Trader Vic's Chinese Oven BBQ (for home use)

After MANY years of dormancy, I used my Trader Vic's smoker for the first time tonight!

http://www.facebook.com/Mr.BruceSmiley/posts/10150092208318325?notif_t=like#!/photo.php?fbid=10150092397503325&set=a.277662743324.143033.578608324&theater

Who else has one? Did Beachbum Berry get the one off ebay in 2006(?) ? ....Update-It looks like Rum Num Davey bought it. I later searched CHINESE OVEN (as opposed to BBQ) on TC and found a couple thread of owners/past owners!

I'm the most thirstiesterest of all!
TRADER VIC'S stuff for sale on EBAY 1957SPUTNIK
http://shop.ebay.com/1957sputnik/m.html
If you like it, it is ZAZZ! If you don't it is RAZZ!

[ Edited by: mrsmiley 2011-02-23 08:42 ]

The smoke looks nice sitting there by the pool but howzabout some pics of the food!?

We already ate the Salmon at this point, but here are some Chicken and rib pictures!

PS- The Big Trader Vic's plate is for sale on eBay --see the link below in the signature!

Boy that looks tasty!

My husband keeps threatening to buy a big green egg, but that Trader Vic's jobbie is wayyyy cooler! SO happy to see one being used & enjoyed :D

I wanted a Big Green Egg also until I saw how many big green dollars they cost :D How does the TV oven work? It looks very close to an average smoker.

"Anyone who has ever seen them is thereafter haunted as if by a feverish dream" Karl Woermann

[ Edited by: uncle trav 2011-02-23 04:37 ]

1- Recipes (in the recipe thread, don't anyone hollering) pretty please?

2- In lieu of the TV Chinese Ovens, I suggest the Weber Smokey Mtn. Cooker, which is +/- $200 on Amazon (and often dirt cheap on CL) and has plenty of capacity and, once the modest learning curve is scaled, is simple to use, with colossal online support.

I think it TV Chinese Oven is meant as a combo smoker/oven. The ones in the restaurants always have a roaring fire and any entree I order only takes about 25 minutes. Sure, it is possible they have half-cooked the item (apparently a common Chinese restaurant technique) or I am getting an entree that was placed in there a few hours ago, but I don't think so. Does anyone know the TV cooking technique?
What I do know about the home Version of the Chinese Oven, is that it is VERY adaptable. It has a grease pan below(see hanging image) is has air vents on both ends (to increase or decrease temperature if needed) and a smoke vent at the top incase you want it less smoky. Also, the fire box tray can be slid closer to the chimney if needed (also for temperature control and faster cooking).
These are all observations-I didn't get an owners manual! :)
Any input would be greatly appreciated. As for recipes, they included some strange incredients like Shasta Tiki Punch. I will have to ask Billy the Crud-as he threw the marinades together.

Cool! The meat hangs instead of laying flat on a grill - hmmmm? Was the salmon strong enough to hang also, seems it would flake apart when cooked.

Those are ZAZZ pictures Mr Smiley!

Hi, we put the salmon in a "fish basket" and hung that. I should have sprayed "pam" on the basket-the skin stuck to the basket!

I wish someone would re-issue this TV Chinese Oven.
I really want one bad!

Cool oven mrsmiley. It looks to be in very good shape... I still have a dream to build my own restaurant-style oven someday:

...a little closer

Trad'r Bill

Bill, yer a dirty stinker. :) I been tryin to get my scanner working for the last half hour.

On 2011-02-20 20:30, mrsmiley wrote:
....Update-It looks like Rum Num Davey bought it. ...

Just don't desecrate yours the way Rum Numb Davey did... :lol:

On 2011-02-23 15:03, Hakalugi wrote:

On 2011-02-20 20:30, mrsmiley wrote:
....Update-It looks like Rum Num Davey bought it. ...

Just don't desecrate yours the way Rum Numb Davey did... :lol:

OOF! At least the original Trader Vic's was in Oakland , and he is buried in Oakland so the Raiders do have some connection!! :wink:

I would love to find one of those smokers for sale! It's almost grilling time.

On 2011-02-26 11:11, Tiki Hekele wrote:
I would love to find one of those smokers for sale! It's almost grilling time.

I will sell mine for one BILLION dollars!

