La Caja China


 
K

Kent Perry

TVWBB Fan
Or "The China Box" for those who are Spanish impaired.

Did anyone else see the Cuban BBQ throwndown episode with Bobby Flay? The Cuban pork looked delicious! I'm thinking we ought to be able to duplicate the results on our WSMs. Anyone else willing to join the experiment and the discussion?
 
I did see it. He had Roberto Guerra as a guest on one of his other shows a while back. I have the model that they cooked on. These boxes are fantastic. You forego the smokey flavor but they can do a whole hog in just hours. The same results can be accomplished in a WSM, though it will take longer and the smokey smell and taste will be present. Both are very good things. We've done whole catfish, lamb, goat, butts, and turkeys and chickens in our caja. Very good stuff. That male (somewhat anyway) guest judge they had really got on my nerves though.
 
I saw part of the show (it's on past my bedtime) and it did look great. When I saw what they were doing, I immediatly thought of the Mojo Picnic recipe that is in Dr. BBQs cookbook. I've been wanting to try that one, but I have't gotten to it yet.
 
I use a variation of Mojo for my brisket and both times I've used it it has come out to perfection. Cubans use it for everything, including seafood and beef.
 
Here you go this will be my longest post ... did it on some fresh pigs but my spanish friend uses it on a pork shoulder.
8-9 lb pork pinic shoulder
16 oz white cooking wine
8oz oj
1 scallion
i knuckle ginger
1 whole white onion
1 red bell pepper
2T cumin
1t nutmeg
2 pkgs sazon goya (orange packet)
salt and pepper
10 garlic gloves to stuff pork with

score skin on shoulder to about i inch pieces
blend all ingredients in blender until smooth
marinate shoulder 24 hours prior to cooking
bone side first then skin side

cook at 300 degrees 1/2 hour per pound

those little scores you made in the meat make great snacks whike you are waiting.
 
I've made several butts using Kevin's Mojo recipe. The first one I butterflied and marinaded in the mojo sauce over night and then smoked. I then pulled and served with extra mojo sauce on the side.

The second one I used a grinder to grind the peppercorns & cumin to a powder and mixed it with the home made sour orange juice. Then I injected a bone in butt. I smoke it, pulled and served with sauce on the side.

My taste tasters thought the injected butt had a slightly better taste. I'm still experimenting for the ultimate Cuban Pork.

Once again, thanks for the recipe Kevin.
 
How do you make or where do you get sour orange juice?

I think I found out about this..
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For recipes requiring a bitter or sour orange, a subsitution may be required since these oranges may not be readily available. Use equal parts of orange and grapefruit juice or use 2 parts orange juice combined with 1 part lemon juice and 1 part lime juice.

Here's a link to the La Caja China.
 
I grow calamondin oranges which are a small sour orange (just a bit bigger than Key limes) but Seville oranges (the large sour variety) are often available, especially in markets that have a sizeable Hispanic clientele. Look for them near the lemons or, more often, with the 'Spanish' exotica--boniato, yuca, malanga, etc. If you see what looks like regular oranges--perhaps a bit paler, not quite so orange--sitting off by themselves, away from the sweet oranges, tangerines, etc., those'll be the sour ones.

The alternatives Tony mentions also work. If using the orange-grapefruit combo add a good squeeze of lime as well. It adds the high citrus notes that neither sweet orange nor grapefruit has.
 
Thanks Tony and Kevin never used sour oranges so I will be on the look out for them..

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Thanks for all that contributed to this thread. I did a couple of pork shoulders yesterday, brining them overnight with the recipe on the La Caja China site and injecting them with some of the Mojo before adding it to the brine. Then when these guys hit 190, I took them over to my gasser set on high and crisped up the outsides for a couple of minutes. We had some mighty fine eating and a little Cuban party for friends when we added some black beans and rice.

Note to self #1: Brining, even on a fatty butt roast makes it juicer. (Duh! hit myself on the forehead here.) I've done it as normal practice on my birds, but maybe the butts need it too.

Note to self #2. Gotta try sticking my Renowned Mr. Brown on the gasser some time to finish the outside layer.

Note to self #3. This forum has some great Mojo recipes on it. Gotta try those, too.
 
I am looking forward to some reviews of the smoker attachement as I would really like to give the La Caja China a try for a whole pig (no matter how hard that I try I can't stuff a whole pig on the WSM). Anybody have any other views on this piece of equipment other than the obvious lack of smoke issue (without the new attachment)? This year I was judging at an event that had a whole hog division and I tasted a pig cooked in a La Caja China and it definately did not taste as good as what came off of the traditional pit set-ups. This could have been because of the cook, but it gave me enough reason to be unsure of its ability to turn out a good product.

Sean
 
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