How to make a tandoor in the country with your own hands? We build a stationary tandoor with our own hands We make a tandoor with our own hands.

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Tandoor (tanur - Farsi; tone - Georgian; tono - Turkic; tandoori - Hindi; tandoor - English) is today a popular trend of country-stove fashion. However, it's not just about fashion. In the tandoor, you can cook everything the same as on or in, and many other dishes of oriental cuisine. And at the same time, it is generally easier to make a good tandoor with your own hands than any other country stove.

Another important advantage of the tandoor is that it can be made of clay, i.e. "True furnace", without the slightest admixture of metal in the design, and at the same time mobile. At the end of the season, it can be hidden indoors or taken with you when moving. Installation will require a minimum of work, and the foundation as such is not needed for the tandoor at all.

Finally, the tandoor is economical. He was born in places that never abounded with fuel, and the design was worked out not for centuries - for millennia. Bookmarks of fuel, in the brazier barely enough for a heel of kebabs, in the tandoor there is enough for a dozen of them plus cakes, and plus the tea will boil while the cakes are being baked.

Many who want to acquire a tandoor of their own making are frightened off by the complexity of pottery. But they can be simplified, see below. And the tandoor, in general, is unpretentious in the choice of material - you can even lay out an Uzbek brick tandoor. Ancient nomads in the vastness of Turan, Takla-Makan and Tsaidam at the next parking lot generally made tandoors from anything, and the food turned out to be licking your fingers. A galaxy of Russian travelers in Central Asia in the 19th - early 20th centuries. confirms unanimously.

Make or buy?

As for the tandoor for the dacha or just for the household, here you first need to decide whether to make it yourself or buy it ready. There is no shortage of proposals, and the quality of products, as a rule, does not require separate praise, see fig. on right.

The fact is that it is difficult to make a real clay tandoor in the middle latitudes, and without special technological equipment it is completely impossible. A special section will be further devoted to this issue, but for now we will only note that already during the initial firing, tandoors crack even from selected fireclay clay, which requires at least 1,500 rubles for each attempt, not counting work.

Meanwhile, the price of purchased mobile tandoors, such as shown in fig. above, ranges from 11,500 to 70,000 rubles. depending on the size. The smallest one is about the size of a large pot. It can be put on the table, and one person carries it without effort. And the same person, if necessary, can climb into a large one, for 60-70 thousand rubles. Here it is clear that it is better to buy: after all, the price includes a set of utensils, a lid with a hatch for a kettle and slots for skewers. Doing all this on your own will cost more.

But if we are talking about a stationary tandoor oven, then the cheapest work of a custom-made tandoor master will cost no less than 100,000 rubles, and he will not take this money in vain. At the same time, the heart of such a furnace, the actual tandoor (see the figure on the left above) of branded manufacture, properly fired and with a guarantee, will cost from 5,000 to 30,000 rubles. depending on the size and method of delivery (to the place, pickup). And the oven itself, framing it (see the figure on the right), is quite within the power of any artisan to lay down, even if before that he had only looked at the bricks. Materials are also the most common, see below.

Video: the basics of building a tandoor (1 channel)

About electric tandoors

Civilization with electrification did not bypass tandoors. In the end, it is simply impossible to heat wood in a city apartment or restaurant. The obvious solution is to place an air heating element above the hearth, left pos. in fig. below. The finished factory-made product looks elegant (middle pos.), And the price is not much higher than for wood-burning ones - from 14,500 to 80,000 rubles, again, depending on the size.

But an electric tandoor with an open heater is more of a prestigious gift than a culinary technique. Even an inexperienced grocery store will distinguish the taste of dishes from it from real ones. For the worse. The reason is that the heating element dries the air. Of course, it does not absorb moisture vapor, but as the temperature rises, the relative humidity of the air drops, the cakes dry out, and the taste of burning is clearly felt in meat, fish and poultry. If you heat with wood, then water, along with carbon dioxide, is one of the main products of combustion. It penetrates into the microporous body of the tandoor during heating, and then is gradually released, maintaining the desired microclimate inside.

Trying to humidify the air by placing a bowl or tray of water on the grate is useless. It boils away, the steam flies out, at the same time spoiling the food. Trying to saturate the tandoor with moisture during heating is also useless: in order for its vapor to penetrate the burnt clay, their temperature is needed at least 350 degrees, and not 100, as during boiling.

Therefore, a real electric tandoor is a device that looks like a stove (on the right in the figure), but inside is very complex and controlled by an on-board computer. The same clay tandoor is entwined with an electric spiral, coated with an additional heat-resistant dielectric lining, lined with heat-reflecting screens, and moisture is introduced into the baking chamber in precise doses using inserts made of nanomaterials, similar to those used in mobile air conditioners, only heat-resistant. The price is appropriate. Replace the above rubles with US dollars, there will be no big mistake.

What and how is cooked in the tandoor?

There are countless recipes for oriental dishes for the tandoor. In addition, bread is baked in it, barbecue is cooked. After removing the lid and placing a grate in the neck, the tandoor can be used as a barbecue. And putting there a teapot with a neck for a teapot, or a cast iron, we get tea no worse than the best samovar or daily cabbage soup without.

To describe at least the basics of tandoor cooking, you need not even a separate article, but a voluminous monograph. Therefore, we confine ourselves to the most general instructions.

First - if you cook any meat, especially lamb, you need to put a grate over the coals, and on it - a bowl into which the juice will drain. Without it, shurpa or tandoor-shurva will not work properly.

Secondly, if a barbecue or kebab is cooked in an Uzbek tandoor, the skewers are either simply inserted into its mouth (on the left in the figure), or first inserted into the slots of the lid, then the meat is strung, and the tandoor is closed with a lid. The second method is more economical (literally a handful of coals is enough) and guarantees uniform baking of pieces of any size.

If the kebab is cooked in the Armenian tandoor - tonir - then the skewers are hung vertically on the hanger (right pos.). Not every cook can cook kebab in the tonir, but in any case, you do not need to turn the skewers.

