bejohnson
03-14-2005, 03:13 PM
Anyone got a spare cow, a pig and some chickens?
:food :food :food :food :food :food :food :food :food :food
'Monster' grill is badge of honor (http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/news/1110795472190162.xml)
After six months of building, sergeants now start cooking
Monday, March 14, 2005
By WENDY REEVES
Times Staff Writer wendyr@htimes.com
By day, Paul Yox and Ed Cain supervise investigators and help solve crimes.
Yox is a sergeant with the Madison County Sheriff's Department. Cain is a sergeant with the Huntsville Police Department's Major Crimes Unit.
They've been friends for 20 years, and most days they meet for a cup of coffee before work. But for the past six months their spare time has focused on an old 1,000-gallon propane tank Yox has converted into a "monster" grill for Cain.
For both, the project has been about fun, friendship and stress relief.
Welding and building things is a way for Yox to unwind. Barbecuing is how Cain relaxes.
The custom, eight-rack rotisserie pit is welded to a custom Built-Rite trailer. The assembly weighs at least 5,000 pounds, Yox said.
Yox was a tool and dye maker more than 20 years before he went to work at the sheriff's office full-time in 1985. He had been a volunteer reserve deputy for six years before that. When Cain started talking about a big grill, the pair got to work.
Looking over their creation now, they are proud.
"It's an eye-catcher," Yox said. "Everything is perfectly in line" from the door hinges to the handles. The retractable table with removable plastic tops is unusual.
Yox said it's rare to see a grill this big that's a rotisserie. Some companies make them, Cain said. But he couldn't afford that.
"We did this together," Cain said. "It truly was a labor of love, and we both put everything we could into it."
It's also given them ideas.
Yox said he will probably build grills when he retires.
Cain, who has worked 27 years with the city, said he can't wait to travel to fairs and festivals when he retires. He plans to use his new grill as a mobile concession stand for his "Sugar Cain's Bar-B-Q."
His best finish in a competition was first place at the Mobile Greater Gulf States Barbecue Championship last year. Team members were Cain's daughter and son-in-law, Lisa and David Bath, Pat Trussell and Chad Hinton. Hinton was a sub for Yox, who couldn't go that weekend.
Yox and Cain recently lit the first fire in the grill and began to season it. Saturday, they plan to cook their first four Boston butts.
"I'm glad it's almost over," Yox said. "Once we got it started, we had to keep going."
That meant firing up the gas burners a time or two to keep the shop warm enough for work on winter days. Neither has any idea how many hours they've put into it, nearly seven days a week for six months.
Cain is not surprised at the finished product. "Paul is a wizard," Cain said. "I believe he can build anything."
Cain's first big cook-off is the first weekend in April. It's for a local fund-raiser and will be the first test to see exactly how many Boston butts the "monster" will hold.
Copyright 2005 al.com
:food :food :food :food :food :food :food :food :food :food
'Monster' grill is badge of honor (http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/news/1110795472190162.xml)
After six months of building, sergeants now start cooking
Monday, March 14, 2005
By WENDY REEVES
Times Staff Writer wendyr@htimes.com
By day, Paul Yox and Ed Cain supervise investigators and help solve crimes.
Yox is a sergeant with the Madison County Sheriff's Department. Cain is a sergeant with the Huntsville Police Department's Major Crimes Unit.
They've been friends for 20 years, and most days they meet for a cup of coffee before work. But for the past six months their spare time has focused on an old 1,000-gallon propane tank Yox has converted into a "monster" grill for Cain.
For both, the project has been about fun, friendship and stress relief.
Welding and building things is a way for Yox to unwind. Barbecuing is how Cain relaxes.
The custom, eight-rack rotisserie pit is welded to a custom Built-Rite trailer. The assembly weighs at least 5,000 pounds, Yox said.
Yox was a tool and dye maker more than 20 years before he went to work at the sheriff's office full-time in 1985. He had been a volunteer reserve deputy for six years before that. When Cain started talking about a big grill, the pair got to work.
Looking over their creation now, they are proud.
"It's an eye-catcher," Yox said. "Everything is perfectly in line" from the door hinges to the handles. The retractable table with removable plastic tops is unusual.
Yox said it's rare to see a grill this big that's a rotisserie. Some companies make them, Cain said. But he couldn't afford that.
"We did this together," Cain said. "It truly was a labor of love, and we both put everything we could into it."
It's also given them ideas.
Yox said he will probably build grills when he retires.
Cain, who has worked 27 years with the city, said he can't wait to travel to fairs and festivals when he retires. He plans to use his new grill as a mobile concession stand for his "Sugar Cain's Bar-B-Q."
His best finish in a competition was first place at the Mobile Greater Gulf States Barbecue Championship last year. Team members were Cain's daughter and son-in-law, Lisa and David Bath, Pat Trussell and Chad Hinton. Hinton was a sub for Yox, who couldn't go that weekend.
Yox and Cain recently lit the first fire in the grill and began to season it. Saturday, they plan to cook their first four Boston butts.
"I'm glad it's almost over," Yox said. "Once we got it started, we had to keep going."
That meant firing up the gas burners a time or two to keep the shop warm enough for work on winter days. Neither has any idea how many hours they've put into it, nearly seven days a week for six months.
Cain is not surprised at the finished product. "Paul is a wizard," Cain said. "I believe he can build anything."
Cain's first big cook-off is the first weekend in April. It's for a local fund-raiser and will be the first test to see exactly how many Boston butts the "monster" will hold.
Copyright 2005 al.com