Dig a pit 1-1/2-times the size of the turkey. Secure the pit’s sides with chicken wire to keep dirt from crumbling onto the bird. Salt and pepper unstuffed turkey; wrap with ti leaves, then with cheesecloth, then with chicken wire. Place red hot coals or river rocks in the bottom of the pit, top with a layer of ti leaves. Place turkey on the ti leaves; cover with more leaves, then more hot material. Cover the pit with nonflammable heavy material. Cook for 5 hours.

Check the turkey at 4 hours using a metal skewer or knife for temperature and ease of penetration. When the still-wrapped turkey is done, remove it and put on a platter. Remove cheesecloth. The meat literally will fall off the bone, Kinoshita promised.

Anyone who has experienced a contemporary Hawaiian lu'au (feast) will find kalua pig a main part of the menu. Traditionally, the pig was cooked in an underground pit and served in plaited baskets made of coconut fronds or on large banana leaves. The shredded pork was just as tender and moist as a pork butt roasted in an electric or gas oven. The word kalua refers to the process of cooking in an earth oven (ka, the; lua, hole).

Throughout Polynesia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and even the Americas, traditional underground ovens have been utilized to cook and steam food. The Hawaiians used a pit oven, called an imu, to steam whole pigs, breadfruit, bananas, sweet potatoes, taro, chicken, and fish. The imu was essentially an underground pressure cooker. Due to the amount of time and labor to prepare the imu, most earth oven cooking was done for group meals, festivities, or religious ceremonies.