BBQ Jew

Raleigh-based sculptor Joel Haas sent me a note describing one of his recent projects.  Here’s what he had to say about his folk art pig cooker:

The pig cooker naked

Porky,

Attached are several photos of a new, larger pig shaped pig cooker I recently made and shipped to a BBQ fanatic in Alabama.  The tail opens to make a smokestack; there is a steel “thought balloon” painted in chalkboard paint on which a cook can write messages or “pig thoughts”; used charcoal and wood is cleaned out of the “ashhole.”   The inside grill racks can be set at a steep angle over the coals allowing one to place slower cooking meat high up on the rack and faster cooking items lower of the racks where they are just over the coals. There are a number of hooks for hanging implements on the push handle; the grill opens using a handle made of forks and spoons.  One of the photos shows the grill at the powder coat painter’s with the side open and tail open (see inset); the black heat resistant paint is good to 1200 degrees F; there is a small hole to set a thermometer in near the tail.    

Note that the pig has my trademark lavender eyelashes and toenails in its final painted form (see photo below). Yes, the outer paint will scorch some around the grill door and along the bottom and maybe even along the top, though I doubt that area will scorch much; the head is merely decorative.  There is a black steel loop above the ashhole to put a chain through so the pig won’t “wander off.”  

As usual, there are NO provisions for the unrighteous and heretical practice of gas grilling.

The pig cooker with its paints on

Filed under: 'Cue Culture, Cooking | Tagged: Art |