Thirdly, cakes in the Uzbek tandoor can be baked both inside and outside, see fig. on right. Which one - depending on the recipe. In general, lunch bread is baked inside, and muffins outside.

Fourth, by hanging a grate on hooks of adjustable length at the mouth of the tandoor, you can cook everything the same as in a Russian oven. At the cut of the mouth, the temperature will be approximately the same as in the cauldron, and right above the coals - as at the back wall of the crucible immediately after heating. An additional plus is that it is not necessary to cook in cast iron, it turns out just as well in ordinary pans.

Fifth, dishes in the tandoor cook much faster than similar ones in other ovens:

• Beef - no more than half an hour.
• Pork, lamb - 15-20 min.
• Fish, poultry - 7-10 min.
• Vegetables - 3-5 min.

Sixth - a little culinary secret. After cooking, when the tandoor has not yet completely cooled down (you can put your hand inside, but it burns), we put inside the pan filled with pieces of old, impossibly veiny beef. Close the lid tightly, wait until the morning. Now you can cook anything from this meat, and it will melt in your mouth.

About firewood and firebox

Tandoor is critical to fuel. At home, Central and Central Asia, it is drowned mainly with saxaul. Occasionally - elm or plane tree (sycamore). Of these, in the southern regions we have only plane tree, but here it is a valuable decorative tree and is not allowed for firewood.

Saxaul and ready-made saxaul firewood

In our area, tandoors are heated with wood of tree species, the same as barbecues. Charcoal and pellets do not fit well - they give too much heat, an expensive tandoor can crack, but cannot be repaired. Coal is absolutely unsuitable: the tandoor will be saturated with coke oven gases and forever become stinking and poisonous.

The fuel filling in the tandoor is small, about 1/5-1/6 of its height. It is specifically determined by the experience of use, so that there is enough coal for cooking. In general, a barbecue requires half or three times less fuel. Cooking begins when the fuel burns to coals. A prerequisite is that soot and soot on the walls must also burn out. With good-quality fuel, it is always respected.

In tandoors with a built-in firebox, the blower is not closed after heating, so that the coals smolder without burning. And in order not to create excessive traction, the mouth of the tandoor is not completely covered with a lid, if it is solid. In mobile Uzbek tandoors (see below), the lid is made double; at the end of the furnace, the smaller one is removed. Her nest in a properly made tandoor is made serrated, then you can put a kettle on it without disturbing the draft.

History and evolution

So how do you build such a wonderful culinary unit yourself? In order to approach construction with skill, let us dwell a little on its origin.

Initially, the tandoor is the same hearth, a fire in a fence or recess so that the wind does not blow the flame away. However, the heart of Asia, where the map is full of mountains, oddly enough, is poor not only in fuel, but also in stones. The reason is the strongest wind erosion in a sharply continental climate. N. M. Przhevalsky described how in the Gobi, right before our eyes, granite boulders were abraded to dust. The author of the article happened to be in those places, to see something himself in the summer, not in the winter, and he has not the slightest doubt about the veracity of the great researcher.

But the same terrible winds, combined with daily (!) temperature drops from +45 to -30 degrees, supply the Asian plains in abundance with loess - the smallest stone dust. She buries very quickly what the wind carrying her did not have time to abrade. Layers of loess on the plains of Asia reach a thickness of hundreds of meters. To see at least some pebble, you need to climb quite high in the mountains.

Actually, dust is not yet loess. Loess is obtained when dust is churned into a dense conglomerate by the wind that carries stones the size of a fist, periodically baked by the Sun during the day and frozen in dry air at night. Loess has incredible properties. It is exceptionally fertile, gives stable yields of wheat at 40 centners per hectare in monoculture and without any agricultural technology.

But it is more important for us to know something else: loess is heat-resistant, like fireclay clay. When dry, it is as strong as cement, but it is all riddled with microscopic pores, i.e. breathable and fairly easy to process. And if you soak it a little, then you can sculpt it like plasticine. True, if heavy rain pours, then the loess soaks into the mud, in which the tank gets stuck up the tower. But heavy rains where there is loess occur once every 10 years, and even then not every decade.

It is clear that in such conditions it is useless to simply enclose the fire with stones: they will simply be blown away along with the fire and food. But the same wind also gives a solution to the problem - loess. Ancient Asians sculpted their hearths from it 6000 years ago, and in some places they still sculpt, see fig.

The tree of the evolution of European ovens, from barbecue to Russian, is entirely made of stone. The Asians, settling outside the loess plains, everywhere looked for a replacement for such a wonderful material. They had three more allies - the hot Sun of low latitudes, the eternally cloudless sky and very dry air. As a result, various types of tandoors appeared, and culinary subtleties were added to them in the course of development.

earthy

The simplest tandoor is a hole in loess soil with a diameter of about 0.5 m and a depth of about 35 cm, to the bottom of which an inclined course is dug from the side - an air duct. Loess tandoors are still in use, connoisseurs say that only they produce real tandoor delicacies.

Where there is no loess, the pit is lined with dry bricks (see Fig.), and pipes made of fireproof materials are used to supply air. However, the same experts claim that such a tandoor is no longer a tandoor.

In the loess, you can dig a hole in the form of a jug without the danger of its collapse. This made it possible to significantly save fuel: due to the reflection of the IR, the heat was concentrated in the center of the chamber. In areas without loess (in Fergana, for example), you cannot build an earthen tandoor, but there are also many deposits of high-quality clay, and pottery has been developed since time immemorial. It was there that the Uzbek tandoor was born.

Uzbek

The scheme of the Uzbek tandoor is shown in fig. The fire under it is an ordinary one, made of masonry with slots for air access. But the main secret of the Uzbek tandoor is in the clay top placed on the fire. It is, as can be seen from the figure, two-layered.

