Hog Roasting / La Caja China Box
Discussion
Afternoon fellow foodies..
Do any PH'ers have experience of using a hog roast machine / La Caja China Box?
I need to cater for approx 50 people or so for a birthday party & roasting a pig is going to be a fun way to do it.
I've managed to source a hog roast machine (gas), new for a decent price or i can get a La Caja China box for an even cheaper price.
Pig cost is again, minimal.
I could hire someone in to do it, but by the time i've done that i won't have had much fun doing it myself & i'll have to give the oven/box back at the end of it.
Whilst i've BBQ'd for large numbers before, i've never actually cooked using a hog roaster or roasting box.
I don't find this daunting, more a challenge & something fun to try!
Looking for tips/advise from anyone who's attempted this before.
Also..... i've got a 1.2KG T-bone that i'll be cooking over coals tomorrow, but i'll start another thread for that.
Do any PH'ers have experience of using a hog roast machine / La Caja China Box?
I need to cater for approx 50 people or so for a birthday party & roasting a pig is going to be a fun way to do it.
I've managed to source a hog roast machine (gas), new for a decent price or i can get a La Caja China box for an even cheaper price.
Pig cost is again, minimal.
I could hire someone in to do it, but by the time i've done that i won't have had much fun doing it myself & i'll have to give the oven/box back at the end of it.
Whilst i've BBQ'd for large numbers before, i've never actually cooked using a hog roaster or roasting box.
I don't find this daunting, more a challenge & something fun to try!
Looking for tips/advise from anyone who's attempted this before.
Also..... i've got a 1.2KG T-bone that i'll be cooking over coals tomorrow, but i'll start another thread for that.
Hi Alex
No experience cooking a hog in a box but having seen it on TV a few times it does look like a bit of an art form compared to a relatively simple gas fires hog roaster which I have done numerous times.
One of the most important things is to get the hog wired to the spit and everything trussed up correctly. Having legs flailing or a spit turning and the pig sitting still half way through cooking is not something you want.
Personally, and you will know better than me, I would have thought that you could buy a hog roaster, use and and resell it for the same or more.
No experience cooking a hog in a box but having seen it on TV a few times it does look like a bit of an art form compared to a relatively simple gas fires hog roaster which I have done numerous times.
One of the most important things is to get the hog wired to the spit and everything trussed up correctly. Having legs flailing or a spit turning and the pig sitting still half way through cooking is not something you want.
Personally, and you will know better than me, I would have thought that you could buy a hog roaster, use and and resell it for the same or more.
Edited by 21TonyK on Friday 19th July 17:28
21TonyK said:
Hi Alex
No experience cooking a hog in a box but having seen it on TV a few times it does look like a bit of an art form compared to a relatively simple gas fires hog roaster which I have done numerous times.
One of the most important things is to get the hog wired to the spit and everything trussed up correctly. Having legs flailing or a spit turning and the pig sitting still half way through cooking is not something you want.
Personally, and you will know better than me, I would have thought that you could buy a hog roaster, use and and resell it for the same or more.
Thanks Tony,No experience cooking a hog in a box but having seen it on TV a few times it does look like a bit of an art form compared to a relatively simple gas fires hog roaster which I have done numerous times.
One of the most important things is to get the hog wired to the spit and everything trussed up correctly. Having legs flailing or a spit turning and the pig sitting still half way through cooking is not something you want.
Personally, and you will know better than me, I would have thought that you could buy a hog roaster, use and and resell it for the same or more.
Edited by 21TonyK on Friday 19th July 17:28
I've a butcher who'll sort out the spit & getting it all sorted in that respect.
I've found a chap via Facebook in the cooking pages who's moving a brand new one on.
I've done quite a few gas ones.
I would go for a 50kg pig for 50 people. The biggest difference is made by the type of pig, you want one with some fat on, rare breeds are perfect. Better to buy from a local abattoir, if you have one, than a butcher.
Just say if you need to know anything else.
I would go for a 50kg pig for 50 people. The biggest difference is made by the type of pig, you want one with some fat on, rare breeds are perfect. Better to buy from a local abattoir, if you have one, than a butcher.
Just say if you need to know anything else.
I built my own pit and frame for the spit. Have done a few for our two annual bbqs.
Full size pigs are bloody heavy. Also when they have been over a fire they are hot. There is usually a lot of fat. Pigs can catch fire when you drink too much beer. Keep a hose pipe on hand, did I say they can catch fire ? Also buy a letter branding iron thing so you can brand it
Full size pigs are bloody heavy. Also when they have been over a fire they are hot. There is usually a lot of fat. Pigs can catch fire when you drink too much beer. Keep a hose pipe on hand, did I say they can catch fire ? Also buy a letter branding iron thing so you can brand it
David A said:
I built my own pit and frame for the spit. Have done a few for our two annual bbqs.
