Dodge County Smokers BBQ Catering

We use one cooker for competition and a few others for catering and fun. Here is a run down of our weapons of mass BBQ production. We are "stick burners," firing our offset pits with charcoal and split logs, but that doesn't mean any other cookers couldn't find their way into our repertoire. For now, we are happy and find the best product for us, is produced on these pits.

Custom Made Dodge County Smokers Competition Cooker

Our smoker was designed, built and is owned by Richard J. Dunker. It was the first “Dodge County Smoker” (Serial #000001) to roll out of the factory at Dunker Farms in North Bend, NE (located in Dodge County, Nebraska).

The entire pit was shop-built in about a month and we used it in competition for the first time in Excelsior Springs, MO in 2005 (with unimpressive results). Time spent using the cooker has resulted in better scores since.

Originally an old tank, it was recycled into a cooker. Doors were cut, counter balences were added for easy opening and the tank was sand blasted and refinished.

Excelsior Springs, 2005

The smoker is an offset design, with a large firebox constructed of 1/4" steel and uses thick tuning plates inside the cooking chamber to help regulate and diffuse heat from back to front.

A few helpful features were added including a weather proof storage box, integrated propane flame thrower torch, storage area for wood & additional items, and a retractable stainless steel working tray.

It rests on a heavy duty axle system which pulls easy & straight down the highway. Recently a fully swiveling trailer jack with double wheels and a hand truck were added, which makes it very easy to maneuver the cooker into tight spots at contests. We easily turn a full 180 degrees in one spot with out a problem...which is important to us as we are often running in circles.

In the shop, door cut, not much else.

The 72 inch long cooker has about 2,550 sqare inches of cooking area and heavy duty duel doors with twin thermometers and spring handles. Four strong removable sliding shelves inside the 30 inch wide chamber can hold up to 250 lbs of meat and is fired by a large firebox (30 x 30 in).

We also added a duble hinged swivel arm that holds our 22" Weber kettle grill. It swings out to cook and tucks back over the fire box for transport. It has garnered a lot of interest from fellow cooks and folks who are just attending contests to check stuff out.

Links:
>Pit Pictures
>Weber Arm Pictures

H&S 2000 Trailer Mounted Pit

Chris' H&S pit saw plenty of competition success a few years back as the cooker used used by Richard Sterling of Sterling BBQ. When Rich decided to sell it, Chris jumped on it and it's been out hog cooker and catering rig ever since.

The cooking chamber is about 48" long and is fueled by a double walled fire box. It's a reverse flow smoker, meaning the heat and smoke travel under the cooking grates and meat to the far end of the chamber, before being released up and over the meat traveling to the exhaust back on the same end as the firebox.

The cooker is mounted on a trailer with a fold out shelter and a good size stainless steel table and plenty of storage room up up front.

Trailer Mounted H&S 2000 .

The increased capacity makes this smoker a perfect catering rig. We have utilized it for a number of weddings, picnics, business and social gatherings.

It also has become a pretty good whole hog roaster. The picture to the right shows a nice sized pig that we did for a July 4th party.

Pig roast

Jack's Little Cooker

This little cooker is the second unit to roll out of the shop at Dunker Farms (Serial # 000002). It was built for Neal's son, Jack Dunker by his uncle Kurt for his 2nd birthday.

The smoker is modeled after the much larger version built by Kurt and Neal's Dad, the same cooker used in competition by the Dodge County Smokers competition team.

Not only does this little cooker look cool, it is fully functioning. We have cooked sausage, hot dogs and chicken in it and plan to do more. Jack is still too young for Kids Q contests, but when he is old enough, he'll have the perfect tool to get the job done!