The first, inner layer was made from high-quality clay with a small (1:1 or 1.5:1) admixture of sand and the addition of chopped wool; wall thickness - half a span. The solution was made very thick, the consistency of plasticine. To achieve its complete homogeneity, knead the solution with your feet.

Next came into force natural conditions. In the center of the Asian continent, the air is constantly saturated with the finest dust; The sun in a completely clear sky is seen as if in a haze. Meteorologists call this phenomenon pasnost. You can fully understand the degree of dustiness of the local air when you see a phenomenon common in those places - dry rain. Drops of water collect, flying, dust particles. The water evaporates due to the extreme heat and dryness, and dry spools fall to the ground.

Dust completely absorbs ultraviolet, even at an absolute height of 1800 m there is almost no ultraviolet in daylight. Caucasian Asians come to the sea in the summer with the same "cheese" tan as northerners from Olenegorsk, Naryan-Mar or Norilsk. But dust re-radiates all absorbed radiation (UV and upper visible spectrum to blue-green) in the IR range - the air is oversaturated with thermal rays. Asians seem to live in an annealing furnace.

Having molded the workpiece, they exposed it to the Sun. Unbearably hot light, combined with very dry air, literally expelled water from the workpiece in an hour or two in the morning, but drying (in fact, low-temperature firing; at noon, the workpiece was heated to the temperature of sand in the desert, 70-80 degrees) lasted two weeks. The preform turned out to be microporous. In the same way, the famous Bukhara sweating jugs were prepared for firing, keeping the water poured into them cool in any heat.

It is precisely because of the impossibility of organizing such a natural technological process in cooler and / or humid places that home-made Uzbek tandoors do not work out. During drying, a crust forms on the workpiece that does not release water from the solution. Gradually, it nevertheless evaporates, but the workpiece goes into firing with residual stresses, which is why it cracks during it. In middle latitudes, the maximum wall thickness of pottery is about 13 mm; for the tandoor, this is clearly not enough, and it is impossible to build up and dry in layers because of the same residual stresses.

But you can’t sweat in a tandoor, and the heat capacity of a vessel with a wall thickness of 40-50 mm is not enough for proper fuel economy. He must return the water received during the heating. Therefore, the first layer after drying was lined with a solution of ordinary white or gray clay without fibrous additives. After 2-5 days of drying, the product was fired. The top layer often cracked, see fig. higher, but this did not worsen the quality of the tandoor: the outer layer is just additional thermal insulation.

Over time, small portable single-layer tandoors appeared, with their own firebox and grate. They were no longer suitable for baking bakery products, but the meat in them was cooked perfectly. Such were more in use among the nobility and were richly decorated. Most of the modern tandoors available for sale (see the following figure) are from the Bai branch.

“Bay” tandoors

Uzbek tandoor oven

There is also a class of tandoor consumers in Central Asia, which require a very large heat capacity at a reasonable price. These are tavern-keepers (tavern-keepers) and teahouse-keepers. The stationary tandoor was supposed to provide continuous preparation of food for visitors within 3-4 hours from one heating. Asians are patient people when they have to pull up the sash, but if a few tangas on pilav or beshbarmak are wound up in the belt, they become very active. Yes, wood is expensive.

For catering tandoors of the old times, craftsmen began to make ready-made burnt inserts, which are still exhibited quite a lot in Central Asian bazaars, see fig. Most of them are in the form of a cap, they are cheaper, and the stove is also cheaper: ordinary brick, thermal insulation - bulk from unbaked clay. The scheme of the device of such a furnace will be given below.

In areas that are especially poor in fuel, starting from the 18th century. kilns with an insert in the form of a jug became widespread. The chamber was made relatively small (see the figure on the left), lined with a thick layer of fireclay bricks. The blower air duct was made long to heat the air from the furnace body. An elbow-length bundle of saxaul, which can be clasped with the fingers of two hands, was enough to bake a dozen cakes and boil a kumgan of water for five; Kumgan was installed in the neck of the tandoor instead of the lid. Such a tandoor oven is called tandoor-nan or tandoor-non.

Video: Uzbek traditions of building tandoors

Tonir

The second trunk of the tandoor evolution tree came from Transcaucasia. It's hot here too; in Shamakhi, perhaps, it is hotter than in Fergana. And the air is also dry, but clean and transparent. This alone was enough to prevent pottery tandoors from being made here.

But the Transcaucasian Highlands is perhaps the first region on Earth where people discovered deposits of fireclay clay and learned how to work with it. Armenians are considered jacks of all trades and the best artisans among the Caucasian peoples.

The Armenian tandoor, or tonir, is laid out of fireclay bricks on clay; in terms of properties, its body is equivalent to the Uzbek clay body with walls half as thick as bricks. Outside, the tonir is lined, like the Uzbek one, with clay, see fig. The purpose of the lining is the same - additional thermal insulation. It could also be made of brick, but it will turn out to be difficult and expensive.

On Uzbek tandoors, decorations are mostly glazed stucco: such a large “pot” without fittings is not very durable and may not withstand additional loads. Tonir, like a brick structure, is much stronger. Therefore, the external decoration of tonirs is much more diverse and richer: from simple coating with decorative colored clay with burnishing and facing with wild stone to the most complex tiled compositions, see fig.

Armenian tandoors - tonirs

It is much more difficult to build a brick vessel of a complex curvilinear configuration than to mold it from hand-thick clay sausages, crushing and pinching them. Therefore, tonirs are most often made in the form of a cylinder topped with a truncated cone, or even in the form of a straight pipe. At the same time, the IR can more freely flee outward to no avail. The high heat capacity of fireclay, combined with its negligible thermal conductivity, to some extent compensates for this shortcoming, but still, a tonir of the same capacity per unit of finished product consumes the same fuel by 15-20% more than the Uzbek tandoor, not to mention the nan oven .

