Originally Posted By: Planobilly
This is a pretty normal Cuban traditional thing to do.


When I was stationed in Oklahoma after Vietnam there were a fair number of Puerto Rican soldiers there and twice a summer they did a pig roast. They had this wild looking contraption that was chicken wire on every side welded to a metal frame held together at the corners by pins. The sides were hinged as well. When they pulled the pins the sides fell down. The pit they dug had allowed for about 9 inches on every side and they lowered that cage down onto cinder blocks at the bottom of the pit and thus had heat on the bottom and all 4 sides of the pig. And they had a vented metal hood that laid on the top to trap most of the heat and let some of the smoke out. When it was done they hooked a cable onto the cage and lifted the whole thing up with a hook on a tow truck crane arm. It was quite ingenious how they rigged it. The pig itself sat on it's own metal grate. These guys were all welders and metal workers and built this whole thing from an idea and scrap metal they got from the base. They were all lifers and where we were early 20-ish they were nearing the end of their hitch, like early 40s and up. We would all show up with side dishes and beer.

Mainly beer.

Between those guys they had a car repair business (this the tow truck), had built a race car to run at the local track, and were just outstanding welders. Being in the motor pool I got to know them well and when we had something that was a difficult weld I knew exactly who to call. I used to tell one guy he was so good he could weld air to water.