UDT= Ugly Drum Tandoor... with PRON!!
 

Brothers:

A brother requested pics of the tandoor I built in 2008... so here goes (I hope the pics post).

Pic 1 : Newly built, standing guard in the backyard

Pic 2 : Top view. Lined with firebrick, refractory cement, inverted terracotta planter


Pic 3: Top view closer in (before it was fired)

Pic 4: View through the bottom hatch

Pic 5: Fire in the hole! :-P Groceries on skewers (tandoori chicken)

Pic 6: Naans fresh out of the tandoor.

Very nice build, I really like it, I imagine you build it where you are gonna use it though.

I like it.

That is cool. A few dollars in fire bricks.

Now I need some explanation of the whole Tandoori cooking process...

What ^^^^ he said.

Here is a great picture of a tandoor in action.
http://assets2.indiamarks.com/images...jpg?1235551916
The breads are stuck on the sides of the tandoor creating the characteristic flat breads common to Indian cooking. The meats are cooked on skewers and are prepared with spicy and savory pastes and marinades, often heavy with chilies, sweet spices and yogurt. Herbs are not as heavily used due to the heat of the tandoor.

I have been fascinated with tandoor cooking for a long time, but, they are pricey ovens. In particular, I love naan and kulchas.

Sweet tandoor! What is that, a UDT? UTD? You have created a new form of cookery!

The UDT is actually portable... metal wheels on the bottom. When I lived in Iowa, i moved it back into the garage (and fired it up there) for the winter on a dolly. The movers were about to break their backs before i told they could wheel/trundle it down the driveway onto their truck. In Houston, it can be wheeled around on concrete, but the dolly needs to come out for it to go anywhere else.

The quick and dirty on cooking with a tandoor: think really high temp grilling (700F+). Dump a bag of lump in the top hole (lands in the bottom)and let it rip. The groceries are loaded up on 4' skewers so that they sit about 12" or so above the coals. I saved the bottom of the terracotta planter for a lid. Slide the lid on and give it about 5-7mins. Take the groceries out and baste with clarified butter or oil of your choice... or don't. Let rest 5mins, then put the skewers back in for 5-7mins or until you see a little charring on the meat.

The tandoor cooks by radiant heat, convection heat, and conducted heat through the skewer. It has to be brought up to temp slowly over a couple of hours to get the full effect. The walls of the tandoor are seasoned with a mix of spinach, mustard oil, yogurt, and some other stuff I can't remember. This type of oven can be found in Central and Southwest Asia, usually used to cook breads (like naan). The naans are made by slapping them against the side of the tandoor for about 2-3mins, then pulling them off with a long hook and skewer. Commercial ones are available that run on gas, but that's cheating! :mrgreen:

Experienced tandoor cooks have lost the hair on the forearms from reaching into the blazing oven too many times (I've lost much of mine).

More info is available on Wikipedia and Google. Hope this little bit helped!

That is very cool. How'd you cut out the bottom of the terra cotta planter?

I Love it and I love that style of food as well. How do you suspend the skewers. That is one cool tandoor.

Nice!!!:eusa_clap

With a Roto-Zip?

http://www.dynamitetoolco.com/v/Roto...DR1_3Large.gif

NICE! I love Indian food and often wondered how to do something like this.

Cool never seen or heard of one.

Finally!
I was wondering some time ago if anyone had used a drum and a claypot to make a tandoor in this thread, and got very few responses.

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=71829

Glad to see you have done so, now I am inspired, and just so happen to have just picked up two new drums...:mrgreen:

does it get up to ~900?
Does the claypot withstand the heat, as typically they are fairly thin?

Thanks for posting!

Now that's cool- very interesting. Thanks for posting.

Thanks for sharing, that looks awesome! Very nice job on the construction, too. :-)

Yea another build I can do! Do you happen to have a mini guide on how you built it?

Great stuff, I would like to hear more about the construction job...always room for another crafty device on the deck.

I can't lay claim to inventing the drum tandoor... my build was an amalgamation of different builds blogged or described on the internet. I consulted with a variety of people including an artist with kiln building skills, and a professor of Ceramics at the Univeristy of Iowa Art School. I was just sick of eating chitty tandoori chicken and bad naans (I'm Indian), so I figured I would do something about it.

A tandoor usually has a single sort of bell-shaped liner that is set in a brick structire or in the ground. I initially wanted to build a liner myself, but it was getting complicated as I was worried about heat stress and fracturing the liner over time - lead to discussions about types of clay, kaowool, "grog" (stuff mixed into clay to give it some tolerance to heat stress), etc... that where the professor and the kiln-builder came in handy. Then ditched the idea and went for fire bricks... forget how many I used, but got them for $1 and change per brick from a brickyard... the fireplace showroom wanted $6.50 each!! The planter was on sale in Lowe's in January (nobody plants anything in Iowa in January:mrgreen:) for $20 (originally $70+). It was the biggest one they had. Cut off the wide rim so it would fit inside the drum, and cut the bottom to to make an open inverted cone and to form a lid. It was the first time I used and angle grinder, so the bottom cut was kind of crooked as you can see in the first pic :icon_blush:). The drum cost $10, various hardware bits were not too pricey, but I did have to buy some tools (angle grinder, cold chisel, etc) which many folks probably already own. These tools have come in handy building my UDS however.