Another (however, like the first, not significant) disadvantage of tonir is due to its “brick” strength: it also gives a “brick” weight. Mobile toners, if they are made, are on a stand with wheels. And horizontal tonirs, embedded in the wall, are found as an exception. Of the "Uzbeks", almost a third goes to the bricking up.

There is also a difference in soils: in Central Asia they are more alluvial, alluvial, i.e. weak, and in Transcaucasia - volcanic, durable, waterproof. Therefore, in Armenia (more for the sake of saving space and space) earthen tonir was revived. It is made in the form of a well (see fig.), and in terms of product quality it is not inferior to the earthen tandoor in loess. But trying to build the same in the black earth or loam of the middle zone is a waste of time, soil moisture will get inside through any lining and ruin the whole gastronomy.

About the cauldron

Tandoor is done quite simply: at the mouth, or on it, depending on the size of the tandoor / boiler, they put a boiler with water. If baking or cooking is being done and the skewers do not stick out, the water heater can be combined with cooking: the hot air above the mouth is exhausted, and the body will not give off more IR than it can emit, so the product will not spoil. It is only necessary to place pieces of something durable and non-flammable under the bottom of the boiler so that a gap is formed for the air to escape.

About form and mouth

The shape of the tandoor slightly affects the fuel consumption in it, but it does not noticeably affect the quality of the prepared dishes. Tandoor can be made spherical, oval, ogive (jug), in the form of an inverted cardioid, barrel, cylindrical-conical or in the form of a straight pipe. The usual diameter of the mouth of the Uzbek tandoors is 0.35-0.7 of the inner diameter of its lower back, and for tonirs it is 0.5-1.0 of its own.

Domed with a wide mouth, cylindrical-conical and cylindrical tandoors are better for baking: lumps of dough stick more conveniently and in larger quantities on the inner surface of a large area. Other tandoors are mainly meat and fish, but in general the specialization of tandoors is relative. When used by a skilled cook, it comes down simply to the dosage of fuel.

Making a tandoor

From the foregoing, it is clear that the manufacture of a tandoor on its own boils down to two options: a brick tonir or something like “Uzbek” from it. There is, however, a way to make a clay tandoor even in Murmansk, we will also dwell on it.

A brick tandoor can be erected by anyone whose hands have not grown into their pockets, are able to distinguish their wife’s chest from her own head by touch, lift a clerical folder with papers and bring a cup of coffee to his mouth, without spilling, in the morning after yesterday. The sequence of works is basically clear from the figure, we will give only some explanations.

Materials - fireclay bricks (300-1500 pieces, depending on size), ready-made dry oven masonry mixture, which is diluted with water to the desired consistency, and ordinary building sand. The foundation is not needed: we dig a pit two diameters of the base of the tandoor and a depth of a shovel bayonet. We fill it halfway with sand, and fill it to the ground level with a liquid, creamy, furnace solution. Exactly in the middle we stick an even pole or rod and set it vertically along the plumb line. We fix it from the wind with temporary stretch marks on pegs. We also cover from the rain with a temporary canopy made of slate or galvanized steel. Film or fabric cannot be stretched for reasons that will be clear from what is described below.

While the clay dries (this is 1-3 weeks), we prepare the main working equipment: a rotary template according to the shape of the inner surface. In order to avoid undercutting of bricks during laying, we link its shape with the dimensions of the brick and the permissible thickness of the seams - 3-13 mm.

When the fill dries, we lay out the first row of bricks on a dry one. We lay the masonry with pokes (bricks across the masonry line; if along - the bricks are called spoons, or spoons; the emphasis is on the penultimate syllable) upright. Having expanded, adjusted the width of the seams and leveled by turning the template a full turn, we take out the bricks one at a time, dip them into clean water for a second, apply the masonry (dough-like) mortar, and insert them into place. At the end of the row, turn the template again and level. We work slowly, the clay solution hardens for a long time.

In the first row we leave an opening of two bricks, this will be a blower. The same brick will go to the beam above it, see the middle pos. in fig. We lay out the arc of the row above it from the halves of the brick. We put it and subsequent rows, like the first one: first on a dry one, and with a double check with a template. If the template is calculated correctly, then by changing the width of the seams, it will be possible to lay out all the rows of full-bodied (solid) bricks, changing only their number in a row.

The third and all other rows will be solid. But already from the second row, you need to try to withstand the dressing of the seams between the rows: set the first brick of each subsequent row in the middle on the seam between the bricks of the previous one, as highlighted on the right pos. Here, at the stage of calculating the template, you also need to follow the rule: the protrusion of the row inward is no more than 1/4 of the width of the brick. The second option, but less durable, is to lay bricks with a slope of bricks in a vertical plane; then no inner lining is required.

A complete dressing will not work, because. row diameter changes smoothly. Therefore, we begin the laying of each subsequent row not from the same place as the previous one, but shifting by 1/5-1/3 along the circumference; it is convenient to navigate along the blower. This technique is called bandaging through the rows. So we bring the masonry to the top.

Video: an example of building a simple brick tandoor

Video: tandoor based on the finished insert

Commissioning

If the tandoor is also intended for baking, then after the masonry has dried (2-4 weeks under a canopy), we line it from the inside with the same masonry mortar, but already with plasticine viscosity. Before lining, the tandoor is properly sprayed from the inside with a spray gun.

After another 1-2 weeks, we begin the preliminary firing. First - paper, cardboard or shavings. We set fire to a handful and through the mouth we also toss a handful, until the outer wall becomes slightly warm. Then cover with a lid and let it cool completely, it will take about a day. We gradually increase the dose of heating for 2 weeks until the water dripped onto the outer surface begins to boil, shooting back and splashing. You can’t pour a lot, half a liter can be ruined by a tandoor that has not been annealed to the end!

Now it's time for the final firing. We fill the tandoor by a quarter with regular fuel, let it burn out to coals. We add fuel in the same portions until the tandoor is at least half full of embers. It is better to take firewood that burns quickly, but smolders slowly (cherry, apple), so that the level of coals approaches the mouth. Let cool, still covered. In this case, care must be taken and fire safety rules: a hot stream of air from the tandoor will beat with reactive force. Cooled down - we unload the ash, the tandoor is ready for work.

