# First try at abt's and a pork roast in my La Cajita China



## Steve McMurtry (Jan 21, 2007)

The ABT'S were fantastic I made eight, and should have made a dozen or two!  
The roast was underdone due the probe on my polder packed it in again   These probes are crap!
It still turned out great, moist and tastey  

Cheers

http://profile.imageshack.us/user/merc01/


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## Puff1 (Jan 21, 2007)

Thanks for the pics Steve.
That's an interesting piece of equipment. How long was the roast on?
A little chilly there huh


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## Green Hornet (Jan 21, 2007)

No doubt about it> That is the most interesting looking cooker I have seen in quite awhile. looks like it did the job just fine! You can never make enough ABT's ! I found that out a long time ago 
Þ


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## Steve McMurtry (Jan 21, 2007)

Puff
The roast was on 1.15 hours
It takes much less time at warmer time of the year.
Cheers


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## Nick Prochilo (Jan 21, 2007)

Good looking stuff Steve! I was at a wedding a few years ago and they used one of those cookers to cook a whole pig. It was great except it doesn't get any smoke flavor because your cooking it in a box with the fire on top. What did you do with the other 1/2 of the peppers from the abt's?


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## Steve McMurtry (Jan 21, 2007)

Nick

I pitched them!  

Cheers


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## Nick Prochilo (Jan 21, 2007)

You could have had 16!


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## Bruce B (Jan 21, 2007)

Steve McMurtry said:
			
		

> Nick
> 
> I pitched them!
> 
> Cheers



*YOU PITCHED THEM!* [smilie=eek2.gif]  [smilie=eek2.gif]  [smilie=eek2.gif]


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## Steve McMurtry (Jan 21, 2007)

Nick

Your right, but I only cut the tops off,(deep boat) so I could really stuff em!
Next time (next weekend) I'll cut them in half and double the order!

Cheers


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## Smokey_Joe (Jan 21, 2007)

I still can't quite get a grip on them cookers.... they kinda remind me of the photocopied jokes that get passed around at work....

like the one of the "woodstove"...and it's a wooden box with a door and a stove pipe out the top.

I wonder what happens with that thing if the fire ever has a FLARE UP [smilie=rlp_smilie_003.gif]  or grease fire. Maybe it's designed so that's an impossibility... but all the same....


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## CarolinaQue (Jan 21, 2007)

*Re: First try at abt's and a pork roast in my La Cajita Chin*



			
				Steve McMurtry said:
			
		

> The ABT'S were fantastic I made eight, and should have made a dozen or two!
> The roast was underdone due the probe on my polder packed it in again   These probes are crap!
> It still turned out great, moist and tastey
> 
> ...



One thing that I learned about probe thermometers is that you can't let the door of the cooker, or lid, crimp the wire. Or else it will ruin it in a very short amount of time. You may want to drill a hole just for it to fit through to avoid the crimping.

Tim


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## cleglue (Jan 21, 2007)

Smokey_Joe said:
			
		

> I wonder what happens with that thing if the fire ever has a FLARE UP [smilie=rlp_smilie_003.gif]  or grease fire. Maybe it's designed so that's an impossibility... but all the same....



It shouldn't flare up the fire is on top of the metal lid and it is outside of the box.

Here's their website

http://www.lacajachina.com/


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## Steve McMurtry (Jan 21, 2007)

Brian,

It does a fantastic job on just about anything, but no smoke flavour!
Another great thing with this unit, is it's great for standing around with
the odd adult beverage in the winter ! 8) 

Cheers


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## bigwheel (Jan 21, 2007)

Well that is a cute cooker you got there.  Could tell that butt looked a little red. Might trying adding the "poke test" to your doneness checking routine. Dont take too many pokes to get a feel for it.  Some folks use a fork..I just use the slim pointy end of my Wally World Instant read gauge with large readout for old blind folks.  Aint quite as destructive to the meat as twisting a fork around in it and you can also read the dial to see whut it say on the temps. Just offers a little double check on the electrical gizmos.  Sure those things can be treacherous. Now the one I got dont lie too much but it likes to loose its signal sometimes. Guess it had too many beers spilled on it over the years..or maybe got too close to the fire etc.  

bigwheel


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## Steve McMurtry (Jan 21, 2007)

Thanks Bigwheel,

I did poke it, and sure felt like it was done, but it was not quite done
around the bone!
I have even spilt the odd Shiner  

Cheers


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## Puff1 (Jan 21, 2007)

Steve McMurtry said:
			
		

> Brian,
> 
> It does a fantastic job on just about anything, but no smoke flavour!
> Another great thing with this unit, is it's great for standing around with
> ...


From the looks of the temps up there   that sounds like a great idea


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## bigwheel (Jan 21, 2007)

Well that happens to everybody. I have been fooled many times usually erring on the side of not cooking it quite long enough.  Seems like hooch consumption is direcectly proportional to at which stages a piece of meat passes the poke test.  I think if a person drinks a lot of hooch it gets done faster but is more red and chewy. 

bigwheel


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## Puff1 (Jan 21, 2007)

bigwheel said:
			
		

> Well that happens to everybody. I have been fooled many times usually erring on the side of not cooking it quite long enough.  Seems like hooch consumption is direcectly proportional to at which stages a piece of meat passes the poke test.  I think if a person drinks a lot of hooch it gets done faster but is more red and chewy.
> 
> bigwheel


It might depend on what kind of hooch you are speakin' of


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## Smokey_Joe (Jan 21, 2007)

cleglue said:
			
		

> Smokey_Joe said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Well I'll be diggered!    From the pics you posted, it looked like the try of coals got lowered down into the box maybe...

Seeing it on the website explained everything.... I've never seen or heard   of one before.......pretty cool rig!

Keep us posted with it's performance......thanks for the link to their website.


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## Steve McMurtry (Jan 21, 2007)

Hooch?

Yup, there was a fair amount of that!


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