# Building a Tandoor!



## Zwiefel (Jun 13, 2015)

A friend and fellow Indian food fanatic had an idea to make a homemade tandoor. Here's our little project...


Core items, an inverted terracotta pot, and a metal trashcan.






Lay out firebrick, and trace bottom of trashcan. Cut slightly inside the lines for a snug fit.





Not bad for my first time cutting masonry.





Now that the floor is cut, make a ring with the firebricks, to rest the teracotta pot on:





Leave a gap to create a hole for ash maintenance and airflow.





[email protected], that stuff makes a big mess...





Insert the terracotta pot, after cutting the bottom off, then fill in the gap with river rock to stabilize the structure and add thermal mass.

















Coating of coconut oil to season the teracotta:









Going to burn about 20 lbs of hardwood lump charcoal to season the terracotta and allow any off-gassing to complete:





If weather cooperates, dinner later: tandoori chicken and Salmon, veg kebob, naan, maybe a few other things....


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## The Edge (Jun 13, 2015)

That's awesome!! Waiting for dinner with anticipation!


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## chiffonodd (Jun 13, 2015)

So freaking cool.


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## brianh (Jun 13, 2015)

FOR THE WIN.


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## Dardeau (Jun 13, 2015)

Holy ****. I think we have some extra fire brick at the restaurant. That is badass


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## andre s (Jun 13, 2015)

this is great! thanks for sharing


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## Zwiefel (Jun 13, 2015)

A test Naan....





Turned out pretty well...but it seems that Naan is finicky.....going to take a bit of work to have a consistent product.











Coals are getting quite hot....










Tandoori chicken is crisping up nicely....





Nice bit of blotchy char, chicken is quite moist and tender.





Fire is nice and hot now.


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## jimbob (Jun 14, 2015)

Damn cool.


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## MontezumaBoy (Jun 14, 2015)

lus1: Sweet!!! Awesome project ... thx for putting this together! Inspiring ... maybe now I'll get off my a$$ and put that kebab grill together!


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## Mute-on (Jun 14, 2015)

Just brilliant!!

Freaking cool too :thumbsup:


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## rahimlee54 (Jun 14, 2015)

What did you cut the firebrick with? Jigsaw?


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## Zwiefel (Jun 14, 2015)

rahimlee54 said:


> What did you cut the firebrick with? Jigsaw?



Skillsaw with diamond blade....cut those bricks like butter. I was surprised how easy that was.


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## panda (Jun 14, 2015)

this is all kinds of awesomeness!!


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## MadDurrr (Jun 15, 2015)

^ What he said...very cool :doublethumbsup:


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## ptolemy (Jun 16, 2015)

wow. that oven must be at 800f!!


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## Ucmd (Jun 16, 2015)

Really cool.


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## mark76 (Jun 16, 2015)

That's very cool! Makes me think of Heston Blumenthal, who also built his own tandoori oven.


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## apathetic (Jun 16, 2015)

Great project! How long did it take you to make it?


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## Zwiefel (Jun 16, 2015)

ptolemy said:


> wow. that oven must be at 800f!!



I wish I still had a laser temp to find out.


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## Zwiefel (Jun 16, 2015)

apathetic said:


> Great project! How long did it take you to make it?



Took about 2 hours to shop for the materials, and about 3 hours to build. Really not bad.


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## apathetic (Jun 17, 2015)

So half a day overall to get it setup... not bad at all!
Thanks again for sharing


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## rahimlee54 (Jun 17, 2015)

I have been trying to figure out if you can design a dome to go on top to use for pizza. Two birds with one stone kind of deal. Especially since there are vids on youtube with these going well into the 800 F temps.


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## Zwiefel (Jun 18, 2015)

rahimlee54 said:


> I have been trying to figure out if you can design a dome to go on top to use for pizza. Two birds with one stone kind of deal. Especially since there are vids on youtube with these going well into the 800 F temps.



There are specialized rods with steel plates for doing pizzas in them. So that's already been solved 

http://www.tandoorliving.com.au/Tandoor-tandoori-pizza-oven.html


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## DDPslice (Jul 1, 2015)

Looks great!


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## Aleque (Aug 23, 2015)

I'm totally going to make this. I just saw this post and I thought it looks amazing. If anyone has made this yet could you answer a few questions?

1. How are the fire bricks secured to the floor and sides of the metal trash can?
2. Are the rocks a special type, or could I go and just buy a bag at the local home depot or Lowes? 
3. What size of trash can and Terra cotta pot did the OP use?
4. Lastly, is this tandor oven mobile? Is it easy to pick up and place in a shed when not in use?

Thanks in advance!


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