Just kidding.

oh wait...if someone pays me one billion dollars, I can fly to any Trader Vic's I want and order some food and drinks! The offer is ON!! :)

Here is a 1957 magazine article on making one!
Search ebay for ; Barbeque Smoker Oven How-To PLANS from Oil Drum
(not my auction)

Seller id ; grandpas_secrets (in case the listing expires)

whaddaya mean..desecrate it. Raider haters abound! The oven was fabricated for TV's in the East Bay so I had to give it a face lift.

I powder coated mine and tricked it up, as I thought it would just look cool.

Welcome back Rum Numb..we were just in your city last weekend!

On 2011-06-08 12:40, Rum Numb Davey wrote:
whaddaya mean..desecrate it. Raider haters abound! The oven was fabricated for TV's in the East Bay so I had to give it a face lift.

I powder coated mine and tricked it up, as I thought it would just look cool.

You misunderstand, I have nothing against the Raiders. Putting ANY football team logo on such a fine chinese oven just sort of ruins the vibe. It's like putting a bumper sticker on a classic car, but harder to remove. But hey, that's just me. :)

On 2011-09-02 09:12, Hakalugi wrote:
... I have nothing against the Raiders...

I do :D But it's a cool oven otherwise

You can view and download patent #2,685,285, applied for by - and granted to - Victor Bergeron, for a "Barbecue Device" (the Chinese Oven), here. It has a detailed explanation of how it is configured and how it works. This could be useful, if you wish to construct a functionally similar model for yourself.

"The rum's the thing..."

[ Edited by: Limbo Lizard 2011-09-06 18:18 ]

There's a Trader Vic's Smoker on eBay, right now, for $10 min. bid and $30 Buy It Now. The catch: it's local pick-up, only, in South Lake Tahoe area. I'd love this item, but I'm afraid the round trip from Texas makes the effective price too dear!
So, here's another possibility for you California tikiphiles,... who already get the best of it, in the search for "tiki in the wild".
Trader Vic's Smoker (end time: Aug 17, 2013 13:02:50 PDT)

Hi-

I'm searching for a Trader Vic's Chinese Oven for home use. If anyone knows of one for sale, please let me know.

Cheers -

Ogg

I'm thinking that the cooking technique is probably similar to one of these?

howlinowl

Vertical smokers are still around and you can get better ones now than the one TV offered. Just a quick amazon search for smokers will usually get you units at about $100.

Hi, I would guess that most anyone who wants a TV Chinese Oven is not because they are a state of the art cooking method, but because it is a rare TV item.

Though I would imagine it is a licensed item rather than on the same line as something produced for the Trader Vic's establishments... Similar to how Disney stuff sold in the parks is not always the same stuff you would find at your local store.

These were sold by Trader Vic's for home use, they were never used at a Trader Vic's restaurant.

mrsmiley, makes a good point
the question here is, are you just looking for the Trader Vics aesthetic
or you looking to replicate the smoked flavor of those old Trader Vics recipes
because that can be achieved with any decent smoker in the $100 to $300 range

As an avid practitioner of Smoked BBQing, I would rather use an efficient & up to date smoker
which will do a better job overall.

[ Edited by: Atomic Tiki Punk 2014-11-13 15:00 ]

Unless it appeared in a TV establishment (even for sale) consider it licensed rather than something on the same level as a mug/menu/actual TV thing.

Even then, since it would have to sit outside/in your garage, there isn't the same collector draw as with smaller things.

On 2014-11-13 14:51, Atomic Tiki Punk wrote:
mrsmiley, makes a good point
the question here is, are you just looking for the Trader Vics aesthetic
or you looking to replicate the smoked flavor of those old Trader Vics recipes
because that can be achieved with any decent smoker in the $100 to $300 range

As an avid practitioner of Smoked BBQing, I would rather use an efficient & up to date smoker
which will do a better job overall.

[ Edited by: Atomic Tiki Punk 2014-11-13 15:00 ]

Exactly. That is why I posted the pic of the smoker. ogg stated he was looking for one for home use, which means to me that he's planning on cooking with it. Instead of searching the world over for a TV one that more than likely will be a rusted hulk, might as well head to the local DYI Big Box store and spring for something new.

howlinowl

Now I am getting hungry......

Found some old photos of Trader Vic and his Home BBQ Oven.

Apparently manufactured by the TwinCoach Company in Kent, Ohio.
DC

TV's granddaughter's using one of the TV smokers in BBQ Comps.

http://www.marinij.com/ci_23358089/trader-vics-granddaughter-bergeron-thompson-smokes-barbecue-competitors

howlinowl

We have a Trader Vic's Chinese Smoker for sale. Contact me directly if you are interested! [email protected]

I spotted this brochure for the Trader Vic's BBQ smoker oven that the photos I posted earlier were used for.

