His most recent project: a smoker. No, he's not violating the Word of Wisdom (although it may encourage us to eat meat more than just "sparingly"). He found a foodie blog for engineers that showed how to build a ceramic smoker for less than a hundred bucks (compared to $800 for a big green egg) using terracotta flower pots and a hot plate. He seemed very excited about this construction project, so I only laughed quietly to myself when he brought home all the supplies. I laughed a little less quietly and not entirely to myself when I discovered that he could have purchased an electric smoker for the same price as the supplies for the one he was building himself. Apparently, there is some satisfaction to be had in making something yourself...
He started by getting out all the tools he possibly could. Okay, maybe just the power drill and set of masonry drill bits, but it seemed like a lot of tools.
Then he drilled holes in the bottom of a 14" flower pot (for the hot plate connectors to go through). It made the weirdest ringing noise. I'm sure that our neighbors hate us.
Next up, he had to take the hot plate apart and rewire it so the element was inside the pot and the controls outside the pot.
Like so.
Then you add a cast-iron wood chip holder box (where you put hickory wood or mesquite wood or apple wood, depending on how you would like to flavor your meat) and a grill thingy for the meat to sit on.
Put a lid on it, and the smoker is done. I'd like to point out, that Justin is standing in his official "summit" pose. I think he's pretty proud of his handy work.
And when he pulled this hickory smoked chicken out of that thing, I must admit that I was pretty proud of him too. (We'd also like to give a special thanks to Em and Dan for the Chuck Norris t-shirt.)
Next up, he had to take the hot plate apart and rewire it so the element was inside the pot and the controls outside the pot.
Like so.
Then you add a cast-iron wood chip holder box (where you put hickory wood or mesquite wood or apple wood, depending on how you would like to flavor your meat) and a grill thingy for the meat to sit on.
Put a lid on it, and the smoker is done. I'd like to point out, that Justin is standing in his official "summit" pose. I think he's pretty proud of his handy work.
And when he pulled this hickory smoked chicken out of that thing, I must admit that I was pretty proud of him too. (We'd also like to give a special thanks to Em and Dan for the Chuck Norris t-shirt.)
And what was I doing all this time? I was making a lovely Quiche Lorraine for dinner. It was exceedingly delicious.
Mmmm... Bacon...
Mmmm... Bacon...
