Kamado Tandoor

[gotzero]

I have been threading to do this for ages, but the arrival of a full supermarket sized Indian only grocery store (actually vegetarian Indian only...) motivated me. I can now get any Indian spice I want and that is turning a lot of gears.

 

I recently got set up to weld stainless steel outside, an awesome capability to have for barbecue tinkering. A ring bender and a whole bunch of 304 1/4" round stainless later and I was able to start mocking things up. Making a ring to fit in the divide and conquer rack is nice and easy, something I am going to keep in mind for other accessories.

 

 

I measured everything several times, verified available space, did the geometry, and tacked everything together for a test fit, which was good because, it did not fit. I am not sure where I made my error, but the kamado would not close.

 

 

I broke the tack welds, cut an inch off of each straight spacer, milled the cut ends concave again, and tried again. Now everything fit perfectly. 

 

 

Clearance with lid closed.

 

 

Off to get all the right ingredients and then getting marinading. Look for results this week!

[JohnnyAppetizer]

On some of the cooking shows (diners and drive ins being one I know I saw this on) they stick the naan dough right on the side of the tandoori oven. It clings to the side while it bakes. I've been wondering if you could do that with a kamado. 

[ckreef]

Interesting setup you built. Can't wait to see some action shots. 

 

 

[3547fl]

Looks great, can't wait to see it in action.

 

[gotzero]

I gave it a try. This is something that is going to requite a lot of tinkering to get perfect. 

 

The evening before the cook, I went to the Indian grocery and picked up the good stuff, including bright red "kashmiri chili powder". Everything went in a bowl with some yogurt:

 

Mixed together:

 

And put in a bag with a nice big pack of drumsticks to spend a night in the fridge as science food:

 

For dinner time tonight I put the chicken on skewers with my custom "do not fall into the charcoal" system:

 

I heated up the kamado to 500f and let it heat soak for a nice long time, and then got cooking. Here is zero minutes:

 

And here is ten minutes where I thought I might be removing chicken (little did I know). One look and I liked where things were heading, but there was no way these were close to done.

 

20 minutes. Checked again. Chicken was looking better but instant thermometer told me I was not close:

 

30 minutes. Now things are looking awesome, smelling good, temps are starting to read right:

 

Took everything off, plated, served to family, and dug in. The kids loved it, I think because it was really bland. My spouse enjoyed it, because it was not spicy. I was left wanting a lot more. I looked perfect, smelled good, and tasted like there was a lot to be desired even though nothing was "wrong". Next time, I am going to add stronger chilis and garlic (I left both out to not blow my family away before I knew what I was doing), and cook at a higher temperature to get cook time down. The yogurt marinades can clearly do some amazing things, and I look forward to getting my recipe dialed in and then doing this with chicken, veggies, etc. I cooked 5lbs of drumsticks and was not even close to capacity for this setup. 

[gotzero]

On 9/2/2019 at 6:03 PM, JohnnyAppetizer said:

On some of the cooking shows (diners and drive ins being one I know I saw this on) they stick the naan dough right on the side of the tandoori oven. It clings to the side while it bakes. I've been wondering if you could do that with a kamado. 

 

I would love a tandoor, pretty much for this purpose. I think if you heat soaked enough and were very gentle with closing, you could get away with on a kamado dome. However, I do so much smoking in mine that the surface does not seem ideal. 

[gotzero]

Tried again today. Added more heat, skinned drumsticks, cut of the bone end on most of them. I think I have this dialed in and I am thrilled. 

 

 

 

[TKOBBQ]

Looks good.

[FatViking]

This is friggin genius!  Hurry up and patent the design!  I'm not joking.

[gotzero]

13 hours ago, FatViking said:

This is friggin genius!  Hurry up and patent the design!  I'm not joking.

 

Thanks. This was a fun project for me with lots of prior art out there. Ceramic grill store is going to have one, I just did not think their design would be ideal for how I wanted to cook. I hope others make more options too. Every time anyone adds a capability to a kamado is a happy day for me. The total cost/complication to get a serviceable SS welding setup for backyard BBQ tinkering quality has become so much more accessible, and I hope to see lots of ideas flowing around in the future. 

 

Now I am onto working on the geometry to get rings made for a Jr sized rotisserie.

[Frod]

Hi,

that just looks amazing!

I have a big joe and looking for something like that my self.

can you please please share the measures of it all?

 

kind regards

 Fredrik 

 

 

[gotzero]

The one I made was for the classic, since the way it is set up a Big Joe version would not actually hold more, but dimensions are as follows:

 

Lower ring diameter ~18.5"

Upper ring diameter ~6.25"

Vertical height ~8.5"

Rod length ~10"

[K_sqrd]

Great idea and nice work. Just a suggestion... weld a rod across the diameter of the top ring and

then you could hang things from it for Tacos Al Pastor, Shawarma, roasts, chickens, etc. in

addition to tandoor cooking.

[Rhodesy]

Thanks for sharing this, it is very helpful. I am going to have a friend fabricate me one for my Classic II.  Can I check the thickness of the ring / stainless rods? Are they 12mm?