Smoking Pot -- A cheap terracotta flower pot smoker ala Alton Brown
Being a fan of Alton Brown, I have always wanted to make his Terracotta Flower Pot Smoker featured on the "Q" episode. The required items include:
The end result, will look similar to this:
Note: My top is not a circular terracotta pot, but rather a terracotta plate. See issue #1:
Overall, it worked out pretty well. I am able to hold a temperature up to 250 degree F, or lower if I turn down the hot plate a bit. My "test case" was a rack of ribs with a traditional Bobby Flay spicy rub with a sweet sauce. I smoked them for about 3.5 hours, which was a little too long I think. They were a bit on the dry side, but they still tasted good and the novelty made it all worth while
Next up is a whole chicken or maybe a Boston Butt. The Boston Butt is a ~10 hour investment, so that will have to wait for a lazy football weekend which is at least two-weeks out.
While the smoker build-out was pretty smooth and successful, I did run into a few issues that I will have to workout eventually.
Issue #1
After a trip to home depot, I found everything but the round pot to serve as the top, and the hot plate. After a trip to OSH and a nursery, I found a hot plate, but no round pots; all the round pots were too small or had a glaze that would probably end up killing me. Others have reported using the same size pot for the pot and the base, but many hot plates cannot heat this large an area. As a workaround, I picked up a large terracotta plate that would fit on top of the pot.
The issue with the plate is that there is no hole for the thermometer. Yet another trip to home depot solved this. I picked up some masonry drill bits for ~$10 and drilled enough holes for the thermometer to fit in.
PS: Save yourself some time and only go to OSH. They should have everything you need.
Issue #2
The grill grate is difficult to pull out. This is a must when you need to replace the wood chips. I need to find one with handles, or invent some handles on my grate. Either way, I recommend taking off the food before taking out the grate. My ribs almost ended up on the ground.
Issue #3
I could use a little more space for the meat. Getting more than 2 racks of ribs might be difficult unless I stand them on their side. (The picture above is one rack cut in half.) If I find a grate with an extra inch or two in diameter, I might be able to have a dual grate smoker.
Issue #4
I turned down the extended warranty on the hot plate. I doubt it was designed to run 10 hours at a time, so it will be interesting to see how it fares during my future Boston Butt smoking experiment. Considering the hot plate was $10, the warranty probably would have been $1-$2!!!
Issue #5
The lid can get very hot to the touch. Since I was able to drill holes in the plate for the thermometer, I should be able to drill some holes for a handle.
- One large terracotta pot approx 17 inches in diameter at the top. This is the base of the smoker.
- One circular terracotta pot that fits on top of the base pot
- Grill grate that will fit into the large pot and hold the food
- Grill thermometer
- Feet for the large terracotta pot so it stands off the ground. (pair of 2x4's, bricks, decorative pot stands, etc)
- Hot plate for the heat source
- Heavy duty metal tin for wood chips/chunks
The end result, will look similar to this:
Note: My top is not a circular terracotta pot, but rather a terracotta plate. See issue #1:
Overall, it worked out pretty well. I am able to hold a temperature up to 250 degree F, or lower if I turn down the hot plate a bit. My "test case" was a rack of ribs with a traditional Bobby Flay spicy rub with a sweet sauce. I smoked them for about 3.5 hours, which was a little too long I think. They were a bit on the dry side, but they still tasted good and the novelty made it all worth while
Next up is a whole chicken or maybe a Boston Butt. The Boston Butt is a ~10 hour investment, so that will have to wait for a lazy football weekend which is at least two-weeks out.
While the smoker build-out was pretty smooth and successful, I did run into a few issues that I will have to workout eventually.
Issue #1
After a trip to home depot, I found everything but the round pot to serve as the top, and the hot plate. After a trip to OSH and a nursery, I found a hot plate, but no round pots; all the round pots were too small or had a glaze that would probably end up killing me. Others have reported using the same size pot for the pot and the base, but many hot plates cannot heat this large an area. As a workaround, I picked up a large terracotta plate that would fit on top of the pot.
The issue with the plate is that there is no hole for the thermometer. Yet another trip to home depot solved this. I picked up some masonry drill bits for ~$10 and drilled enough holes for the thermometer to fit in.
PS: Save yourself some time and only go to OSH. They should have everything you need.
Issue #2
The grill grate is difficult to pull out. This is a must when you need to replace the wood chips. I need to find one with handles, or invent some handles on my grate. Either way, I recommend taking off the food before taking out the grate. My ribs almost ended up on the ground.
Issue #3
I could use a little more space for the meat. Getting more than 2 racks of ribs might be difficult unless I stand them on their side. (The picture above is one rack cut in half.) If I find a grate with an extra inch or two in diameter, I might be able to have a dual grate smoker.
Issue #4
I turned down the extended warranty on the hot plate. I doubt it was designed to run 10 hours at a time, so it will be interesting to see how it fares during my future Boston Butt smoking experiment. Considering the hot plate was $10, the warranty probably would have been $1-$2!!!
Issue #5
The lid can get very hot to the touch. Since I was able to drill holes in the plate for the thermometer, I should be able to drill some holes for a handle.
posted by twothirds at 1:56 PM
7 Comments:
Congratulations. I am very envious. Mine wasn't so successful:
http://saldetraglia.blogspot.com/2005/08/smokin-pot-on-sunday-morning.html#comments
I'm going to try again tomorrow, but with a slight difference. I've tossed out the hotplate, and inserted a small ring-shaped gas burner.
I really hope it works, because I've invested WAY too much mental processing into this project.
Cheers!
Sal
I ended up finding a lid at a local nursery. I have the good fortune of living in Atlanta, where Good Eats shoots, so if Alton can get it, I can too.
I've written 3 posts on my "Little Brown Egg". You can find them here.
I too haven't put in the time to make a whole shoulder, although I've made several killer chickens.
I tried a boston butt and it turned out much better than my ribs.
Great job!
Might I suggest (perhaps for others, or next time) making, or have someone else who loves you a lot do it (lol), a ceramic top, its not hard or expensive to do and it'd save a lot of time, since its easier to make holes in wet clay :D I love alton brown's inovative ideas.
Dude, I don't like to brag, but I suppose that I am the living, breathing, closest thing you're going to find to a terracotta smokin grill makin guru. Yours is not bad, but you should see mine. I have been making these grills for friends for the last five years. They look so good, that at first clance a person might not realize they are made from flower pots.
Now, I don't mean to step on any toes, but around our house a Boston Butt is more like a 14 to 18 hour endevor, and just falls apart. Low and slow. Ummmmm, so good.
To the anonymous bragger....
Your comment is worthless without pictures. Give me something to eww and ahh about :)
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