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GRILLING
A smokin’ DIY project
By Jay Pawlowski
If there’s anything that proves just how far mankind has evolved, it’s barbecue. We’ve gone from rubbing stones together to make fire for the clanfolk’s dinner to factory-produced grills and smokers that look like they were inspired by NASA. Turn a knob, push a button, and you’re on your way. But where’s the fun in that?
Maybe it’s time for us to get back to our roots and take full ownership of our grills and barbecues—by making our own. You don’t have to be a tattooed jack-of-all-trades with your own extreme-DIY show on HGTV; there are plenty of simple and fun ways to construct an apparatus that will not only put you in harmony with your outdoor cooking, but also give you a level of backyard cred that Joe Store-Bought Weber can never achieve.
First, an important distinction: grilling (whether over charcoal or a gas burner) is cooking food quickly over high heat, to get that heavenly charred texture and flavor; barbecue is cooking over low heat for a long period of time, infusing the tender meat with the smoke from wood chips. Second, a word of caution: always be mindful of safety—keep a fire extinguisher handy, dispose of ashes away from a house or garage, and never use lighter fluid on an open flame. And finally, make sure whatever you want to do doesn’t violate any regulations in your town or municipality. Nothing kills a party like getting busted by the Grill Police. And those laws may be there for a good reason.
A good place to start is the simple backyard pit charcoal grill. Dig a shallow square or rectangular pit in your yard, just deep enough to clear the grass and large enough to fit a grill grate. (If you don’t already have one, you can pick one up at most home-improvement stores; Pool Mart can special-order one for you in various sizes.) Line the bottom with sand, then build up a short brick wall on three sides, making sure to press the bottom row into the ground a bit. Light up your charcoal in the sand, top the brick wall with your grate, and you’re ready to grill.
If you really want to go whole hog (and know what to do with a whole hog), you can build a cinder-block pit to host your own pig roast. Construct four walls made of cinder blocks; line the inside bottom with foil, and stack about five pounds of charcoal at each end (to go under the shoulders and hams, never under the ribs). Lay a metal grate (stainless if you can get it) across the top, and then secure it by completing the wall with one or two more rows of blocks. Turning one of the blocks on the short ends gives you access to light the charcoal. The pig goes on the grate, and can be covered with any kind of metal sheet (not one made of galvanized metal, though). Get up early; it may take up to twelve hours to cook the pig. Flip it halfway and add charcoal to each end when necessary.
Let’s say you are that tattooed person handy enough to have your own DIY TV show. You weld with attitude. Take your homemade grill to the ultimate level—the behemoth oil-drum or hot-water-tank grill, made by severing it in half the long way, turning it on its side, and mounting it for stability (extra points if you use the frame from a stray shopping cart). You can add hinges and a handle to give it a working lid.
Detailed instructions on all the above (and then some) are easily available online, and the more creative you are in obtaining the materials, the better. What’s behind your shed? Or how about that pile of bricks your neighbor hasn’t moved in twelve years? (Ask first.) I suggest stopping by Buffalo ReUse, where you can find practically anything, and it’s all salvaged from Buffalo-area homes. You can put a piece of Buffalo’s history into your barbecue.
But let’s say you’re me. Home-improvement skills: negligible; toolbox: laughable; and a landlord who would certainly frown upon a charcoal pit in the backyard. Inspired by the two best sources for zany ideas—the internet and TV—I was able to construct a respectable smoker out of materials I picked up in one round trip to Lowe’s and Rite Aid, following the advice of Alton Brown, who popularized the flower-pot smoker on Good Eats. I grabbed two thirteen-inch-high terra cotta pots, a grill thermometer, and an electric hot plate (totaling $57.90 plus tax), and used some forgotten bricks and the grate from a small, old charcoal grill, which fit perfectly in the inside lip at the crown of the flower pot (a new grate may cost $10–$20). The hot plate is easy to disassemble (one screw), and I removed the heating element and metal plate from the plastic base, disconnected the wiring from the controls in the base, used a screwdriver and pliers to break off enough of the base to free up the wiring, ran the wires through the bottom hole of the flower pot (now mounted using the three bricks), and reconnected the wires to the base underneath the pot so I could utilize the control knob. I cranked that baby down to low (the temp inside shouldn’t get above 225), tossed a pie tin full of mesquite wood chips on the heating element, and I was on my way to beer-can-chicken heaven.
Okay, by doing it yourself, you’re probably not going to get the precision temperature control you’d get from an $800 grill or smoker. Your creation may not be portable, or even remotely attractive. But you know what? You made it. You can be proud of it. And that feeling tastes pretty darn good.
Jay Pawlowski is a freelance writer living in Buffalo.
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