This BBQ oven looks really well built.

DC

I found the Chinese oven design, with how-to-build instructions, in an old Popular Science magazine a number of years ago and seriously considered building one for fun. (Someone here may have pointed me to it, posted it elsewhere here on TC, I think.) Then I realized that modern smokers at my local Lowe's and Home Depot looked like modernized versions of the Chinese oven --- exactly like howlinowl showed us in his earlier post here in this thread. So that kinda changed my desire, but I still think it would be cool to build one and see how well it works. And if I don't like it, it's pretty easy to take apart, assuming mortar isn't a requirement to hold it together or to seal the air flow.

One for sale on ebay right now. Pick up only in Vancouver unfortunately or I would have jumped on it.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/TRADER-VICS-CHINESE-OVEN-/152221828218?hash=item237120c47a:g:L2QAAOSwi0RXwxik

Ran into this "how to" on Instructables.com this morning for a "reverse flow offset smoker from an old water boiler" and thought I'd share. I've been toying with the idea to build something at home to re-create the effect of a Chinese Oven, so every once in a while something catches my eye.

I realize that Chinese Oven design elements have been copied and improved over the years and smoker grills with offset fireboxes are now quite common and easy to buy. So this is just some more food for thought.

In the example below, this guy is REALLY GOOD with metal and with tools. He did a great job. I think the basics are interesting and inspirational. But...

Personally, I award maximum "style points" to the person who can figure out how to stack a bunch of bricks in 30 minutes and get the same basic functionality. So in my book, the original Chinese Oven design and construction is a huge winner because of its simplicity. And I think someday that's what I'll do - I will try to figure out old-school style how to build it quickly and cheaply using just basic stacked bricks and blocks.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Reverse-Flow-Offset-Smoker-From-an-Old-Water-Boile/

Guy: You made a Chinese Oven from stacked bricks? It has no wheels - you can't take it anywhere.
Me: Get the hell out of my yard! :)

cool article about granddaughter of TV using his smoker in competition

http://www.marinij.com/lifestyle/20130605/trader-vics-granddaughter-bergeron-thompson-smokes-barbecue-competitors

Thanks, that was fun to read. It's just more inspiration ("fuel on the fire?") to build something.

I'm thinking more and more of my "30 minute" challenge... And I'm thinking that there's no reason the thing has to be ROUND, it could be made square or rectangular. That means inexpensive cinder blocks could be used, although I don't think they're long-term durable with high heat. It would be an inexpensive way to start testing... I have plenty of downed oak wood from our recent Hurricane Irma.

Here's a page about a rectangular cinder block smoker that uses indirect heat, similar to an offset.

I made a similar one a few years back but we put the fire on top like a Caja China, not a smoker. The 2 rows of bricks off the back allowed us to slide the fire off to flip and glaze the pig

On 2017-09-21 09:56, MadDogMike wrote:
Here's a page about a rectangular cinder block smoker that uses indirect heat, similar to an offset.

I made a similar one a few years back but we put the fire on top like a Caja China, not a smoker. The 2 rows of bricks off the back allowed us to slide the fire off to flip and glaze the pig

those are similar to carolina style whole pig pits - very cool - it's on my bucketlist to do a whole hog

On 2017-09-21 07:36, stevekh wrote:
cool article about granddaughter of TV using his smoker in competition

http://www.marinij.com/lifestyle/20130605/trader-vics-granddaughter-bergeron-thompson-smokes-barbecue-competitors

Yeah....I posted a link to that article a few above yours in 2014. Wonder how well and if she's still competing?

howlinowl

Edit: Nevermind. After posting, I did a search for "Vics Chics". Found her facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/Vics-Chics-BBQ-165345776811196/

No new posts since Feb. 2016.

howlinowl

[ Edited by: howlinowl 2017-09-21 13:49 ]

Great info here, you guys are encouraging me to take up another hobby which I so desperately (DO NOT) need, hahaha...

Vic's daughter can be contacted at the Trader Vic's web site. She was extremely helpful when I had a breakage issue with one of my orders a year or so ago. The customer service email box was her responsibility, and I got to exchange a few emails with her.

Now I have some of your excellent URLs to go visit...