Photos by MJ Klein
This weekend, we were supposed to be consumed with packaging and shipping tasks associated with our business. But that didn’t happen (I should have known better). I was bored today. So, what does a grill designer and outdoor cooking enthusiast do on a boring day? Make another grill of course.
I went to the store and bought a few items.
My small new portable grill is based on a simple stainless steel bowl. Here it is with some lump charcoal directly on the bottom for a test run.
Using a hacksaw, I cut slots into the edge to make tabs, which I bent upwards.
Another tab.
The tabs hold the grate in place on the bowl.
I drilled a series of holes in the side near the bottom for increased airflow. I only put holes in 1/3 of the circumference so I could turn it to manage the wind effects on the fire.
One thing that I really dislike about locally made grills is the flimsy cooking surface. Once I threw a big T-bone steak on one of those and it nearly collapsed! But that’s all you need if you are just grilling bread (I don’t get that!) and thin slices of meat. I want to be able to cook anything on mine, so this heavy duty grill surface is just what I need. Since it’s basically just a bowl, it’s quite portable.
In this shot (quite overexposed by the D80, btw) I have added the bottom grate to hold the charcoal off the bottom of the bowl. I did a first test without the grate and while hot enough, the grate significantly improves airflow. With the grate on the bottom, this thing gets amazingly hot.
I cooked some stuff on it and I declare the test 100% passed. The most interesting part of this project was the fact that this bowl and the 2 grates were so well suited to this application. The grates fit so perfectly that it almost seemed as if they were designed with this application in mind.
Bowl: NT$130
Top Grate: NT$80
Bottom Grate: NT$60
Cooking on my homemade rooftop cabana grill: PRICELESS
technorati tags:Taiwan, Hukou, grill, homemade
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=Looks good…
One thing i like about this grill is it is perfect size for 1 person. The less I spend on charcoal, the more I can spend on quality meat!
very true.