Tandoor ovens

The best tandoor oven is from a ready-made purchased tandoor-hood in a brick shell with thermal insulation, it is also an additional heat storage device. The scheme of its installation is shown in fig. The foundation is two rows of tongue-and-groove blocks (PGB) on a cement-sand mortar and a cushion of sand or crushed stone. Thermal insulation - the same crushed stone or vermiculite chips (more expensive, but better), mixed with clay oven mortar - "sour cream". Masonry - from ceramic bricks on a cement-sand mortar (walls) and clay oven (under and foot).

And here is another exotic option: a tandoor-barbecue oven. True, only the name comes from the tandoor: the authors of the design honestly warn that it is unsuitable for baking. However, this product has an undoubted advantage: a chimney, and it is suitable for installation not only outside, but also indoors. Therefore, it would make sense to lay out the firebox not with a cone, but as the brick tandoor described above.

The drawing and ordering of the "tandoor-combi" are given on the next. rice. Under it, you need a full-fledged furnace foundation, so this work is not for beginners. The 31st row is reinforced with a sixty steel corner. The smoke collector is made of steel from 2 mm. Chimney diameter - from 250 mm.

And yet - clay!

And now we will tell you how to make the clay tandoor yourself. They say that this method was invented by specialists from military-chemical and bacteriological enterprises of the USSR. This extremely dangerous production was concentrated in Central Asia - away from the center, closer to the then potential opponents with a dense population and poor medicine.

Already in the 70s, the production of this muck was completely discontinued, enterprises were redeveloped for agricultural chemistry, insecticides, and plant protection products. Specialists who served 8 years (the year there went for 2.5) received a severance pay, which allowed them to immediately buy a cooperative apartment in a regional city and, whoever wanted, resign. Of course, they immediately pulled away from the terrible climate, deadly poison and plague at hand. But they missed the dishes from the tandoor in new places.

The way out was found very simply: the usual, from under cucumbers or cabbage, a barrel. A very competent engineering solution: since the matter is in the unevenness of drying over the thickness of the material, it is necessary to make it uniform. Is there an industrial drying chamber? We will ensure uniformity from the opposite: not by heating, but by moisture. Will the process take longer? For myself, don't worry.

The technology is as follows: wash the barrel and fill it with water. We withstand 2 weeks until the wood swells completely. Then we pour out the water, thoroughly coat the barrel from the inside with vegetable oil. Linen is best, but refined sunflower or corn will also do.

Next, we tightly wrap the barrel with a rope, but so that it does not grab the hoops. We protect the coils from slipping with carnations. Now we cut the hoops, remove them. In the bottom we cut a hole along the diameter of the mouth of the tandoor.

By this moment, firstly, a temporary cushion should be ready, at least from bricks laid directly on the ground on a dry one. The furnace solution, which is described above, must also be ready, the consistency of plasticine. Nowadays, there is no need to trample clay with your feet to exhaustion: a 1.5-2 kW perforator with a mixing nozzle at low speed will bring the solution to the desired homogeneity in an hour and a half.

Instead of wool, 25% by volume of fluffed asbestos was added to the solution for strength. It is necessary to work with fibrous asbestos in the open air with full protection of the respiratory organs, eyes, face and body, but those men for demobilization, just in case, dragged gas masks with OVZK with them.

The barrel was placed on a pillow, and from the inside it was covered with clay with a layer of 60-70 mm. Then they turned it upside down and put it on 4-6 bricks so that there was a gap at the bottom. After 2 weeks, the strapping was removed and waited until the rivets began to fall off on their own. The last one fell off - it dried out enough, you can burn it. Work began, a little warmer in the spring: drying continued for months.

From our material you will learn what a tandoor is, how to build a stationary modern metal tandoor with your own hands, and how to install it correctly.

The tandoor is an oriental clay oven, over several thousand years old and still one of the most popular in the world. Such braziers are found not only in Central Asia and the Caucasus, but also in India, South America, Spain, the Maghreb, in a word, almost all over the world.

The material was prepared by the online store of high-quality tandoors Shelkoviyput.ru - the best goods of the East for everyone.

What is the secret of the tandoor?

An earthenware brazier usually has the appearance of a hemisphere and very thick walls. Operating temperature 250ºС - 400ºС. Clay gives off heat very slowly, and the semicircular shape does not let it out. Therefore, you can cook in the tandoor all day. Products are placed in a red-hot oven and cooked due to the strong heat emanating from the walls, and not from the burning fuel.

• economy
• For heating the tandoor requires little firewood and coal. The operating temperature is maintained in it for up to 6-7 hours, so earthen braziers are often also used for space heating. By the way, the stove takes up little space, so it can be installed without problems even in a tiny area.
• Healthy food
• Anything is cooked in the oriental oven: shurpa soup, barbecue, any meat, poultry, fish, barbecue, stewed vegetables and grilled vegetables, pilaf, mushrooms, pastries, as well as preparations for salads, sauces, seasonings and other home preservation. Food is cooked quickly and in its own juice, excess fat is rendered. Thanks to this, all vitamins are preserved in the products to the maximum extent.
• Oven for lazy people
• Even a beginner can build a luxurious dinner in the tandoor. The main thing is to follow the technology and keep track of time. Vegetables and mushrooms need 7 minutes to reach, fish - 15 minutes, chicken - half an hour, and a leg of lamb - 40 minutes. Nothing burns and does not dry out, but it turns out surprisingly juicy, tender, ruddy and fragrant. It is not necessary to constantly monitor the heat and spray food with water.

In a stationary brazier, you can get a large amount of very tasty and healthy food in a short time. You can use the tandoor, if it is installed under a canopy, in any weather, even in winter.

How to make a tandoor from metal with your own hands?

