Our readers can — and do — build it all, and Nathan
Moore's fuel-chute, self-rotating brisket bomber isn't even the start of it.
We've been saluting one of the top reader projects of the year each week at
PopularMechanics.com, so zoom in on the plans below, then check out the rest!
By Melissa Wagenberg Lasher
Photograph by Gregg Ruffing
Published in the July 2007 issue of Popular Mechanics
The
Carnivore
Reader: Nathan Moore Materials: $15,000 Time: Two years Result: A hands-off, slow-cooking oven that
can now be built for $4000.
Living in
Cincinnati, Ohio, Nathan Moore yearned for the smoky brisket and ribs he
had devoured as a student at the University of Texas at Austin, but dreaded the
tedium of tending the BBQ for 16 hours. "You had to add fuel, stoke the
fire, move the meat," he says. "And you'd get nasty dirty." As
Moore saw it, a drudgery-free meal lay in one equation: "Constant mass plus
constant airflow equals constant temperature — and easy ribs." He built
an oven whose key feature is an 8-in. fuel chute modeled after chicken
feeders he'd filled as a kid. As the charcoal or wood in the firebox turns to
ash, new fuel drops down. Moore also installed a rotating damper above the
firebox to maintain a steady airflow. The oven takes care of the cooking, so the
chef's job is easy: Just add meat.
