• working on DNS.. links may break temporarily.

Thoughts on La Caja China hog roaster ?

W

willbird

Full Fledged Farker
Joined
Jun 30, 2012
Messages
433
Reaction score
60
Points
0
Location
MOntpelier,OH
You can google it up, I would post a link but don't want to break a rule if it is against one or more to do so :). Seems to me a LOT of the heat from the charcoal is wasted ?? And the ash drops on the Hog ??

Bill
 
I don't think in the long run much is wasted. And what is, is a trade off for how quickly the pig cooks.

Ash doesn't fall on the pig, unless you screw up, or have really hight winds. You remove the coal pan, and rest it on the long handles when going after the pig.

Downside is, unless you use some sort of smoke generator, you won't get much smoke on the pig. Cinder block pit would be cheaper, but bigger and bulkier. You can definitely cook a lot of food at once.

Smoke-In-Da-Eye here on the forum has posted at least one pig roast worth of photos
 
Stoke&Smoke said:
I don't think in the long run much is wasted. And what is, is a trade off for how quickly the pig cooks.

Ash doesn't fall on the pig, unless you screw up, or have really hight winds. You remove the coal pan, and rest it on the long handles when going after the pig.

Downside is, unless you use some sort of smoke generator, you won't get much smoke on the pig. Cinder block pit would be cheaper, but bigger and bulkier. You can definitely cook a lot of food at once.

Smoke-In-Da-Eye here on the forum has posted at least one pig roast worth of photos
Click to expand...

Well I'm just thinking as opposed to how chicken is cooked over a pit made from steel roofing ?? All heat has to go past the meat to escape, if you lay the coals on a grate on top, 50% of the radiant heat goes into the sky ? In more typical grilling, the radiant heat from the non meat side of the coals is reflected from the pit, or absorbed by it and radiated back into the cooking area ?

Bill
 
Yep! and a sort of expanded metal sifter that goes between the coals and the charcoal pan

An alternative at a similar price point would be a cinder block pit. Cowgirl has posted on the subject here http://cowgirlscountry.blogspot.com/2011/07/cinder-block-pit-cooking.html , and if you google 3 Guys from Miami, you'll find additional info.

Please be aware neither of these are on this site, so open them in a new tab or window so you can get back here soon! (Mods, if I have sinned, let me know and I won't do it again!)
 
Get yourself a La Caja China, a pig, some dutch ovens, and ingredients for beans or Brunswick stew and you are set. While the pig is roasting in the box, cook the beans and the stew on top by sitting them over the coals.

If you get creative, you can devise a grill over the coals too and use it to grill veggies, hot dogs, burgers, whatever.
 
Boshizzle said:
Get yourself a La Caja China, a pig, some dutch ovens, and ingredients for beans or Brunswick stew and you are set. While the pig is roasting in the box, cook the beans and the stew on top by sitting them over the coals.

If you get creative, you can devise a grill over the coals too and use it to grill veggies, hot dogs, burgers, whatever.
Click to expand...

That's why God made expanded metal, rebar and steel wire. :thumb:
 
I have seen the La Caja China roasters. I've also had pork out of the Caja China roasters. Easy, simple roasting but the meat needs some smoke IMO.

I just fabricated a Santa Maria cooker and modified it to also be a La Caja China cooker. I will be testing it with some pork butts in a week or two.

My cooker is all steel and I plan on installing a smoke generator on it so I can get some smoke flavor while roasting the butts, hog, etc.

Yes, I'm sure there is a ton of fuel waste, but, I have fabricated a grate to go over the charcoal during the roast in case i want to grill or keep something hot during the roast. Caja China also offers an optional, over the top of the charcoal grate.
 
OutlawSwine said:
Also check out the Asador Cubano. The coals go inside the box on this kind where you get the smoke flavor. A friend of mine has one and it is pretty sweet.
Click to expand...

That looks like it has a lot of promise. I didn't like the lack of smoke with the Caja China the couple of times I have cooked on one.
 
I've got a new #2 La Caja China that I'm roasting my first pig on Saturday. I'll post how it goes. I did a picnic shoulder on it just to break it in, and wasn't all that impressed compared to doing one on my BGE. It used a ton of fuel, and took a long time for something that is supposed to be faster than smoking.

Then again, you can't fit a 70lb pig on the BGE. :)
 
SmokeFan said:
I've got a new #2 La Caja China that I'm roasting my first pig on Saturday. I'll post how it goes. I did a picnic shoulder on it just to break it in, and wasn't all that impressed compared to doing one on my BGE. It used a ton of fuel, and took a long time for something that is supposed to be faster than smoking.

Then again, you can't fit a 70lb pig on the BGE. :)
Click to expand...

Only real disadvantage I see is no smoke. It really isn't designed to do 1 shoulder. If you'd had it filled, it likely would have been more efficient. But for 1 you likely had to use the same amount of coals, so yeah, more time, and less efficiency. If you'd done 8 or so shoulders, you might have had better results?
 
Stoke&Smoke said:
Only real disadvantage I see is no smoke. It really isn't designed to do 1 shoulder. If you'd had it filled, it likely would have been more efficient. But for 1 you likely had to use the same amount of coals, so yeah, more time, and less efficiency. If you'd done 8 or so shoulders, you might have had better results?
Click to expand...

Absolutely! I just wanted to get in a practice cook on the caja before I had 50 friends over to embarrass myself in front of. Not that it won't happen anyway. :mrgreen: I did learn alot from the shoulder cook. I was just amazed at how fast I was burning through the charcoal. I'm used to using the BGE where that much charcoal by weight would have fueled 30 hours worth of cooking time.

It wasn't the right tool for the job in this particular instance. I just wanted to use the tool! :) This weekend, I'll really get to see it do what it was made to do!
 
I did 5 pigs on my La Caja #2 this year. It's a different cook, but an pig rubbed in adobo and then injected with mojo criollo is something special.


I have the grates to go over the coals and often will be roasting corn, plobanos, vildallas etc while the box is doing the magic bellow. Also a few hamburgers and hoot dogs for the now pig eaters.

Also, the wind screen is necessary
 
NS Mike D said:
I did 5 pigs on my La Caja #2 this year. It's a different cook, but an pig rubbed in adobo and then injected with mojo criollo is something special.


I have the grates to go over the coals and often will be roasting corn, plobanos, vildallas etc while the box is doing the magic bellow. Also a few hamburgers and hoot dogs for the now pig eaters.

Also, the wind screen is necessary
Click to expand...

I purchased the adobo and mojo from Caja China and will be using them on my first pig.

Can you tell me how high the charcoal grate is above the ash pan?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

B
Whole Hog Smoke/grill
Replies
2
Views
509
mowin
M
SCRedneckBBQ
Smoking a whole hog and a deer at the same time
Replies
3
Views
1K
SCRedneckBBQ
SCRedneckBBQ
lastmajordude
Observations of an old dude
Replies
13
Views
624
jham0077
jham0077
T
Magnolia for smoking?
Replies
4
Views
354
Ron_L
Ron_L
G
B&B Charcoal Sale~!
Replies
8
Views
821
JCBII
J
Back
Top