In order to arrange holidays of oriental cuisine in the country, it is not necessary to go to Samarkand for a real Uzbek stove. If authenticity is not important for you, you can make a stationary tandoor with your own hands - for example, from a metal barrel, clay, ceramic pot, refractory bricks.

A homemade metal brazier is the easiest option. This will require an iron barrel with a volume of 200 liters, brick, kaolin clay. The algorithm of actions is as follows:

• Cut off the top wall with a grinder and rinse the barrel thoroughly. This will be the frame for the brazier. It must be placed on a cement foundation so that the heat does not go into the ground.
• At the bottom, using the same grinder, make a hole for the blower. The lid will be a brick cut along a wedge.
• Lay refractory bricks along the inner walls. If you are tormented by vague doubts that they will not be enough, it is better to lay them out vertically. For bonding, use only clay or a special oven mixture, you can buy it at a building materials store.
• Coat the finished tandoor outside and inside with clay, otherwise the food will have a metallic taste, and leave to dry for several days.
• The lid can be made from a thick sheet of plywood. It should close the brazier very tightly.
• Before firing, the barrel can be painted, overlaid with natural stone or decorative bricks. Pour sand or salt into the gap between the wall and the barrel, this is necessary for better heat retention.
• The dried tandoor must be burned. To do this, its walls are smeared with cottonseed or other vegetable oil and sprinkled with water. The temperature is raised very slowly: first they heat it with paper and only then put firewood and coal. Roasting continues for 5-6 hours.

There is another easy way to make a stationary tandoor with your own hands. This will require a large terracotta pot and a pipe. It can be bought at any building hypermarket.

• Dig a hole in the ground with a depth of 50 cm and a diameter of 35 cm. These are approximate dimensions, be guided by the parameters of the pot, it should rise 5-7 cm above the ground.
• At the bottom of the pot, cut a hole corresponding to the diameter of the pipe. It is installed diagonally, so that one end fits the pot and the other is outside. It will blow.
• Coat the inner walls with a thick layer of kaolin clay and leave to dry. Then you need to burn the oven.
• The lid is cut out according to the diameter of the pot from thick plywood. It should fit snugly around the edges.

And a few more important tips from experienced craftsmen.

First, be sure to check the weather forecast before proceeding with the construction of the tandoor. If the weather is dry and hot, making a tandoor from a barrel or pot will take you only 3-4 days. In the rain, nothing will come of it, only in vain will you translate materials and time.

Secondly, the stove must dry under a canopy so that precipitation and direct sunlight do not fall on it, otherwise the walls will become covered with cracks.

Thirdly, it is better to use apple and cherry wood for firing, the smoke from them will be pleasant and fragrant. In no case do not take spruce firewood, then the stove will smell like resin.

Tandoor installation: how to choose the right place?

A stationary tandoor of ordinary sizes can weigh more than 300 kg, so you need to immediately put it in the right place, then you won’t be able to move it. When choosing a location, consider the following:

• The operating temperature of the furnace is 400ºС. Wooden buildings and trees should be at a distance of about 3 meters from the tandoor.
• It is desirable that the living quarters are also far enough away so that the smoke does not interfere. The only exceptions are earthen tandoors, the smoke from them is removed through a pipe.
• Eastern brazier does not "like" precipitation and sudden changes in temperature. Above it should immediately make a protective canopy.

Ideally, if the arrangement of the recreation area can be started with the installation of a tandoor. Then you can build a comfortable brick gazebo with a canopy, taking into account all safety rules.

Modern tandoor or traditional?

A real Asian chamotte clay tandoor can only be ordered from a hereditary master. The secrets of preparing the clay solution and building the oven are passed down from father to son, they are not disclosed to outsiders for any money. But on the other hand, the tandoor is obtained according to all the rules - durable, beautiful, comfortable.

Traditional braziers are quite expensive, and even in Central Asia, the whole family is thrown off for such a large purchase. Moreover, they prepare dishes not only for every day and holidays, but also for sale. Fresh tandoor cakes, samsa and other food in Asian cities are very popular and are sold at any time of the day.

If you just need a modern tandoor for a suburban area, there are two options: either make a stationary one with your own hands, or buy a portable one in a store.

• Portable tandoors are lightweight, compact in size and look very colorful.
• You can take them with you on a picnic. They cool down quite quickly, so there will be no problems during transportation.
• Ideal for cooking vegetable and meat kebabs, tortillas and other pastries.

Despite the fact that the functionality of such braziers is limited, they are very convenient. You can put it anywhere on the site, you don’t need to get dirty in clay for several weeks, ignite it, etc. If you are not ready to mess with a stationary tandoor, it’s better to immediately buy a modern portable model.

Barbecue or barbecue is a traditional way of preparing barbecue and other dishes in the fresh air. An excellent alternative to the usual barbecue will be the tandoor. With it, you can cook not only barbecue, flat cakes, pilaf, fragrant soups, but also other oriental dishes. Using the tandoor allows you to forget about what a burnt shish kebab or boiled pilaf is. Cooking on such a device gives maximum pleasure, and makes it possible to cook delicious oriental dishes even for novice cooks.

The traditional tandoor is made of clay, after which it is dried and fired in a certain way. However, an inexperienced craftsman will not be able to make such a product the first time. A good alternative is a do-it-yourself brick tandoor, which takes less time to make, and the food in it is also cooked efficiently and quickly.

Before making a brick tandoor, you should understand the principle of its operation. It is a special vessel designed for cooking various meat dishes, pilaf, soups and cakes. Its features include:

1. The lower part has a blower that provides traction. The upper part of the structure has a hole through which firewood is laid. In addition, it is through the upper opening that dishes for cooking are placed in the tandoor.

2. When making a brick tandoor, it is required to additionally process the inner surface of the structure with clay. To ensure long-term preservation of heat between clay and brick, it is necessary to put a layer of heat-insulating material. Sand or salt can be used as such material.

