9

FORGE

tandoor is a roughly cylindrical
clay oven that’s traditionally
heated by wood or charcoal
burning within the oven itself.
This design leads to a high
internal heat, and this high heat
leads to a distinctive flavour in the final dishes.
The intense heat from the coals radiates up and grills
the meat, while the high air temperature (held in by
the clay sides) bakes it, and the juices dripping off the
meat vaporise and steam the meat. This three‑in‑one
cooking method is impossible to replicate in any
other way.
The tandoor style of oven is both simple and capable
of creating a fantastic flavour. It’s the combination of
these two things that have led to them being used
across southern, central, and western Asia for over
4500 years. The only real change in modern times is
that some are now gas‑fired, rather than using wood or
charcoal. We’ll construct a charcoal‑powered tandoor
using a few flower pots.
The constituent parts of a tandoor are fairly simple.
You need a clay cooking/burning vessel. This needs
to have an air supply at the bottom to keep the fire
burning, and a lid to keep the heat in. It also needs to
be insulated to ensure that heat is held in. If you’ve got
the capabilities for working with clay, then you may
be able to make one from scratch. However, for those
of us without a kiln large enough to bake a tandoor,
there is the short cut of assembling your tandoor from
premade clay pots. The cheapest and most readily

available clay pots, large enough for a tandoor, are

terracotta plant pots.

There are lots of ways of doing this, and there’s

no special secret that makes one method better than

the others, so experiment with the design if you want

one that looks different or is a different size to the one

we’re making.

YOU’LL NEED

Terracotta pot

23 cm diameter

Terracotta pot

30 cm diameter

Terracotta pot

40 cm diameter

Charcoal

Dremel and

cutting disc

or other tool for

cutting terracotta

THE HEAT IS ON

We’ve talked quite a bit in this article about ways

of getting the tandoor hot enough. This is important

because it’s this heat that gives food the distinctive

tandoori flavour. However, it is possible to get too much

of a good thing. If you overheat your tandoor, you run

the risk of cracking the pots, and you’ll struggle to

properly cook your food.

The best way of checking is with an infrared

thermometer (you’ll need one that reads up to about

550°C). Just point it at the wall of the tandoor to see

what temperature you’ve reached. We found that the

ideal cooking temperature is around 400°C, though

your tandoor should work fine between 350 and

450°C. Like other methods of cooking over wood and

charcoal, the exact temperature isn’t critical, it’s the

process of cooking the meat in the steam produced

from their juices dripping onto hot coals that produces

the delicious flavour of the tandoor. If in doubt, try

cooking with it, and if the food is cooked all the way

through and you like the flavour, then your tandoor is

working properly, regardless of what a thermometer

might say.

A

Left

Our three pots lined

up. The exact sizes

aren’t important as

long as they fit inside

each other

Ben Everard

@ben_everard

Ben has combined his

kitchen and workshop.

A kitch-shop if you will.

It’s where he creates

food using power tools

and electronics. Laser

cut bacon anyone?