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Backyard Imu |
Limbo Lizard
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 24, 2006
Posts: 605
From: Aboard the 'Leaky Tiki', Dallas
|  Posted: 2008-06-19 2:47 pm Permalink
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On 2008-06-19 09:22, MadDogMike wrote:
...see my signature line  )
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Anything worth doing, is worth doing to the point of wretched excess.
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Yeah, I pointed out your sig line to my wife, last night. For years, I've teased her that her official motto should be, "Anything worth doing is worth over-doing" (and everyone that knows her well, agrees). I told her, Look, this guy's even over-doing your motto!
Since the embers are in the bottom basket, why don't you haul it out, before dropping the meat basket in? You'd still have all the radiant heat of the pipe and earth, and you wouldn't risk "cremated meat", if a little air gets in. I'm picturing a big swiveled lever-type thing, mounted on a stand, with a chain and hook. You hook it on the chains of the basket, lift it out, swivel to the side and set it down. I'm making it too complicated, aren't I? (I'm over-doing it!)
[ This Message was edited by: Limbo Lizard 2008-06-19 15:11 ]
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MadDogMike
Grand Member (3 years) 
Joined: Mar 30, 2008
Posts: 6402
From: The Anvil of the Sun
| Posted: 2008-06-19 3:26 pm Permalink
These pits are fairly common in my area, seems every service organization or church has a huge one they use for an annual feeding of the 5,000. They have a swivel hoist mounted next to them to lift the meat basket in and out. I guess you could pull out the embers but they still hold a lot of heat (and lifting a big basket of 1500 degree embers would make me nervous :0) As long as you seal the pit well, you are ok.
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Clay, the oldest and most divine art media;
"And now, from the clay of the ground, the Lord God formed man" Genesis 2:7
Pirate Ship Tree House
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Limbo Lizard
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 24, 2006
Posts: 605
From: Aboard the 'Leaky Tiki', Dallas
| Posted: 2008-06-20 12:40 pm Permalink
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On 2008-06-19 15:26, MadDogMike wrote:
... lifting a big basket of 1500 degree embers would make me nervous :0)
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I don't know, seems kind of exciting to me - three Mai Tais down, sparks flying from the swinging basket, all that heat radiating, trying to see out of smoke-stinging eyes and not trip over the dogs running around your feet, because they smell the raw meat in the other basket. It'd look impressive on the YouTube video, anyway, especially at night.
[ This Message was edited by: Limbo Lizard 2008-06-20 12:44 ]
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Haole'akamai
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 07, 2005
Posts: 2269
From: The Polynesian Port of NOLA
| Posted: 2008-06-20 12:42 pm Permalink
now that is a party!
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Limbo Lizard
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 24, 2006
Posts: 605
From: Aboard the 'Leaky Tiki', Dallas
| Posted: 2008-06-20 12:47 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2008-06-19 15:26, MadDogMike wrote:
...seems every service organization or church has a huge one they use for an annual feeding of the 5,000.
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5000! So, do they just have a couple of cowboys drive a small herd into the pit?
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royaltiki
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Jan 08, 2008
Posts: 75
From: Now in Austin, TX!
| Posted: 2008-06-20 1:28 pm Permalink
man, i have soooo got to build me one of those. just building it sounds like a great excuse for a party this weekend. in this georgia clay I may just try digging a plain old hole and see how that goes. now i just need to find some meat recipes on here..
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Take a look at our Tiki Statues and Tiki Masks and help us pay for all this beer..
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MadDogMike
Grand Member (3 years)
Joined: Mar 30, 2008
Posts: 6402
From: The Anvil of the Sun
| Posted: 2008-06-20 5:10 pm Permalink
New Backyard Imu
It was 115+ here today, I put a thermometer in the dash of the car and it read 175 degrees!!! So I decided to cook a brisket 
_________________
Anything worth doing, is worth doing to the point of wretched excess.
[ This Message was edited by: MadDogMike 2008-06-20 17:11 ]
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MadDogMike
Grand Member (3 years)
Joined: Mar 30, 2008
Posts: 6402
From: The Anvil of the Sun
| Posted: 2008-06-20 5:21 pm Permalink
L'Lizard, OK, maybe 5,000 was an exaggeration. But the big pits are about 4x4x8 feet.
Royal Tiki. I usually roll the meat in Liquid Smoke and vegetable oil then season it with salt and pepper. You can also poke some holes in the meat with a knife and shove cloves of garlic down in the holes. If banana leaves are available, wrap the meat in the leaves then in several layers of heavy foil and it's ready to cook.
