# Homemade Tandoor Oven **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 13, 2011, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homemade-tandoor-oven/588918 "2011-07-13T20:40:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homemade-tandoor-oven/588918/1 "2011-07-13T20:40:32Z")
Since my [outdoor kitchen](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=13941789)won’t be done for a while, I followed up **Parenchyma** ’s[link](http://www.villagok.dk/tandoor/index.html)to a homemade Tandoor Oven in this [post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=13941789&postcount=2). Other sites showed similar ideas. The easiest looking one used a large terra cotta flower pot inside a stainless steel trash can. Found a large pot no problem. Cut off the bottom with a masonry blade in an angle grinder. Cut a triangular hole for the air intake. I already had a broken electric pottery kiln with a stainless body. I just removed the refractory lining and heating elements from the sides, leaving the bottom in place. Cemented the inverted bottomless pot to the bottom with refractory cement, filled in the gap with vermiculite, and cemented over the top. Works great! Made naan and tandoori chicken last Sunday. Fabulous! I couldn’t believe how quick and easy and good the naan was. The chicken was great too. I used legs and thighs, which were huge. I’ll probably stick to chunks of boneless breast for faster cooking time though. Found recipes for minced kabobs, tikka, and plenty of other dishes, although the details are often skimpy. Got to get to the Indian food store now and get more seasonings. Great, simple project. If you love Indian, this is the way to go. Thanks\*\* Parenchyma\*\*! ---
**Author:** ![redtail23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homemade-tandoor-oven/588918/2 "2011-07-13T21:18:09Z")
So where’s the link to how you made your tandoor? I’m not finding anything that looks like that (or even with a fire instead of kiln parts). I finally made na’an last weekend too! One batch plain and one batch garlic. 🆒 We just cooked it on the grill, though. Because we have no tandoor oven. ☹ But it still turned out really good. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homemade-tandoor-oven/588918/3 "2011-07-13T21:23:56Z")
Been trying to find my way back there.[Here’s the one that got me started](http://www.instructables.com/id/Garbage-Can-and-Flower-Pot-Tandoor-Oven/). ---
**Author:** ![emacknight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ec8ea/32.png) [@emacknight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emacknight)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homemade-tandoor-oven/588918/4 "2011-07-13T23:25:56Z")
Alton Brown did it [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFj5n_zhP-M) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homemade-tandoor-oven/588918/5 "2011-07-13T23:59:26Z")
Damn! He used what looks like the exact same flower pot, the exact same charcoal chimney, and maybe the exact same angle grinder! But he didn’t insulate the oven. Most of the heat was coming directly from the coals. My oven got good and hot all over, and cooked the chicken evenly from top to bottom. With his air supply coming from underneath, the charcoal will burn away quickly. With less charcoal than that I got the oven up to 800F and it stayed hot for a long time afterwards. I didn’t soak my pot. I thought it would be a problem if any water were trapped inside the pot. I needed a small fire to start with to set the cement and hoped that would drive any water out. I guess soaking helps set the clay, or maybe help transfer heat through the clay more evenly. I did find some great long skewers at the Christmas Tree Shop. They had little notches on them which helped keep stuff in place.