I will try and describe the build process, but please excuse any details that may be left out... I've got UDS building on the brain right now!

I found a drum for $10 from Jiffy Lube (held windshield washer fluid). Spent a week cleaning it out with everything I could find, till I was satisfied it must be pretty clean. Cut the top off and then put some of the metal hardware in, since it would be inaccessible once the firebricks went in. Wheels (4) on the bottom, handles on either side. Cut the door hatch out of the lid to allow for an intake and big enough to easily clean the ash out. Bolted the hatch in. Then made a mortar of sorts with refractory cement and Perlite (for insulation) and laid a layer down in the base of the drum. Laid one layer of firebrick over that, with regular firecement between bricks. I made sure that the floor of the tandoor was absolutely level with the door hatch so that cleaning out the ash would be easy.

Once it was set, I started started building the walls. After I laid one layer of bricks, I filled Perlite between the drum and bricks. Let it cure then did the second layer. I wanted the top of the inverted planter to rise above the rim of drum by a few inches, so I laid down vertical firebricks accordingly. Laid down DAP high heat or firplace sealant (can't remember exactly what it was called) because I ran out of firecement and didn't want to buy another whole tub of the stuff. Set the planter on it and then filled the gap between planter and drum wall with perlite. I cut a circular sheet of aluminium for a rim to keep the Perlite from flying out, but personally I am not happy with this arrangment. Will look for another solution in time, or if anyone has any thoughts let me know.

You don't need a charcoal basket, but I guess you could use one if you really wanted to. It can be difficult to get a decent sized basket through the narrower top open end, so I just pour a bag of lump into it. The top end has to be narrower so that the heat is somewhat funneled or focused as it moves up the tandoor. Straight walls may make it slightly difficult to make naans. The clay pot has withstood about a dozen or so firings. If it breaks it should not be difficult to chip out and replace. I kept the tandoor in our attached garage during the winter in Iowa and fired it up in the garage when I wanted (opened up the garage door and the window for ventilation).

The first firing was done after seasoning the clay portion with the spinach mix described above. Some say you only need to season with brine to help the naans unstick from the clay walls of the tandoor. More info here http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2005Mar15.html. I poured in a third of a bag of lump and lit it. Waited a few hours then poured in another third, and the rest after another few hours. The temp should be brought up somewhat gradually to prevent heat stress and risk fracturing the clay pot or the bricks.

A few days later we fired it up to cook. I found the best prices for skewers at www.nishienterprise.com .... look under tandoor accessories. I looked high and low for skewers and all other skewers were too wimpy or too short or too expensive. I found some turkish skewer that were $7 each... got mine for $2 each and they are nearly indestructible.

Let the tandoor come up to temp. Dangled an oven thermometer on a coat hanger to get the temp in the middle of the oven. The thermometer maxed out at 600*F so I figured the tandoor was hot enough :-D Put the marinated chicken on the skewers and stuck em in. After about 15 mins we were ready to make naans. Another 10 mins and we were done cooking. It takes about a half day for the whole process, plus about a six-pack of brew, and sometimes a cigar or two.

Everything came out delicious. I will try and post some pron that I have somewhere on my hard drive at home. We have made chicken tikka, tandoori chicken, shrimp, goat kababs among other things. Seekh kababs are tricky... still working on a method for those. Cleanup is fairly easy, once the oven is cool (next evening or later), open the bottom hatch, slide a pan under the drum, stick a broom in from the top and just sweep all the ash out. Also, a fan set up in front of the open door hatch really gets the coals going.

The UDT was a little more expensive to build than a UDS, but its as close to authentic tandoori cooking as you can get this side of the Atlantic. And way cheaper than buying the commercial varieties sold to restaurants. Cooking with it has been very fun and very tasty. My wife makes me feed a morsel or two to the coals when we fire it up to keep it fed and happy. we sometimes lose a naan to the coals, but again, it just keeps our tandoor well-nourished.

Enjoy! I would be glad to help in whatever way I can if any brothers are planning on building one.

What a great amount of information, thanks for posting! I just completed my UDS, but I think a mini tandoor will definitely be in the future.... Simply cannot get enough naan or tandoori chicken (spritzed with steaming lemons and blanketed with onions!) Mmm, darn, kinda hungry all of a sudden. :-)

Question...is there anything in that space between the clay pot and the drum on the upper half?