3. After burning firewood in the tandoor, the temperature rises to 250-400 degrees. This allows you to cook food quickly. In addition, a feature of such an oven is uniform cooking.

4. The high temperature after fuel combustion remains in the structure for up to four hours. If you build the product correctly, the heat will be stored inside, and not go outside. Therefore, a high-quality design guarantees a high rate of economy and efficiency.

5. Another unique feature of the brick oven is the even distribution of heat. This ensures uniform roasting of meat and bread, as well as the ability to cook pilaf that is unique in its taste.

Therefore, for those who dream of cooking the most delicious pilaf and barbecue, you need to know how to make a brick tandoor with your own hands.

Materials and tools

The tandoor is a universal design for preparing various dishes, so its manufacture will require the use of a large number of materials and tools. To build a brick oven yourself, you will need:

1. Refractory fireclay bricks. It is used to make the walls of the structure. The number of bricks depends on the size of the finished structure and the wall thickness. For construction, 300-1200 pieces will be required.

2. Solution. When building a tandoor, it is better to make a masonry mortar yourself. To do this, mix clay, sifted sand and water. You can also buy a special heat-resistant compound based on fireclay. However, when buying, it should be clarified that it will be used for the tandoor device in order to purchase a solution that can withstand significant temperatures for a long time.

3. Clay mortar. Required for coating the structure from the outside. If pita bread, cakes and samsa are baked in the tandoor, the structure should also be coated inside.

4. Concrete and reinforced rod. Components for the foundation of the tandoor.

5. A piece of pipe with a diameter greater than 10 cm. Must be used to make a blower. If there is no pipe trimming, the blower can also be made of brick.

6. Boards or timber. Boards are needed to make a template for laying. It will be problematic to fold an even circle without using a template.

Additionally, you can use natural stone or other flat-shaped decorative elements to finish the tandoor outside.

Do-it-yourself brick tandoor manufacturing technology

The process of building a do-it-yourself furnace from refractory bricks takes several weeks. It is better to do the work in the summer. This will speed up the process of solidification of the clay solution. In addition, work with masonry mortar is possible only at dry and above-zero temperatures. In order for the finished furnace to perform its functions, it is necessary to strictly follow the technology of its installation.

Details of making a brick tandoor can be found in the video:

Foundation construction

One of the most important stages in the construction of a brick tandoor is the construction of a strong and durable foundation. It is necessary so that during seasonal movements of the soil, the brickwork does not collapse. An excellent option would be the foundation of the finished concrete slab. But if it is not there, you can build a base of concrete and reinforced mesh. The area of ​​​​the foundation should correspond to the size of the future tandoor.

Do-it-yourself foundation pouring steps:

1. Site preparation. At this stage, the marking and cleaning of the site is carried out. After that, the sod should be removed from the designated area. If the soil is clayey, then after removing it, the trench must be covered with sand. It remains only to fill the prepared area with water and compact it.

2. If the site is dry, then the base can be built flush with the ground. But if the site is wet, and in rainy weather, water stagnation is possible. Therefore, it is better to raise the foundation by 15 cm. To do this, formwork must be made around the perimeter of the base.

3. Rebar should be used to strengthen the foundation. It can be a reinforcing mesh or rods. If rods are used, they must be connected to each other with wire.

4. Pouring the foundation with concrete, and leveling the surface with a board. To give the base moisture-resistant qualities, it must be sprinkled with clean cement on top.

5. In the center of the base, it is necessary to make a recess into which the template will be installed.

6. The foundation should be covered with a film for the time of solidification. If construction takes place during a hot period, the base surface requires periodic moistening.

The hardening time of the foundation is at least two weeks. During this period, he must gain the necessary strength. After that, you can start building the tandoor.

Template making

During the drying period of the foundation, you can start making a template with your own hands. It is he who will be used for laying the tandoor. Without applying the correct template, it will not be possible to make an even circle and vault.

When building a tandoor, a brick is placed on a short edge. In this case, the height of the row should be 26 cm. This indicator also includes the thickness of the solution. The optimal height of the straight part of the structure should be two bricks or 52 cm. After that, it is necessary to gradually narrow the furnace. The height of the tapering part of the tandoor should also be two bricks or 52 cm.

To make a template, it is advisable to use boards, bars or a sheet of plywood. Using a template allows you to ensure perfectly even walls of the tandoor, which guarantees not only a presentable appearance, but also strength, durability, and reliability of the structure.

Masonry features

Laying the furnace takes an average of 1-2 days. In a short time, laying the structure is possible only in preparation for construction in advance. Brick for laying the vault must first be cut. To do this, it is most convenient to use a grinder and special stone circles. Also, for construction, you need to prepare a building level, trowels of various sizes, as well as a special rubber mallet. Before starting construction, it is necessary to prepare a masonry mortar based on clay, sand and water. Bricks before laying must be soaked in water, so you need to put a container of water.

When mixing the solution, it is recommended to add salt to it - at the rate of 1 tbsp. l. on a bucket. The amount of clay in the solution should be moderate, otherwise the masonry joints may crack during the use of the tandoor. If there is any doubt about the high quality of the prepared masonry mortar, it is better to purchase a ready-made heat-resistant mixture at a hardware store.

First you need to put the bricks of the first row according to the pattern without using mortar. Bricks are laid out on a narrow edge so that the furnace wall turns out to be half a brick. In this case, the inner radius should be with a minimum gap, and the outer one should be wide enough.

After placing the bricks of the first row without mortar, you can start laying them. To do this, you need to remove the bricks one at a time, place them in water for a while, and then apply a solution to the brick. The finished brick is returned to its place in a row, after which all the bricks of the first row are subjected to these manipulations.

After applying the mortar to all bricks in a row, the masonry should be carefully checked. The solidification time of such a solution is quite large, so there is time to check the quality of the masonry. On the outside of the masonry, the seams should be filled with mortar in order to improve the adhesion of the mortar to the tandoor wall during further finishing.

