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! Groceries on skewers (tandoori chicken)

Pic 6: Naans fresh out of the tandoor.

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!