfire down to coals. You want steady heat for three hours, so plan on adding fresh coals twice.
- Score the fat cap on the pork and rub it all over with the salt, pepper, sugar, and MSG.
- Set the pork in a 12-inch dutch oven. Pour the soy sauce, water, and liquid smoke around it, not over it, so the rub stays put.
- Lid on. Bury it in coals: roughly a ring underneath and a full layer on top, aiming for a low steady oven. Check every 45 minutes and top up the coals.
- At two hours, poke it. If a fork turns freely, it is done. If not, give it another hour.
- While it finishes, toss the cabbage and onion with the vinegar, sesame oil, the teaspoon of sugar, and the juice of one lime.
- Pull the pork out and shred it in the pot with two forks. Stir it back through the cooking liquid.
- Warm the tortillas on the lid. Build with pork, slaw, pineapple, cilantro, and a squeeze of lime.
This is car camping food, not pack food. Four and a half pounds of pork shoulder and three hours of coal management do not fit in anyone’s backpack, and the payoff is that you feed eight people from one pot.
The liquid smoke is standing in for a fire pit lined with banana leaves, which is the honest version of what happened here. It works because pork shoulder is mostly collagen and fat: hold it around a low simmer long enough and it falls apart on its own, no technique required. The slaw exists to cut through it. Vinegar and lime against a pot of salty pork is the balance the whole plate depends on, so do not skip it.
Packing
Pork goes in the cooler on the bottom, frozen solid if the drive is long. Premix the salt, pepper, sugar, and MSG in a film canister. Soy sauce, liquid smoke, sesame oil, and vinegar all ride in small bottles.
Variations
- No dutch oven: a foil pan sealed tight over a grill grate with the fire pushed to one side does most of the same work, just watch it more.
- Leftover pork crisped in a skillet the next morning with eggs and tortillas is the actual best meal of the trip.
https://www.gondirtin.com/recipes/camp-fire-dutch-oven-kalua-pork-tacos