Pulehu Steak

Pūlehu means to broil over hot coals. Not smoke, not roast — coals. It is the oldest cooking method in the Hawaiian kitchen that isn't an imu, and on the ranches of Hawaii Island and Maui it became the paniolo's steak: coarse pa'akai, cracked pepper, a bed of kiawe burned down to glowing, and nothing whatsoever in between. No marinade, no butter baste, no board sauce. The wood is the seasoning.

That puts every bit of pressure on fire management. Kiawe burns hotter and longer than most hardwoods and its coals hold ferocious radiant heat, so you burn splits down to a red-gray bed and cook on radiance, not flame. A dry surface is the other half — salt the steak at least 40 minutes ahead and leave it uncovered so the crust forms on contact instead of after the interior has already climbed.

Ingredients

• 2 ribeyes or New York strips, 1 1/2 inches thick, or 3 lbs bone-in short rib steaks
• Hawaiian sea salt (pa'akai), coarse — about 1 tsp per side per steak
• Coarse cracked black pepper, applied heavy
• That is the entire ingredient list

Cook Sequence

1. Salt the steaks on all faces 40 minutes to 2 hours ahead and set them on a rack, uncovered, at room temperature. The surface should look dry and slightly tacky when you carry them out.
2. Burn 3-4 kiawe splits down in the firebox or kettle until the flames die and you have a deep red-gray coal bed with a light ash coat. Rushing this and cooking over flame is the single most common way people ruin a pūlehu steak.
3. Rake the coals into a two-thirds bank, leaving a cool third. Set the grate low — 4 to 5 inches over the coals — and let it preheat until a drop of water vaporizes instantly.
4. Crack pepper on right before the steaks go down. Lay them over the hot bank and leave them alone 3-4 minutes until a hard dark crust releases from the bars on its own.
5. Flip once, cook 3-4 more minutes, then move to the cool third if the interior is lagging. Flare-ups get the steak moved, not sprayed — water on a kiawe bed throws ash onto your crust.
6. Pull at 125-130F in the center for medium-rare, checked at the thickest point away from bone. Kiawe coals carry serious residual heat, so the carryover will run 5-7 degrees.
7. Rest 8-10 minutes on a warm board, slice across the grain, and finish with a last pinch of coarse pa'akai on the cut faces.

Round Out the Plate

• Lomi Lomi Salmon — cold, salty, acidic — the classic counterweight
• Hawaiian Sweet Potato — 'uala goes right in the coals alongside
• Hawaiian Macaroni Salad — the plate-lunch standard