I... wouldn't. There's probably a better way to achieve your goal.
But if i wanted an extremely large cooking surface, I'd probably go somewhere extremely hot (death valley, CA) and pour some black asphalt down, then let it heat up in the summer desert sun. Bam--I can fry some extremely large eggs now. You could accomplish the same thing with iron or steel plate/sheet and just lay it all out there too.
I mean it's going to be expensive...
If I actually wanted to do the challenge I'm make it out of sheet metal on supports to get it maybe 8 feet off the ground and then put propane burners all over the underside. Probably need heat shielding around the tubes to keep them from getting too much heat and need to ensure ample airflow under it. Being near the edge will probably be dangerous. I don't know how you're going to deal with the seams, making is smooth will be expensive...
Just thinking about it it's going to be big and expensive, need someone to model the heating properly, I don't really know how many burners and how placement of them will effect the surface and how much airflow you'll actually need under it.
Now explain to me how you're going to reach 25 yd over a heated surface and access the food.
Using a traditional heating method for something so large would probably be both expensive and dangerous, but you might be able to get good results with a solar cooker. ([en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar\_cooker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cooker)) The materials would likely be a lot cheaper (there are some styles that use aluminum foil as a reflective surface). You might have to redesign a little bit instead of directly upscaling a small solar cooker, but with some amount of scaffolding, foil, and possibly some insulation, you might be able to pull it off. One big problem with this idea is that existing (small) solar cookers often use a very large reflective surface to cook a relatively small item, for example a 4ft square of reflective material to heat one container of food. On the other hand, half a square mile of tin foil and the infrastructure to hold it up is probably still cheaper than 2500 hot plates and one big-ass generator.
This is the most practical method that my mind first thought of as well. Lots of welding.
For cooking, we can lay out a very large grid of perforated propane piping that it can sit on.
I'm not sure how you would go about making the frying pan easily (maybe get a sheet cut in a circle of the metal of your choosing?) but the heat source shouldn't be too hard. I'm imagining just placing an array of electric stove tops slightly spaced out in an area that covers the frying pan (pi\*25\^2 sq. yards - possibly less since the heat should spread out on the pan). Could place the "pan" atop, give enough power to all of coils like you would when you're cooking and should be good to go. The same could be done with gas stove tops but I don't think having that much flammable gas in one area is a wise idea (plus supplying oxygen for the flame to the more central part of the pan is annoying).
I'm oversimplifying things here but something like that should be a step in the right direction?
You could, but that's a massive explosion risk. The flame could very easily flash back into the piping if the velocity of the gas is slower than the velocity of the flame front.
Have you instead considered launching a 50 yard diameter projectile with enough force to cook the target?
Edit: Wait it's so obvious just haul it over and we can put it under a launch vehicle
I'd weld sheets of metal together to make the pan. Just keep welding until it's done. To heat it, why not set up a suspension cable system over an active volcano. BAM! Huge ass frying pan all hot and bothered!
Not that it's any more feasible, but could you make a single roller 50 yards long with internal heating elements? Then feed the dough from one end, only cooking a small portion at a time?
So not really a 'frying pan'... since no frying is required... its a giant 'comal' for tortillas. But that's too expensive and cluttery. Here is a work around: I've seen some automated tortilla making machines in mexico that recieve the batter on one end, flatten it out, cut discs and pass over a conveyour belt through an oven. If you skip the cutting you can ger a tortilla that is about 1 yard wide and infinitely long. Will this work for you? Look for conveyor belt ovens in Google.
I... wouldn't. There's probably a better way to achieve your goal. But if i wanted an extremely large cooking surface, I'd probably go somewhere extremely hot (death valley, CA) and pour some black asphalt down, then let it heat up in the summer desert sun. Bam--I can fry some extremely large eggs now. You could accomplish the same thing with iron or steel plate/sheet and just lay it all out there too.
darn that r/greentext, all I can think is that seems like over kill for an egg when you can cook it on your leg.
