Alton Brown's homemade ceramic smoker


 
T

Tony H

New member
Did anyone else see the episode where Alton Brown smoked a pork butt in a homemade ceramic smoker?

The base of it was a large terra cotta flower pot witha hole on the bottom. It was set on some wood pieces to elevate it & allow for air flow.

Inside was a hot plate. On top of the hot plate was a heavy duty pie tin with wood chunks in it. Then a grate from a kettle grill nestles right into the pot.

Then the top was a nother terra cotta pot turned upside down for a lid with the hole on the top for air & a thermometer.

Looked preety nifty!
 
Yeah, i saw it too. i loved the episode up till that point, the marinating, rub, all about pork butt, etc. until he smoked it that way.

I cant imagine a hot plate and wood compares in flavor to charcol and wood at all.

Cant say i ever tried his way or would try it his way.
 
While charcoal lends a bit of flavor, it is the smoke wood that really gives meat the the bbq flavor. So, a hotplate that is used to generate heat to smoke the wood wouldn't be that bad of a way to go. Some folks swear by their electric smokers, which would be comparable.

Anyhow... I didn't see the episode, so can't really comment. Sounds like it was interesting, though.
 
I've seen that episode a couple times now. He's fond of using terra cotta in cooking because it acts as a thermal buffer. He did a standing rib roast in one inside an oven in another episode.

The idea should work fine. It's a cross between a ceramic cooker and an electric smoker. I just don't like having to disassemble/reassemble the darn thing every time you need to add wood.

I read somewhere the others had tried the approach and found out that hot plates aren't designed for hot environments. I think that means they had a shorter lifespan than usual.

Might be neat to try but may not work long term without a heavy duty heating element.
 
He's my favorite mad scientist! Yeah, I thought that was pretty clever, but I'm not giving up my WSM...!
 
Both episodes (prime rib and pork shoulder) were both entertaining and informative. The low temp with a finishing at high temps has given me new thoughts for both beef and poultry.

I normally do my smokin' in my AB T-shirt, but the ISD T-shirt is now pressed into service.

But SusanZ's right ... they can have my Bullet when they pry it from my cold, dead hands.
 
That show was BBQ fraud. He never used that terra cotta smoker to smoke anything Watch it again and you will notice when he opened it up there were no drippings inside. Anyone who has smoked a butt knows that quite a bit of fat is rendered out in the process. Also there was no carbon accumulated on the inside suface. All show, no go. I rest my case.

Bob
 
I don't think anybody was suggesting it, but just to clarify I'm pretty sure Alton never suggested that his method was *better* than using a dedicated device like a WSM. He was just innovative in showing how one could achieve good BBQ with a fairly low investment - and in doing so demonstrated some basics of low and slow.

The prime rib episode is still one of my faves and has also made me reconsider how best to oven roast meat.

I'm with Susan - he's my favorite mad scientist. When he smoked the salmon in a cardboard box that was way cool.
 
Originally posted by Bob S.:
That show was BBQ fraud. He never used that terra cotta smoker to smoke anything Watch it again and you will notice when he opened it up there were no drippings inside. Anyone who has smoked a butt knows that quite a bit of fat is rendered out in the process. Also there was no carbon accumulated on the inside suface. All show, no go. I rest my case.

Bob
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Consider that it's a television show. It's pretty likely that the scenes shown were set exactly for those purposes. They may even have been shot out of sequence with stand-in "stunt" butts for the close ups. How many times have you seen a TV chef put something into an oven only to pull a finished version out minutes, if not seconds, later?

When they did a close up of the butt at the end (where he's pulling it with the tongs), it looked like more than one take had happened. The corner AB pulled up seemed to have already been dislodged from the butt.

Personally, I have no idea if they actually cooked a butt using the method shown, but it seems it would work and I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Alton does do things in a non-orthodox manner but he tends to have a solid basis behind his methods.

BTW, I miss David Rosengarten's show "Taste" that used to be on FoodNetwork several years ago. It had the same research behind each topic; however, without the theatrics. Both are/were my favorite shows on FoodTV.
 
I liked Rosengarten's "Taste" too.

I did try AB's flowerpot-roasted chicken and have to admit that it was excellent the one time I tried it. Very flavorful and one of the better roasted chickens I've done. IMHO, though, he's getting just a little "cute," although the principles behind the unorthodox methods are sound and perhaps are just a way to illustrate what's really going on. But why not just go the conventional way unless you're a junkie like me who likes to try something new? After all, cooking is fun, no?

But for some reason, I can't get those funky camera angles when I cook. Darn! My old oven never came with a camera-inside-the-oven option. Maybe the next one will. ;/

Rita
 
I loved Rosengarten's Taste! I learned so much from that show. The book with the same name is quite informative too!

Alton Brown is a clown and a joke.

Stefano
 
Hmmm did you guys also notice that when he was *pulling* that butt that it had a smokering?? Correct me if I am wrong fellas but a smokering CANNOT form from electric smokers right? Gotta use charcoal and wood. But then again I guess there is ways to fake it and maybe that's what they did.


Big Al
 
Originally posted by Big Al:
a smokering CANNOT form from electric smokers right? Gotta use charcoal and wood.
Big Al
Click to expand...

Actually... while I'm not 100% positive, I think it is the smoke alone that creates the pink ring, not the charcoal... so an electric smoker could create BBQ with a real smoke rign. Again, I could be wrong, but when I grill with charcoal for periods of time, there isn't a smoke ring. Only when I'm smoking... so it seems that its the smoke alone that contributes the pink ring.
 
Originally posted by Bob S.:
Big Al is right. An electric smoker will not produce a smoke ring.
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Hi guys, my question to Big Al and Bob S is, why wouldn't an electric smoker produce a smoke ring- isn it the smoke from the wood that gives it the smoke ring?
Medium Al
 
When you burn wood or charcoal it has a chemical reaction with the meat and deposits nitrates in the meat. The nitrates cause the smoke ring.
 
Well my first smoker was a charbroil H2o electric smoker. That ring what I thought was a smoke ring must have been an illusion. Now I layed a aluminum pie pan on my electrode and golly gee it I thought it looked like some of the same things I pulled out of my other smokers. So I am going to have to disagree on that one but then of course I have been only smoking meats for 10 years so I am still a novice. Same goes for the theory that meat doesn't take absorb smoke after 120 degrees, 140 degrees, and as some have said it will absorb smoke until its done. So I would say its all in the in the eyes of the smoker.
 
...I'll add, same with the idea that putting something other than water (apple cider, apple slices, spices, etc.) in yer water pan doesn't contribute even one iota of flavor. Ok, I realize there are prolly CENTURIES of experience between the members of this board, and godnoze these masters know of which they speak, but I still hold out the possibility that it might just impart even a smidgen of flavor. (Um...never tried it myself!)
 
Susan

Maybe it's that 'gar you've been smoking that seems to give it flavor.
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Paul
 
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