Building a BBQ: Cuban Style

So my husband turns 40 this month. We plan to celebrate it. Big time. We shall ring in the next decade of his life, thankful we all made it through the last one . Heuer deserves a party. He has earned it.

When discussing food of choice…there was no hesitation in his voice. Heuer wanted a pig roast. A pig roast? Ok…so I offer to call around and see who can cater a pig roast. The big grin on his face told me he had others plans…

Heuer says, ‘we can do it ourselves. It will be awesome’.

You see, it seems there is this thing called the internet. And the internet told my husband we could build a pit in our back yard, and roast a pig. Me thinks I shall need to find a way to shut off this internet thing…this cannot end well. 😉

Actually, after reading through the website a few times, it all seemed really simple. A couple of cinder blocks, some tin foil and a couple feet of aluminum fencing. No problem. We head to Home Depot and pick up 48 cinder blocks. However, we did get a little surprise during our trip to ‘DIY land’ when we learn Home Depot does not carry aluminum fencing anymore, all they have is galvanized steel. Seems everything used for outdoor fencing now (chain link, chicken wire, etc.) is galvanized steel. The problem? You cannot let galvanized steel touch food you plan to eat as it rusts the minute something wet touches it. Bummer.

But onward we go. This is just one store. There are several lumber yards / hardware stores in the area, we just need to spend a little more time researching it. Confident we will find the aluminum fencing somewhere else, we load the 48 cinder blocks into the truck, head home and start building the base.

Chris' 40th Birthday Party

Three days later, 10+ calls and several in person trips to local lumber yards, we were still without the chain link for the ‘grill’. Wrench, meet our plan.

We started talking about option B: buying a pre-made Cuban box. Problem was we didn’t think we could get it shipped in time without paying through the nose for it. Then, talk of catering came back up. Several calls brought a price tag we could not afford. We had to solve for this.

I am in another frustrating round of calls, hearing the manager from a metal grating plant in Stockton tell me he can’t get his piece to me in time, when he says…’hey…if you are in San Francisco, you should try Flynn & Enslow’. Flynn & Enslow? Who the hell is that? A quick web search for their name, another phone call and low and behold – a business not five miles from our house can make exactly what we need, for the price that fits perfectly within our budget.

Unreal. I had searched the internet for four days. I used every key word I could think of. Flynn & Enslow never came up. Think maybe they should hire a SEO expert to improve their ranking. Gah. Would be nice to get my three days back, but nothing I can do about it now.

A couple of cuts, some metal wiring and poles that will provide the support…and we were on our way.

Chris' 40th Birthday Party

Happy to have this homegrown grill finally coming together, we order the pig. A 100lb pig. We are ready to party.

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