To all of the backyard grillers out there:

I can smell the charcoal firing up as we speak!

I want to talk a little about a simple outdoor roaster that I am growing to love and use a lot…it’s called a La Caja China Box. Here’s mine:

The La Caja China Story

It was the year 1985 during the Christmas season, when Roberto Guerra was cooking a pig on a makeshift barbecue, talking about all the trouble and long waiting time involved in this process. His father then talked about the long, wooden box he remembered from his childhood in Cuba.

His father told him how the old contraption, called the Chinese Box, cut the roasting times virtually in half. Roberto asked his father to build their very own box.

A few years later, the company, La Caja China, was born.

It’s the stuff legends are made of! Listen, I don’t resell these or get a commission for talking about them, but I’m seeing them more and more available even Home Depot online has them to order.

Last night I got off of work and I brined a whole chicken for a few hours, rinsed it, and put it into my China Box for about 90 minutes. The results were spectacular:

A little roasted chicken, some fennel cole slaw and my world-famous mashed potatoes with a charred lemon and BAM! you have some good eating there. Ok, I had too many potatoes last night, but heck you only live once. I’ll diet AFTER the holidays, right?

OK, there you go, the La Caja China box and anyone can use it. It’s super easy, fun, and different. I like all three of those things.

Happy grilling – I mean “roasting”.

Ryan