Hark ye, mateys! Behold 5 of America's most savage BBQ contraptions, from war tanks to flying contraptions. 'Tis true!
2024-06-01
Arrr mateys, ye won't believe the outlandish contraptions they be usin' for cookin' up a feast in America! From a wee passenger jet smoker to a tow truck-turned-grill, and even a sidecar that can smoke ribs while ridin' the high seas! Aye, 'tis a BBQ fit for a pirate!
David Klose is America’s bell cow of extreme barbecue rigs. The founder of BBQ Pits by Klose in Houston, Texas has custom-built many of the world’s biggest, most beautiful and most ambitious smokers. Among them are a motorcycle sidecar that could barbecue ribs at 100 miles per hour, a giant beer bottle smoker, and a stunning rig designed to look like a giant model of a commercial passenger jet.Yes, there’s ego, showmanship and all-American barbecue bravado behind the orders for the extreme rigs. But the No. 1 motive for customers is easy to pinpoint. "It’s charity," said Klose. "You can raise millions of dollars a year by showing up at events with one of those barbecue pits to feed thousands of people."John Janelli, a former Marine from Raymond, New Hampshire, also experienced the charitable power of a tricked-out barbecue rig. Barbecue, charity, and veteran are a natural all-American trio, said barbecue champ and Army veteran Dennis Butterworth of WarPig BBQ in Crosby, Texas. Dubbed the world's largest mobile barbecue rig, A Class Carriers in Benham, Texas can smoke up to 12,000 pounds of meat at once.Klose has fabricated thousands of custom-built barbecue rigs over the decades. This one in particular, he said, "is breathtaking." Janelli, who spent time in the U.S. Marine Corps, took a giant green propane tank and turned it into a work of art: a giant hog-shaped smoker, complete with snout, fiery eyeballs and corkscrew tail. The rig proved too heavy to tow with an ordinary road truck, so he found a military surplus tow truck to handle the chore.Klose fabricated a motorcycle-sidecar smoker for an episode of "American Chopper" starring the Teutul family of Orange County Choppers in upstate New York. The episode featured what was then the popular barbecue restaurant group RUB Barbecue. The stylish barbecue rig can reach speeds of 100 miles per hour and cook 20 racks of rib. Butterworth is a legendary barbecue champion who served on tank crews during his time in the U.S. Army. A model of the battle tank proved a perfect design for his competitive barbecue team's smoker.