Topic: Home Tandoor Tips

[Razor]

Hi Mick,

Quality piece of kit mate.

As CA suggest, maybe breadcrumbs will help you out. I typically use two slices of white bread, blitzed in a food processor, for 500g of minced lamb, and 1 large egg. 

For 1kg, you may want to try 3-4 slices and 2 eggs.  I never have any issues with them falling off anymore.  I also shape the kebabs on the skewers with cold, wet hands.  This helps a great deal, and kind of seals the outside of the kebab.

Hope that helps.

Rat

[Peripatetic Phil]

I also shape the kebabs on the skewers with cold, wet hands.

From what I've heard about Mancunian weather, that's about par for the course  ;D
** Phil.

[Razor]

Phil,

I also shape the kebabs on the skewers with cold, wet hands.

From what I've heard about Mancunian weather, that's about par for the course  ;D
** Phil.

Very true, and that's in the height of summer ;D

Ray

[billycat]

To get your meat to stick to your skewers ,,,heat them up first ,no oil and once hot mould the meat around the skewer careful not to burn yourself ...the heat from skewer will stat to cook inside right away causing the meat to stick to skewer

[Razor]

Hi Billy,

Interesting method.  I've always completely cooled my skewers down before cooking the next batch of meat.

I can imagine this method being quite tricky, without burning yourself, especially if the skewers need to be hot enough to start cooking the meat from the inside out?

Ray

[mickdabass]

Hey thank you all for the useful tips.
As is usually the case I think its all down to technique.
The way the kebabs are formed on the skewer is an art in itself! Didn't try the hot skewers tho - my hand have had enough punishment today with the naans!!!. CA's suggestion for the breadcrumbs helped. I added 2 tbsp and they did improve the consistency. I did notice that as the kebabs were cooking, they were breaking apart so I started forming them from one ball of keema rather than the way I saw "Chef Ramsay" being shown Gordon Ramsay tries to work a clay oven Ray i think you hit the nail on the head though with the wet cold hands - im sure there is a split second in that video where he has water dripping off his hand (2'53"ish)- will try that next time. Thanks guys for the link for the Restaurant charcoal too. I spent the best part of two hours trying to buy some today. Lets face it bags of Charcoal are as common as ice cream vans this time of year lol The only drawback with this tandoor is the lack of a lid. I can soon make one though so its no real problem. Just wished I'd studied the info a bit closer. Tried CA's Nans Today but didn't leave the dough in the fridge overnight but the results were still very very good - especially the keema naans Will be investing in a welders glove all the same
I will post some pics tomorrow

Regards
Mick

[Razor]

Hi Mick,

The wet hand thing is something I've seen done at my local TA, albeit that they don't have a tandoor but a monster size grille thingy.  The heat that it generates is unreal. If I'm stood at the counter in front of the grille, I have to move away as I can feel it burning my face.

Enjoyed the clip.  Gordan look really out of his comfort zone lol ;D

Ray

[mickdabass]

Blade2112s Tikka. I use 2 dsp Rajah Tandoori Massala instead of the pataks paste, no salt




Naan No3. The first two suffered a painful death lol. Cooking time 45 sec - 1 minute... I left one in for a bit longer and it spontaneously combusted....now thats HOT!!
Pic taken at about 4pm


First Keema nan It may look overcooked but it wasn't at all 

[solarsplace]

Food looks delicious 

Did you have any difficulty at all with the naan's sticking to the tandoor walls or did it just work fine?

Very jealous of your tandoor

Cheers

[Panpot]

Mick the pics look great, now joining the q of jealous readers. I know its early still but are you confident of BIR standard Nans? PP