Mick (CBM) gave a link with his book for a outdoor solid fuel tandoor build that looks a proper job.
Rob
I thought he gave up on that and opted for a small gas one because the big one was a right pain.
I didn't know that. Disappointed; it looked the business. Back to the drawing board. Seen some of the purpose- made stainless portable tandoor (charcoal) ovens advertised, bit pricey but looks like an option.
Rob
Hi Rob,
Just to clarify....
My original brick and pot tandoor worked well as in what it was designed to do, however, there were some issues.
The issues that I didn't like may not be a problem to others.
I found that on lighting it there would be a layer of soot lining the clay. I have seen some photos on here where this looks like the case,this had to be burned off for me as I don't want to eat soot on the back of a naan bread. It would only be burned off once the tandoor had reached a very high temperature (sorry didn't measure it). This would be too hot to hold your hand over the opening let alone consider inserting your arm into the tandoor to slap a naan on the side.
Once the soot had burned off I would have to wait for the temperature to drop and then you could cook on the skewers but still had to wait further before being able to cook naan breads.
Once it was at a temperature to cook the breads it was a bit of a pain adding more charcoal and trying to regulate the temperature. All this when perhaps only cooking for a couple of hours was too much hassle for me.
So I decided that gas was the way forward.
I found a steel balti house type tandoor on Ebay and drove to Bradford to get it.
It is so much easier, cleaner and a whole lot more fun. The taste is still fantastic although it is gas fired. The smoke created from juices dripping onto the hot lava stones adds plenty of flavour to the meat etc

The brickwork BBQ in front used to house the original tandoor. Curry shed and steel tandoor behind.

I have changed the burner fitting since this was taken.

Chicken Tikka and Tandoori Chicken