I like it! Nice job Caliking! :cool:

I filled any gaps between drum and brick or clay plot and drum with Perlite. Some use sand, but if there is a crack somewhere in the future the sand might leak into the main cooking chamber and you lose some insulation. Plus sand would make this extremely heavy project even heavier.

The clay part can't be built with just any clay. In India, clay from a particular part of the country is usually used to make the liners. Plus the clay must have the right kind of grog (sometimes hay, horsehair or other stuff) to give it some tolerance. Otherwise the expansion and contraction of repeated heating and cooling will likely crack an improperly fabricated clay liner. That's why I decided to go with the clay pot! It was getting too complicated...

Have a good weekend all! Heading to frigid Michigan for the weekend... hope to see some beautiful pron (and learn how to do it right) when I get back. Final assembly of the UDS when I get back.

Not only inspirational, but a wealth of information also. Thanks mate, you've just created another monster. :-D

That is really cool. What a great project.

Excellent thread caliking...now my curiosity is peaked! :cool: I've never had tandoori cooking before...I'll be looking forward your future posts. :-P Good luck with your UDS build...:biggrin:

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing and I wonder how many UTD's there will be out there now?
Looking forward to some pron!

So is the whole idea of getting even cook all at once on the skewered meat, or whatever is skewered. Still not sure.

The meat is cooked evenly at high temp... seared on the outside moist on the inside... the skewer itself gets pretty hot and helps cook the meat. The skewers are nearly vertical or somewhat slanted in the tandoor, but plenty of heat circulates all around them. The meat is tenderized by marinating with spices, yogurt and sometimes some raw papaya (pureed or juice). There are tons of recipes on the internet if you google words like boti kabab, tandoori chicken, chicken tikka, etc.

Unreal man, I love it. I may just build one myself. (add another project to the pile)

:clap2:That is TOTALLY! awesome. Thank you :hail:we are not worthy,,,lol

Oh yes yes yes.... This is the way to go! I definately want to do this... one day!

Very impressive, looks great.

I'm not even finished reading this thread, and I have to say that's about the coolest thing I've ever seen done with a drum. Bravo. Can't wait to learn more...

seems like this thread has been revived.

If anyone does build a UDT, go to nishienterpise.com for the special skewers. Click on Tandoors on the left side, then click to the bottom of the 2nd or 3rd page. Best prices I saw anywhere and the skewers were the all-steel real deal.

I cannot tell you how much I appreciate you sharing your information on the tandoor, I to am inspried to build one as I LOVE Naan Bread and Tandoori Chicken and some of the other fine Indian Food. My last job sent me to India for two weeks and I sampled a lot of the Indian Food and loved everything I ate.

Can you share your recipe for the Naan Bread, I will try and make some on a pizza stone until I can build one of these cookers.

Again, thanks so much for sharing this information.

Paul

That is some great information. I'm going to pass this information to a buddy of mine in Florida that has been trying tandori style cooking in his BGE, but without much luck.

Sounds great. For some reason I can not see the pics though.

Im tring to build a tandoor out of an old cement mixer.

Anybody have info on good clay for these ovens? The idea is to form the clay into the mixer and maintain the "tear" shape that the mixer has. Then fire the clay by building a big fire in it and perhaps around it as well.

Thats how they do it with homemade tandoor in Indian so Im told.

Whats a good oven clay? I know there is refractory clay but I think it has to be fired at very high heats?

Does the terracotta pot hold up?

I see no pictures and have opened this site up using Google Chrome and Internet Explorer.

I don't get any pictures either/ :confused:

This thread is a year old. I would guess that the fellow that posted the pictures has moved them and the links are no longer valid.

Thanks Kevin, that is probably why I see no pictures. I thought it was a recent thread. I should pay better attention!

That would esplain a lot for sure.

I got nothing :roll:

UHHH the pics in the first post are gone.

no pictures
 

hey where are the photos.
I'm chuffed!
This sounds like a cool project.
Anyone know how to get a peek at a UDS tandoor?

Always looking for something new to try .


RockyAthabaska
Weber 18”kettle
Weber 22.5”kettle
Performer green
Weber silver B gasser
UDS
A man never tells you anything until you contradict him.
George Bernard Shaw

Darn
Too bad he removed the pics. Maybe we could get him to repost them on photobucket. I understand. I was getting to my limit on my posts so I deleted a few,,,,,,

The drum tandoor is really cool. I would love to hear how it has been working out.

Been trying to get this one stated for a while. I want to make this old cement mixer barrel into a back yard tandoor. I have cut a clean out/air intake on the bottom. Now I have to find some kind of clay or cement to build the walls up.

I have thought of refractory cement but I have heard that the nan will not cook right and just sticks on and never comes off in one piece.

I just want to use some kind of low fire, high heat clay. I think that is how they do it in India, they just build it then fire it by building a huge fire in it and around it.

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/l...DSC00431-1.jpg

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/l...DSC00433-1.jpg


Anybody know any low fire heat resistant clays?

WTF? Where is the PRON?!?!