The second row fits in the same way as the first. However, in order to increase the strength of the structure, it is recommended to do the second row with dressing, while shifting the brick by half. Also in the second row, a blower is installed, which is made from a piece of large-diameter pipe or brick. To install the blower, two bricks must be cut in half, and then inserted this window under the pipe. It remains only to fix all the elements with a solution.

The third row differs from the previous two in that with its help, the tandoor arch begins to be created. To give the wall a slope, you should slightly file the bricks with a grinder. If the angle is calculated correctly, then the next row can be installed on the third without the need to file the bricks. If done correctly, the tandoor will taper closer to the top, which gives it its special heat retention properties. To do this, the shift of the quadruple row relative to the third must be done by a third of the brick.

After completing the laying of bricks, the tandoor must be completely dried. The drying process should take place at optimum temperature. In hot weather, the masonry must be periodically moistened, and during the rainy season, cover with a film.

Finishing and firing of the tandoor

The finished brick tandoor has a good thermal insulation index. However, to increase its heat resistance, it is recommended to additionally coat the structure with a special clay solution. At the same time, the tandoor is always coated with a solution on the outside, and inside only when it is used for baking samsa and pita bread. In this case, the same mortar is used as for laying bricks, but mixed more densely, and with the addition of salt for plasticity.

Brickwork should be well moistened, and then apply a layer of mortar on it. The layer of clay solution should be no more than 10 mm, otherwise it may crack during the firing process. Particular attention should be paid to the neck of the tandoor. When smeared with a solution, it must be carefully rounded to give the design aesthetics.

To give the structure a presentable appearance, you can additionally overlay it with stone, refractory mosaics or other decorative elements.

After finishing, drying will take at least two weeks. Next, you need the correct heating of the product. To do this, it is necessary to heat the tandoor with paper, small chips and shavings. The walls should heat up, but not overheat. This procedure should be carried out every day for two weeks.

And only after that you can proceed to the firing of the tandoor. For this, it is necessary to use firewood from fruit or other deciduous trees. Firewood must be spread out to a quarter of the height of the structure, after which they are set on fire and burn until coals are formed. After that, a new batch of firewood is poured. This procedure should be carried out until the coals fill the tandoor by two-thirds of its volume. After that, the structure closes and slowly cools down. The next day, the tandoor is completely ready for use.

Dishes cooked on the tandoor are distinguished by their rich taste, uniform roasting and appetizing crust. The advantage of this design is the ability to cook several dishes at once. With it, you can cook pilaf, flatbread, samsa, stew, soups, barbecue and other oriental dishes. Most often, such a furnace is built of clay. However, the clay tandoor is quite difficult to build. To facilitate the construction process with your own hands, it can also be made of brick.

Photo gallery of brick tandoors:

Tandoor is an oriental type of stove made in the form of a large jug. It allows you to replace a large and bulky brazier at their summer cottage. Different types of dishes are prepared here, ranging from shish kebabs to flatbreads with herbs.

Tandoor for giving is an indispensable attribute that is used as decoration and cooking. Modern technologies offer a huge number of models of this furnace. They differ in their appearance and size.

How to make a tandoor oven with your own hands? How to choose the right material and manufacturing technology for this design? The answers to all these questions are rearranged in our detailed guide.

Selection of consumables

Before choosing drawings of tandoors, it is recommended to decide on the consumables from which the furnace structure will be built. These include:

• chess brick. It is used for building walls. The thickness of each element should reach about 10 cm wide. For the initial clack, you will need from 400 to 1500 pieces. ceramic product;
• building composition. Here you will need sifted river sand, clay. This masonry mixture has a high fire resistance to high temperatures;
• the foundation must be made of concrete and additional reinforcement;
• the blower must be made of a metal pipe with a diameter of 50 to 100 mm;
• wooden boards for the manufacture of a draft cornice. This design will allow you to correctly lay out the initial masonry.

The process of making tandoor at home

Making the right tandoor for giving takes too much time. On average, it is built from 1 to 2 months. The construction process includes several main stages. These include:

Foundation. Here it is important to make a high-quality support base, which will allow the use of this design for its intended purpose.

In addition, a solid foundation helps to withstand rare changes in temperature. It is erected in a pre-prepared pit. At the bottom of the recess, a metal structure is made into which concrete will be poured.

Template making. This measure will allow you to maintain the same radius during the laying of brick elements. The distance between each vault should be 28 cm.

Laying process. When the foundation is completely dry, start laying bricks. The initial level is fixed on a thick layer of building composition. Each stone is leveled using a wooden template. It is carefully moved after each laid stone element.

Then proceed to the second row. It is performed using the same technology. So continue to 4 rows of construction. The top layer is laid at a slight angle. The result is a barrel-shaped structure with a roomy middle and a thin neck.

Furnace firing. The outer side is coated with a thin layer of clay composition. The consistency of the material should resemble plasticine. After that, a small amount of salt is placed in it. It will prevent the appearance of cracks during the firing process.

Before applying the protective layer, the structure is abundantly moistened with water. Now start roasting. Hardwood is used here. They burn more and emit a minimum amount of ash.

The container is filled to 2/3 of the height of the stone product. When the firewood begins to actively burn, they are left until completely burnt out. In the process of smoldering, the coals are covered with a metal lid and left to cool on their own. The photo of the tandoor shows an illustration of the workflow.

Accessories

When the oven is fully completed, you can make additional paraphernalia that will facilitate the cooking process. They include:

• Multi-level grid - barbecue. It is used for cooking fish, mushrooms or meat sausages;
• Attachment for barbecue. It is a metal structure, on the sides of which there are additional notches. In the process of frying meat, the skewer is fixed in these cuts. This will prevent the metal elements from glowing during the heating process;
• Nozzle for lavash. She fixes the dough cake on the side wall. It is a mesh product, which is fixed with long hooks.

Photo of a brick tandoor