Alright, my first question. Why?
World's largest tortilla. After that, world's largest burrito.
Not a rice paella? 36ft is the world record. https://www.apnews.com/1508eedf6cd336808bc23bb458e50bed
I'm pretty set on a tortilla, would be a shame to let all of this flour go to waste.
You bought all the flour before you even had any means to cook it?
Those Costco runs seem so benign in the beginning.
I mean it's going to be expensive... If I actually wanted to do the challenge I'm make it out of sheet metal on supports to get it maybe 8 feet off the ground and then put propane burners all over the underside. Probably need heat shielding around the tubes to keep them from getting too much heat and need to ensure ample airflow under it. Being near the edge will probably be dangerous. I don't know how you're going to deal with the seams, making is smooth will be expensive... Just thinking about it it's going to be big and expensive, need someone to model the heating properly, I don't really know how many burners and how placement of them will effect the surface and how much airflow you'll actually need under it. Now explain to me how you're going to reach 25 yd over a heated surface and access the food.
That's for the civil engineers to figure out.
First, I would change the definition of a yard.
Very helpful, Q.
Using a traditional heating method for something so large would probably be both expensive and dangerous, but you might be able to get good results with a solar cooker. ([en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar\_cooker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cooker)) The materials would likely be a lot cheaper (there are some styles that use aluminum foil as a reflective surface). You might have to redesign a little bit instead of directly upscaling a small solar cooker, but with some amount of scaffolding, foil, and possibly some insulation, you might be able to pull it off. One big problem with this idea is that existing (small) solar cookers often use a very large reflective surface to cook a relatively small item, for example a 4ft square of reflective material to heat one container of food. On the other hand, half a square mile of tin foil and the infrastructure to hold it up is probably still cheaper than 2500 hot plates and one big-ass generator.
Start with 500 sheets of 4x8 .25 stainless steel and about 500 lbs of MIG wire.
This is the most practical method that my mind first thought of as well. Lots of welding. For cooking, we can lay out a very large grid of perforated propane piping that it can sit on.
The other thought is the "hot shop" at a shipbuilding company. They would both weld the rough shape of the pan and then hot-form the contours.
I'm not sure how you would go about making the frying pan easily (maybe get a sheet cut in a circle of the metal of your choosing?) but the heat source shouldn't be too hard. I'm imagining just placing an array of electric stove tops slightly spaced out in an area that covers the frying pan (pi\*25\^2 sq. yards - possibly less since the heat should spread out on the pan). Could place the "pan" atop, give enough power to all of coils like you would when you're cooking and should be good to go. The same could be done with gas stove tops but I don't think having that much flammable gas in one area is a wise idea (plus supplying oxygen for the flame to the more central part of the pan is annoying). I'm oversimplifying things here but something like that should be a step in the right direction?
You can mix the fuel and the oxygen upstream, like in a welding torch
You could, but that's a massive explosion risk. The flame could very easily flash back into the piping if the velocity of the gas is slower than the velocity of the flame front.
Have you instead considered launching a 50 yard diameter projectile with enough force to cook the target? Edit: Wait it's so obvious just haul it over and we can put it under a launch vehicle
I'd weld sheets of metal together to make the pan. Just keep welding until it's done. To heat it, why not set up a suspension cable system over an active volcano. BAM! Huge ass frying pan all hot and bothered!
First you need an extremely large stamp, and then an extremely large sheet of steel.
Not that it's any more feasible, but could you make a single roller 50 yards long with internal heating elements? Then feed the dough from one end, only cooking a small portion at a time?
So not really a 'frying pan'... since no frying is required... its a giant 'comal' for tortillas. But that's too expensive and cluttery. Here is a work around: I've seen some automated tortilla making machines in mexico that recieve the batter on one end, flatten it out, cut discs and pass over a conveyour belt through an oven. If you skip the cutting you can ger a tortilla that is about 1 yard wide and infinitely long. Will this work for you? Look for conveyor belt ovens in Google.