Wholly Cow! A Few Brave Grillers Go 'Nose-to-Tail'

Inspired by a South American Chef, Cooks Super-Size the Barbecue - http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... _lifestyle

The Algonquin Lions Club has been doing a steer roast at the annual Founders Day celebration since at least the 1950s. I don't know if it is cooked whole or in parts though. Maybe someone else knows. Might be worth checking out this summer.

Looks interesting, not exactly what I think of when I think of "nose to tail", but I've definitely considered doing a whole steer over a live fire. The way they rigged it seems kinda screwy to me - a typical A-frame type set up seems like it would have worked better (and not required "3000 pounds of cement"). Welding together log holders on either side with a cover to reflect the heat down (and allow a trench to drain fat in the center) seems like it would have made sense too. At least build a tinfoil covering over it to cook the top a bit more evenly.

Not that I'm not impressed! Just thinking.

Seems like it would've been a hell of a lot less hassle to just do it on a spit, like I've seen it done before.

teatpuller wrote:The Algonquin Lions Club has been doing a steer roast at the annual Founders Day celebration since at least the 1950s. I don't know if it is cooked whole or in parts though. Maybe someone else knows. Might be worth checking out this summer.

I'd go.

Reminds me of one of my favorite travel threads:

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=28295

Novel for the US in 2011, I guess, but the steer rig in the article is just a larger version of hog rigs that are everywhere in NC. Also, the nose to tail cooking of steer has never gone away, and is at its best, in Argentine roadside churrascarias.

It would be a hell of an LTH event to roast a whole steer....we'd need at least a 100 attendees at $20/head to make it work.

teatpuller wrote:It would be a hell of an LTH event to roast a whole steer....we'd need at least a 100 attendees at $20/head to make it work.

Hell - I'll bring the beer.

Can you get a line on a bovine?

teatpuller wrote:It would be a hell of an LTH event to roast a whole steer....we'd need at least a 100 attendees at $20/head to make it work.

Agreed! Count me in if anyone is interested. I have access to a welder and the space to build the cooker. If I do some nice things for my wife over the next week I have a yard we could dig up for a pit.

I'm pretty sure I could get a line on a steer somewhere....but how am I going to pay for it?

Let me see what I can find out.

If we can get enough people interested paying for it shouldn't be a problem - I'm just wondering how the hell we're gonna get it over to Attrill's house in my Volvo.

zoid wrote:If we can get enough people interested paying for it shouldn't be a problem - I'm just wondering how the hell we're gonna get it over to Attrill's house in my Volvo.

No problem - I've got a Volvo station wagon

I can definitely build the cooker, it shouldn't be all that expensive, and I was already planning on building a pig cooker anyways. I'll just scale it up a bit! I can easily get about 20 people to commit to coming, and I know 3 or 4 go to guys who'll be interested in helping (you there Dr. Shoebocks?)

I can check with a farmer guy I know who knows ppl who sell beef sides.

Oh oh - what have I started?

Really?
You didn't expect us to jump on this like fumble in the endzone?

I think it sounds like a hell of a party!

I just assumed you'd enjoy the article and move along with your lives...
I've created a monster!

Dave148 wrote:I just assumed you'd enjoy the article and move along with your lives...

And that's exactly what happened.

seebee wrote:

Dave148 wrote:I just assumed you'd enjoy the article and move along with your lives...

And that's exactly what happened.

I should have known. Silly me.

Well, did you guys ever cook your cow?

No, been too busy to try and organize anything. Maybe this fall.

I'm still on board. I've done some sketches and have some good ideas for building the cooker. I'm taking the beef butchering class at Butcher and Larder on Sunday and am going to ask Rob a couple questions about whole cows. I'm interested in getting an idea of what the structural strength of a whole cow is, and exactly how much support will be needed to keep it on a spit and not just break apart as it cooks. I'm considering a few approaches to handling that problem.

I'm also hoping to get an accurate idea of how much meat we'd get out of it. I believe the B+L cows average around 750-800 lb.s, so if we end up getting one in that range I'm guessing it would feed at least 200, quite possibly more. With that many people needed it might be a good idea to do it as a fundraiser (I'm also trying to think of some fundraising ideas for my daughter's elementary school, which got me thinking along those lines).

sounds like the perfect way to celebrate the successful bid of the LTH Acquisition group...

How about the LTH picnic?

razbry wrote:How about the LTH picnic?

I actually thought about that, but I think there's enough food there already without making something that will serve 200-300 people!

Yea...but it would have been cool

Yeah, we'd have to either dig a pit or build a huge cinder-block structure that would probably kill the grass anyway.
I have a feeling the park district wouldn't be too happy about that.

The method I'm thinking of would be pretty low impact - a seriously overbuilt A-frame structure to hold the spit, and then have 4 fire sleds that can be pushed back and forth to control the cooking temps.

I still really want ot do this if anyone is interested - just sayin'...