ASADO BUILD

Introduction

Many moons ago, Chris and I spent a couple of cold January weekends building an offset smoker from two empty propane tanks. After days of freezing toes, a few dozen cups of tea, maybe even a few beers, we had this massive metal thing to cook big hunks of meat on.

It wasn’t winning any awards for beauty but it did get us thinking about doing this kind of thing for other people. Possibly even involving some renumeration for our trouble.

Six years later, we got the opportunity to do it which we think is really really cool.

The sub offset smoker aka - prometheus

Pit Planning and Preparation

The project started when Tom Salt and Charles Bradford from The Gog farm shop, just south of Cambridge got in touch after seeing our website and videos. They were nice. We liked what they were trying to do and more importantly we liked them. It felt like a good match.

We went to the site and they described what they ultimately wanted to create there - a big, communal space centred around live fire cooking. After shooting the S for an hour or so, we landed on a nice open brief: design some live fire cooking rigs for them to cook and teach on.

The words ‘simple’ and ‘rustic’ were used often.

On the way out, they gave us a big bag of nice charcoal. A lovely touch.

We watched the Francis Mallman episode of Chef’s Table and looked at a load of commercially available options to see what we liked and what we could improve.

Tom sent us a load of pics for Inspiration 

We also revisited Greg Wallace’s colleague but not mate - John Torode’s "Argentina - A Cook Abroad” to have a look at how the OG Asador’s did things.

Thick mild steel box section was the choice for the frame and rounded bars on the ends and top for modular attachments to hang for.

Expanded steel mesh was our go-to for the cooking grills—cost-effective and perfect for grilling.

They were aiming for a weathered, rusted patina look over time while ensuring robustness and durability. Mild steel is perfect for that.

The Build

First up, we had a final chat with Charlie and Tom who decided to elongate the asado to two meters. This allowed plenty of space for the movable brazier while still having loads of cooking surface.

Initial sketch before elongating the design to 200 cm.

Then we started constructing the far sides of the rig to act as the frame, then built the top monkey-bar-like ‘roof’ structure. The fire platform was fixed 60 cm from the floor with a 40 mm lip to contain embers and reinforced for stability.

The sides take shape

The structure is up

Fire basin installed 

Next was to add a bottom rack for storing firewood underneath, placed 150 mm off the ground with two vertical bars running front to back for bracing. The grills span the full length of the structure and can be moved up, down and laterally during cooking.

Modular grills made from expanded mesh

We used expanded steel mesh for the cooking surface because it’s well strong.

Once the main structure was up, Chris made the brazier for burning firewood to cookable coals and fire rakes for moving embers about like some kind of devilish Stickman pushing chips around a craps table.

100% real vegas stickman 

We had to find a way to allow for cleaning the fire platform without letting hot embers and grease drip onto the wood store below. We solved this by designing a simple trapdoor that can be pushed from the bottom, allowing for easy cleaning and hosing down.

Grease trap

Chris’s fine furniture background shone through with his ridiculous attention to detail on angles and finish. The kind of diligent craft that he’d probably be the only one to notice it.

He used welding magnets, clamps, and spot welding to make precise adjustments before finally welding, resulting in an extremely sturdy, robust structure.

Then it was grind time to smooth off the edges and make it look real nice.

Features, Design etc.

All the grilling racks are movable to aid heat management during cooking. You can slide them back and forth or move them up and down onto different levels. 

Modular

The planchas, have chunky handles and sit perfectly over the cooking mesh so each platform can be used as flattops if needed.

 

Big boy planchas

For really hard searing we made two ‘parrillas’ that sit directly over the fire for hard searing or warming up firewood before chucking on the brazier. The design for those was borrowed from a project we did with the Museum of East Anglia a few years back.

We found a brilliant laser cutting firm to create a custom logo plate for the top of the asado and added flat feet to prevent dirt from entering the structure, enhancing its durability.

Laser cut logos

Side note - quite excited by the prospect of using laser cutting for elements of future projects.

When the build was done, we thoroughly cleaned the structure, applied a light film of rapeseed oil to all surfaces with big paintbrushes, and it was ready for it’s maiden voyage.

Collaboration is Brilliant

Our collaboration with The Gog farm shop came about through a recommendation by Tim Hayward, a food writer and cafe owner who was an early advocate of our work. We presented a design deck to The Gog team and made tweaks based on their feedback.

This project aligns perfectly with The Gog’s mission of providing fantastic produce and supporting local makers. They also host courses to teach people about outdoor cooking, making our asado a perfect fit.

When it was time to deliver the asado, they came with a trailer and picked it up. A highly appreciated and classy touch as we weren’t looking forward to the prospect of strapping this beast to Chris’s truck.

Reflections

When we started Axel Perkins, one of our founding ideas was to create outdoor cooking equipment that was both beautiful and functional. A lot of barbecues on the market are flimsy, extremely ugly and almost disposable.

This is the opposite of that. The thing is bomb proof.

At the risk of sounding corny, it’s satisfying to see our founding principles realised in this project.

Some advice for anyone looking to build their own asado or any other home spun bit for that matter, is to keep it simple. Focus on fire management and get familiar with the rig. You can always add more features later so hold off on the ratchets and gears.

Futures

We’ve received a brilliant response and interest for more back garden-friendly versions of this asado. We’re planning to develop these further and have already started working on a half-size rig for our own use. Once we're happy with it, we'll start cranking some out.

Watch this space.

If you have any whacky ideas for add ons to this or similar projects, feel free to email us at info@axelperkins.co.uk. If you haven’t already, sign up for our mailing list and follow us on YouTube and Instagram.

The finished asado

Finally

Projects like this give us hope that Axel Perkins INC LTD and SONS,  isn’t actually that from becoming a business that lets us do this kind of thing full time. That is the dream. 

Weather-permitting, you can see the asado in action at The Gog’s Sundowner Sessions on 26 July 2024. Click here to book a ticket.