How a Harvard class project changed barbecue

Tony_T

How a Harvard class project changed barbecue

Using computer-based models to make cooking more efficient.

"A hundred inches of snow that winter, it was really quite terrible."

There are several factors to overcome when trying to cook a 14-pound slab of brisket during the winter. Not only do you have to contend with freezing temperatures but you also have to keep your grill or smoker from getting too wet with moisture from the snow. On top of that, you have to keep the fire going for several hours, or you've just wasted a pricey cut of beef.

Desora co-founder and CTO, Yinka Ogunbiyi, knows first-hand the challenges of "low-and-slow" barbecue in the dead of winter. Along with CEO, Michel Maalouly, Ogunbiyi spent hours in the cold every weekend attempting to perfect a grill design as part of an engineering course at Harvard in 2015. The goal was to outperform what many consider to be the pinnacle of backyard grilling and smoking machinery: The Big Green Egg.

More: https://www.engadget.com/2019/10/25/harvard-barbecue-desora-kamado-joe-cinder-grills/

unoriginalusername

I now have two of these SloRollers... it’s legit 

Botch

Interesting read, and that looked like a fun Senior Design project!  

MNEggerandStuff

unoriginalusername said:

I now have two of these SloRollers... it’s legit 

When you say legit., What do you see it changes in regards to your daily cooks?

Thatgrimguy

MNEggerandStuff said:

unoriginalusername said:

I now have two of these SloRollers... it’s legit 

When you say legit., What do you see it changes in regards to your daily cooks?

More even heat distribution and more air movement which contributes significantly to better bark and crisper chicken skin using the same method/recipe as my bge

unoriginalusername

MNEggerandStuff said:

unoriginalusername said:

I now have two of these SloRollers... it’s legit 

When you say legit., What do you see it changes in regards to your daily cooks?

The biggest thing is useable space on an 18” grill vs the platesetter or even vs the CGS woo and half moon rig I have. 

The SloRoller goes edge to edge and directs heat up and to the centre before pushing it out to the sides. 

Practically speaking when I cook more than one spatchcock chicken, ribs or brisket it means no burnt tips that previously could be exposed to direct heat 

HeavyG

Interesting article, thanks for the link.

Hans61

I saw a video on this on YouTube I’m intrigued by the more even heat distribution especially for pizza cooks b/c in my xl there’s a pretty big hot spot near the back right. 

unoriginalusername

Hans61 said:

I saw a video on this on YouTube I’m intrigued by the more even heat distribution especially for pizza cooks b/c in my xl there’s a pretty big hot spot near the back right. 

I’ve run a half basket and got even temps around the grid which is pretty amazing...

that being said it’s Teflon and can’t go about 600 so pizza might be out