Caja China Time

I went to Miami for Labor Day weekend with Dalmau, my friend from law school. Since I am not much of a beach person, I was most excited to try out the Caja China, which I had read about in Jeffrey Steingarten's Vogue article. The official story is that it was an invention for roasting meat brought by Chinese people who moved to Miami, hence the name (which means "Chinese Box"). It is a wooden box on legs that is lined with heavy stainless steel. The stainless steel lid/top is a shallow pan which is meant to hold the charcoal that provides the indirect heat to roast the meat inside the box. You can roast anything in it-- turkey, steak, etc., but the best of all is pork shoulder!

Dalmau's brother, Felix, had a large Caja China which was big enough to hold an entire half pig. Unfortunately, that one was ruined from leaving it outside in the rain. In anticipation of our visit Felix ordered a new smaller one that was better for when you aren't cooking for a crowd of 20 people. After about an hour of fitting and hammering the pieces together we had our brand new Caja China!

We put two marinated pork shoulders (with plenty of garlic, salt and onion) into the box skin down and about a quarter of a large bag of charcoal in the coal pan. We left it to roast for an hour to half and when shopping. When we came back, we turned the pork over to finish roasting and crisp up the skin, added more charcoal, and left it for another hour and a half.

The results? Absolute perfection! The best pork I've ever had. It's too bad I can't have one here in Brooklyn. I need a garden floor apartment with a backyard to hold my own Caja China.