Full size pigs are bloody heavy. Also when they have been over a fire they are hot. There is usually a lot of fat. Pigs can catch fire when you drink too much beer. Keep a hose pipe on hand, did I say they can catch fire ? Also buy a letter branding iron thing so you can brand it
This needs pictures please. The pit, frame and spit, not the burning pig Full size pigs are bloody heavy. Also when they have been over a fire they are hot. There is usually a lot of fat. Pigs can catch fire when you drink too much beer. Keep a hose pipe on hand, did I say they can catch fire ? Also buy a letter branding iron thing so you can brand it
ChrisnChris said:
Thanks, loving both those contributions David and C Lee.
Some real DIY ingenuity there, simple and proper brilliant!
I hasten to add that the picture I posted wasn't one of my pigs!Some real DIY ingenuity there, simple and proper brilliant!
This is me at Spitalfields a few years back, we did two pigs a day for a week.
Not without perks
I was on Ebay on Monday morning, got a notification saying an item i was watching was ending soon... a hog roaster.
I'd already emailed the seller to ask for a BIN price, but he said he'd already turned down an offer close to his BIN.
I cheekily (not expecting to win it), chucked a bid on at the last minute, which was already at way below his BIN price & i subsequently won.
I was a bit shocked, however i'd assumed it would fit in the back of my pick-up, no such luck, the seller had listed the sizes correctly (i thought he hadn't & it was a typo).
So Friday morning i'm off to collect it, with a trailer in tow!
I'd already emailed the seller to ask for a BIN price, but he said he'd already turned down an offer close to his BIN.
I cheekily (not expecting to win it), chucked a bid on at the last minute, which was already at way below his BIN price & i subsequently won.
I was a bit shocked, however i'd assumed it would fit in the back of my pick-up, no such luck, the seller had listed the sizes correctly (i thought he hadn't & it was a typo).
So Friday morning i'm off to collect it, with a trailer in tow!
A question for hog roasters on here from an 'event' point of view.
Whenever i've been somewhere that's had a hog roast as part of their event, the pig is always i presume, pre-cooked, do they fully cook it back at base & then simply warm it through, i presume they'd insulate it for travel & then simply fire the machine back up when at the event.
Whenever i've been somewhere that's had a hog roast as part of their event, the pig is always i presume, pre-cooked, do they fully cook it back at base & then simply warm it through, i presume they'd insulate it for travel & then simply fire the machine back up when at the event.
All the ones I did were onsite but I would imagine pre-cooking would work as long as the travel time wasn't silly.
One company I used several times before doing my own used to cook as they travelled. Not sure how legal or safe that was but they had a huge trailer and set off from the depths of Cornwall at 6am cooking all the way with it ready to serve from 2pm.
One company I used several times before doing my own used to cook as they travelled. Not sure how legal or safe that was but they had a huge trailer and set off from the depths of Cornwall at 6am cooking all the way with it ready to serve from 2pm.
I've done a few. There's some good info online. We've always attended site and cooked it there and then, starting early morning for a late afternoon/evening meal. There are some complications pre cooking and transporting, mess being one of them. You get a large amount of fat out of a whole pig. They're also very hot and very heavy, which makes them hard to manhandle around to move. You also don't want them coming off the spit or falling apart when transporting. Doesn't give a very good end product.
This is generally why commercial hog roasts are £600+ a time, because someone has to be paid for a day to cook, carve and serve.
Have fun, but for only 50 people I would have slow cooked and bbq'd some shoulder joints.
This is generally why commercial hog roasts are £600+ a time, because someone has to be paid for a day to cook, carve and serve.
Have fun, but for only 50 people I would have slow cooked and bbq'd some shoulder joints.
I've done both, using a commercial gas machine - a solid 12 hour job for a charity event. More knackering than a standard 100+ folk charity braai.
In SA, my F-i-L has a steel 'A' frame spit with an electric/chain mechanism, where the height can be adjusted. We tend to cook 3-4 brined/boned then re-tied legs/hands of pork for the extended family. Cook takes about 6 hours from start to finish over hardwood.
Good luck, its hard work, but rewarding.
In SA, my F-i-L has a steel 'A' frame spit with an electric/chain mechanism, where the height can be adjusted. We tend to cook 3-4 brined/boned then re-tied legs/hands of pork for the extended family. Cook takes about 6 hours from start to finish over hardwood.
Good luck, its hard work, but rewarding.
I used to part cook, leaving an hour of cooking on site but found it was better to fully cook before going to site. The meat is much better for resting and doesn't cool significantly. Our roasters have griddle plates under the pig when you carve so the meat can be flash fried if necessary.
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