I am looking to purchase one of those large black steel Bar-b-Que/Smokers that you see the street venders use to cook their food. Is there a location in Santiago that sells them? Any help will be most welcome.
You have to make your own.
Check with a herreria (? Metal working shop?) and have one made. There is prolly some shop that semi-specializes in them.
I found a guy here that as going to make one out of a 55g or 30g drum for $RD3000 complete...IF I supplied the drum. That as the problem: finding a decent drum that never contained petro products. There is a store on the autopista going into Santo Domingo that has a bazillion drums.
Are these style BBQ a better alternative(woodburning) or should one install a propane feed making it more like a traditional BBQ.
I ask because the lack of good wood around and the length of time wood needs to get to cooking temp as well the cleanup after use.
My Cuban friends in Miami use Chinese Ovens to roast the Christmas pig, all basted with garlic, basil, oegano and Lime juics.WTG check out this home made Caja Chino
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They cook like an oven from the top. You can do whole pigs, goats, chickens...they don't over cook the meats and the top an be used as a cook surface as well...big time popular with the Cuban community in Miami....just google caja chino plans...and you'll be shown different varities FELIZ NAVIDAD
Doe's the lava rock still produce a good flavor for the meat and what is the life expectancy of lava rock. That's probably a dumb question being that it's named lava rock, but I had to ask.
It is absolutely correct that using natural wood will provide the best flavor. Finding that natural wood is another issue here in "hard to find stuff land", so I opted for the gas grill solution. Lava rock is used to disperse the heat more evenly from the gas flames. (They use a stainless steel baffle system in grills made today - I suppose you could have those made instead of using rock). The rock I actually used is a ceramic stone used for older gas grills as an improvement over lava rock and it should last for years. Lava rock will degrade faster and need to be replaced more frequently.
When we grill at our house in Jarabacoa, we use charcoal, but I always feel slightly guilty about that here on this island.