Cajun Microwave

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ElMostro

ElMostro

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Mar 17, 2007
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Location
San Antonio, TX.
I have been wanting to make one of these for a while and finally took a break to make one. It is a "Cajun Microwave" and works by cooking the meat from above. You can use charcoal or left over scraps of wood (which I have plenty of). I made it from Cedar and the inside is lined with sheet metal. This is what I call the "Deployable version" since it only weighs about 25 pounds and can be easily transported. This is the first one I make and it was an experiment to see if it worked so I made it to look like a planter just in case it did not work I could use it as a palnter ;)

Anyway, once I proved the concept the next step up is to make one that can fit whole small pig around 125 pounds. The idea is not new nor did I come up with it but I built this one by looking at pictures and making it up as I went.

Here is experiment #1, it was a 12 pond pork shoulder and cooked in 4.5 hours:


Lighting the fire, it was a muggy day in Texas and the wood scraps created quite a bit of smoke:
CAJ1.jpg



CAJ2.jpg



This experiment used about 1/3 bag of charcoal and some wood scraps:
CAJ3.jpg



For the last 45 minutes I placed some corn inside to roast, here are the results:
CAJ4.jpg



And a close up:
CAJ5.jpg



Here it experiment #2, it was a 14 pound shoulder and a 20 pound turkey, this one took about 6 hours and the weather outside was about 40 degrees. For the last 45 minutes I roasted some potatoes and corn with the residual heat from the embers:
CAJ6.jpg


And here are the results:
CAJ7.jpg



Thanks for looking, Eugene.
 
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so everything got cooked all the way through? It's odd seeing something heated only from the top like that. You'd think it wouldn't work that well!
 
glycerine said:
so everything got cooked all the way through? It's odd seeing something heated only from the top like that. You'd think it wouldn't work that well!
Click to expand...

Why not? Most ovens now have the heating element on the top of the oven.

I'm drooling over here man...that shoulder and that turkey looks to die for!
 
rjwolfe3 said:
OMG that food looks so good! Just curious to know where you found the plans to make it?
Click to expand...

No plans for this one since I made it from pics I saw on line. But if it helps, the outer dimensions are 30" long by 21" wide and 17" deep. The bottom is adjustable so depending on what I am cooking I can lift the floor up wich make the inside cavity smaller so you have to heat up less area and it cooks faster. Also I forgot to mention, there is a layer of 1/4" "Hardi board" (it is a cement board that is used when making tiled counter tops) between the cedar and the sheet metal, it works as an insulator to keep more heat inside the box. This board added about 15 pounds to the overall weight.
 
glycerine said:
so everything got cooked all the way through? It's odd seeing something heated only from the top like that. You'd think it wouldn't work that well!
Click to expand...

Yep, that is what I said when I saw one since most of the heat is just going up and "away" so I had to test it, and it does work. I was also sruprized at how little charcoal is used.
I will be making some "enhancemnts" to this one soon to take advantage of all the heat that rises. I figure you can cook some burgers and dogs while you wait for the main course.
 
jleiwig said:
Why not? Most ovens now have the heating element on the top of the oven.

I'm drooling over here man...that shoulder and that turkey looks to die for!
Click to expand...

I didn't know that. I always thought that when only the top was used, it was for broiling things. But I'm not much of a cook. Just knowing that heat rises, I would never have expected this to work because I'd think the bottom would have been harder to keep well heated.
 
ElMostro said:
Yep, that is what I said when I saw one since most of the heat is just going up and "away" so I had to test it, and it does work. I was also sruprized at how little charcoal is used.
I will be making some "enhancemnts" to this one soon to take advantage of all the heat that rises. I figure you can cook some burgers and dogs while you wait for the main course.
Click to expand...

That's neat. What type of metal is best to used as a lining? What holds heat the longest? Any idea? I guess the better question is what metal did you use?
 
The one thing I forgot to mention is that looks like galvanized sheet metal. Be very careful as the coating burning can cause illness and death when heated. I wouldn't want it in my food. I would only use stainless steel if it were me.
 
Thats kinda like the hole my Dad used to dig at my grandmothers for Christmas tamales. She would have my father dig a hole in the ground, line it with bricks, then she would wrap a cows head in foil and throw it in the hole. The holw ould get covered up with a piece of courugated tin used for roofing and a large fire would be started on the tin. Give the fire a while to burn and die down and by morning there was a prfectly cooked cows head for the tamales.
 
el_d said:
Thats kinda like the hole my Dad used to dig at my grandmothers for Christmas tamales. She would have my father dig a hole in the ground, line it with bricks, then she would wrap a cows head in foil and throw it in the hole. The holw ould get covered up with a piece of courugated tin used for roofing and a large fire would be started on the tin. Give the fire a while to burn and die down and by morning there was a prfectly cooked cows head for the tamales.
Click to expand...

You had me until you said cows head...then I threw up in my mouth a little. :eek:
 
cows head in foil
Click to expand...

Well I have tried tongue and brain but not the whole head. Interesting way to cook it though. I have heard of putting a whole pig in the ground and cooking it. I am really intrigued by this Canjun Microwave and am doing more research on it.
 
Oh Im sorry in english its reffered to as Hot Dogs.:biggrin:

Actualy my sons say the hot dog looks like a cats butt. Just the two ends of the hot dog.........:eek:
 
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So I've been thinking about making one of these for the summer.

My plan so far:

http://download.plansnow.com/free-planter-boxes.pdf

Use the tall design it would be around 32" wide x 18" deep x 32" overall height.

I'll have to check the scrap metal dealer to see if they have any stainless steel scraps I could use. Most websites speak of using aluminum, but I think I'd rather use stainless if I can afford it.

Line it with either the hardyboard as illustrated here by elmostro, or fire bricks if cheap enough.

I was going to just buy one of the GSM smokers, but I think I may like to go this route instead.
 
I finally got myself to stop thinking about food 24/7 after the holidays and now I'm starving after looking at this post...thanks eugene!
 
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