Before you consider investing in La Caja China, there are a couple of questions that you need to ask yourself. The first is, how serious are you about cooking pork? The second is, how much meat do you want to cook at one time?
La Caja China is - quite literally - a large box that is used for roasting a pig in Chinese fashion, though it is hugely popular in Florida's Cuban community and anywhere else that people want to roast whole pigs. The medium sized model costs almost $300 and can hold up to a 70-lb pig (the large can handle a 100-lb swine). If you don't want to go the whole hog, it can also be used to roast 16-18 whole chickens, 4-6 turkeys, 8-10 pork ribs slabs, 8-10 pork shoulders or any other type of meat, all at the same time.
The way that it works is that a dressed pig is laid inside the box. The box is shut and covered with charcoal. After a few hours inside the aluminum-lined Caja China, the meat of the pig is cooked. At that point, the pig is flipped over - getting the skin side nearer to the indirect heat source - and the skin crisps up to be a dark golden color. The whole process takes a few hours, but connoisseurs say that the juicy meat and crispy skin is worth every minute of waiting time, although you may want to run errands or something while the pig cooks.
As for getting a whole pig, you're on your own.
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