Happy Independence Day!
Happy 4th of July!
Merica!
Happy 4th of July!
Merica!
July 4th is always a yuuuge holiday around my neighborhood. From the pool party to the near professional fireworks performance, everyone seems to fall into their niche. Mine, of course, is the bbq. This year was bigger and better as it always progresses. While discussing what we could possibly do for a menu, I randomly threw out a pig roast onto the discussion table. Well, my neighbors loved the idea so here it goes.
I figured that it was time to break in the new Caja China from Latin Touch Products. They graciously sent me one for testing and review. This is their 100lb box.
| I contacted my local butcher, Patton's Meat Market in Duluth, GA, to order a 100 pound pig. They didn't disappoint. |  |
 | Using a cleaver and a sledgehammer, we split the cavity to butterfly the pig so that it lays properly in the Caja China. |
I injected the pig with a classic mojo style injection found on the la caja china's website. Here it is:
1 cup sour orange juice **
1 tablespoon oregano
1 tablespoon bay leaves
1 garlic bulb
1 teaspoon cumin
4 teaspoon salt
4 oz. of water
4 oz. Pineapple juice (optional) secret ingredient in our Mojo Criollo
** You can replace the sour orange juice with the following mix;
6 oz. orange juice
2 oz. lemon juice
1 cup sour orange juice **
1 tablespoon oregano
1 tablespoon bay leaves
1 garlic bulb
1 teaspoon cumin
4 teaspoon salt
4 oz. of water
4 oz. Pineapple juice (optional) secret ingredient in our Mojo Criollo
** You can replace the sour orange juice with the following mix;
6 oz. orange juice
2 oz. lemon juice
After the injection, I gave it a healthy coating of salt, then dumped all of the strained ingredients from the injection and dumped it into the cavity. To the roaster!! We started this pig on it's back. That will all the skin to hold all of the juices inside the cavity, basically basting itself.
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We placed the lid on top and added an 18lb bag of Fogo Charcoal. Lighter fluid is a no no in my book. However, the charcoal wasn't flavoring the pig so I opted to use it to start the fire.
Note: The is the one time that lighter fluid is ok.
Note: The is the one time that lighter fluid is ok.
Once the coals were lit, I used a shovel to rake them out. The bulk of the coals were situated over the hams and the shoulders. The directions from the Caja China instructed that we should add lump every 90 minutes. We stretched that out to 2 hours because we were using Fogo premium charcoal vs a Kingsford briquette.
We got hungry while we sat around, drank beer and waited for the pig to cook. Luckily, I had a Crowd Cow brisket flat that I had just ground into ground beef. We decided to use the already burning and grill the burgers over the open fire.
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During the cook, the Thermoworks Chef Alram kept us up to speed on the temperatures.
| Once the internal temperature reached 187F it was time to flip the pig. After the flip, I scored the skin to all the edges to crisp up during the last phase. At this point, the meat was cooked through and done, we just need to crisp up the skin. |  |
After about 7 hours, this 100 pound piggy was done!
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Final Thoughts: The end product could not have been any better. This 100 pound piggy took approximately 7 hours to cook. The cracklin' skin was shatter crispy and the pork was tender with a velvet texture. Overall, the ease of this Latin Touch Products Caja China was impressive. I see lots of whole pigs in my future!
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