La Caja China Hog Roast

[swamprb]

You can get an Igloo 120 QT Polar Cooler for @ $60 and it will fit easily. Unless its frozen?

https://www.amazon.com/Igloo-Polar-Cooler-120-Quart-White/dp/B004QILD6W/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1468403584&sr=8-2&keywords=120+quart+cooler

I kind of freaked when I saw the  box the last one came in-it was @ 5' long! I got one of those plastic kiddie pools for $12 thinking I was going to have to thaw the pig in it. The Manager at my local Restaurant Depot was good enough thaw it since I ordered it far in advance and it was perfect when I picked it up. Had it on a pallet and drove it up to my SUV on a fork lift and I slid it in the back.
You should be able to drop the pig belly up in the cooler and still pack 6 or 8 average size bags of ice in it.

Pull it out of the ice & cooler at least 3 hours before you start your cook- a cold pig will add more time on the cook.

[mhiszem]

Awesome thanks! I actually just borrowed a 120qt cooler from a friend and was going to try it. I am getting really excited to cook this pig. I pick it up Friday afternoon to be cooked on Saturday. Thank you @swamprb for all your help!

[Travis]

@mhiszem when is your roast? I bet your getting pretty stoked about it. I know I would. Good luck, bud. Get lots of pics!

[mhiszem]

Saturday afternoon! I am very excited but still a little worried. Until I have the pig in my possession I will still be worried. With the pig being the main dish if I don't have it things will get interesting.

[guitarfish]

@mhiszem So how did your cook go?

[Travis]

Yeah mhiszen, how'd it go?


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[mhiszem]

It went really well. Only a couple of things we would have changed. Of course I did not get a picture of the finished product but hoping I can find someone that did. It was a huge hit and pork was delicious.

More details:
We used 4 thermometers to monitor the temperature: 1 in each ham, 1 near the head and 1 measuring the box temperature itself. The box temperature fluctuated all the way from around 207°F to 390°F. We removed some ash part way through to get the box temp up and I think the temp climbed too quickly. We didn't let the skin crisp up enough either. But like I said everyone loved the pork and I would definitely do it again. As far as roasting a pig in a La Caja China it is surprisingly easy and straightforward.

Warning: pictures below may be too graphic for some people.

[Travis]

Yeah, too graphic cause I wanna be there to do a pig too!
How heavy was your pig and how long did that take?
Looks like it was a great learning experience! Tfs


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[mhiszem]

It was 63 pounds hanging weight. The butcher I went to charges $2.75/pound under 70 lbs and $2.49/pound over 70 pounds. It took about 6 and a half hours cooking time. We started at 10 am and it got done about 430 PM. It is still a lot of prep time. The night before, we had to split the rib cage and spine to get it to lay flat. Then we injected it and rubbed it to sit overnight.

[relayer61]

Just reading this from a FB post...https://www.facebook.com/forbes/posts/10154308939267509


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[swamprb]

Nice job!

[Darko]

That looks like a mighty fine piece of porky goodness!!!