_________________
Clay, the oldest and most divine art media;
"And now, from the clay of the ground, the Lord God formed man" Genesis 2:7
Pirate Ship Tree House
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Haole'akamai
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 07, 2005
Posts: 2269
From: The Polynesian Port of NOLA
| Posted: 2008-06-20 8:25 pm Permalink
That's no Imu - That's a CAR-b-que!
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10561
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2008-06-21 12:30 am Permalink
This might be helpful --some hints from the elders:
"Inside has a set of information on HOT ROCK CUISINE"
http://cgi.ebay.com/TIKI-DON-THE-BEACHCOMBER-Mini-MENU-Hot-Rock-Cooking_W0QQitemZ360063289968QQihZ023QQcategoryZ29460QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
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Limbo Lizard
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 24, 2006
Posts: 605
From: Aboard the 'Leaky Tiki', Dallas
| Posted: 2008-06-21 09:03 am Permalink
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On 2008-06-21 00:30, bigbrotiki wrote:
"Inside has a set of information on HOT ROCK CUISINE"
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Hot Rock Cuisine
Step 1) Carefully wash 25 lbs. of choice rocks.
Step 2) Boil rocks until tender, with salt and spices.
Step 3) Serve over bed of steamed rice. Top with pineapple slices.
Seriously, though...
I believe the Hawaiian imu does typically have a bunch of dense stones under the fire, to hold and re-radiate the heat.
MadDogMike, if you had a third basket, you could fill it with some appropriate type of rocks, and lower it on top of the fire, as soon as it burns down enough. After a while, lift out the hot rock basket, then the fire basket. Put the rocks back in, and the meat on top. I know, too much unnecessary trouble, 1500° embers, etc.
The concrete pipe does the job of holding heat, but you can't (or, shouldn't) heat it too hot, or it will pop and chip and flake, or just crack. That's because water is part of the structure of concrete; it's trapped in an almost crystalline structure with the cement. High heat drives it out, causing some decomposition of the concrete - sometimes almost explosively. The concrete pipe, with those baskets, is so nifty a method, though, that it's worth it, even if it "burns out" after several years. But you wouldn't want concrete over the fire, where it would get the full intensity.
Now, if you wanted to build one that could get extremely hot:
Build the structure with firebrick (like in a fireplace), backed by 8 inches of regular brick, on a concrete-slab floor. Cover the floor with loose firebrick, close together, with sand filling the gaps. Put a 4" clay pipe leading from the bottom of the pit to the surface, to draw air in under the fire. Now, if you used forced air, like from the output of a big shop-vac, you'd have one fiery furnace, indeed (point your hairdryer at charcoal grill or chiminea fire for a minute, and you'll get the picture). Ahh, just imagining it thrills my pyromaniac heart! It'd be like a roaring blacksmith's forge - you'd have the walls glowing a dull orange. You could work on wrought iron tiki art, while waiting for it to be ready for the meat.
[ This Message was edited by: Limbo Lizard 2008-06-21 09:18 ]
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MadDogMike
Grand Member (3 years)
Joined: Mar 30, 2008
Posts: 6402
From: The Anvil of the Sun
| Posted: 2008-06-21 09:51 am Permalink
My concrete pipe has cracked some but that alright. The earth surrounding the pipe still seals it airtight. It doesn't need to be water tight or anything, the pipe is mostly to line the hole and keep the walls from caving in. It probably helps that the pipe I used was not freshly cast, it had been sitting around for probably 40 years and was as dry as it was going to get.
_________________
Clay, the oldest and most divine art media;
"And now, from the clay of the ground, the Lord God formed man" Genesis 2:7
Pirate Ship Tree House
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MadDogMike
Grand Member (3 years)
Joined: Mar 30, 2008
Posts: 6402
From: The Anvil of the Sun
| Posted: 2008-07-07 4:27 pm Permalink
Does anyone know how to program this ceramic kiln to cook kalua pork?
_________________
Clay, the oldest and most divine art media;
"And now, from the clay of the ground, the Lord God formed man" Genesis 2:7
Pirate Ship Tree House
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Limbo Lizard
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 24, 2006
Posts: 605
From: Aboard the 'Leaky Tiki', Dallas
| Posted: 2009-07-02 4:50 pm Permalink
Bumping MDM's ingenious 'Backyard Imu' thread, in time for July 4th barbecue. Go back to the start, though.
[ This Message was edited by: Limbo Lizard 2009-07-02 16:51 ]
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MadDogMike
Grand Member (3 years)
Joined: Mar 30, 2008
Posts: 6402
From: The Anvil of the Sun
| Posted: 2009-07-02 5:02 pm Permalink
Thanks LL 
[ This Message was edited by: MadDogMike 2009-07-02 17:02 ]
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