my weber bbq mitt has saved much lamb tikka in it's time (along with my arm hairs which were regularly singed off at one stage)

http://www.godfreys.com/product/Barbecue_Mitt_WS-8401

got mine from b&q but they aren't advertising them at the moment

Hi,

i would have had a good go at salvaging that chicken from the ashes 

it sounds like you have probably solved your slippage problem but i have cooked whole chicken before and stuck about 4-5 skewers through it. this has two benefits because if you spread out the skewers around the top of the tandoor the bottom creates a sort of support frame and will not allow slippage. secondly you get more heat transmission through the meat which will cook it quicker. (you still need to try and protect the meat at the bottom though as it can burn)

cheers

i made the one in this vid using the ashoka base. it was awesome and required a gym session after.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpOoedub0q0

the vid is taken in the fatima restaurant. hope it is ok to link to it if not i guess i shall be deservedly chastised.

Hi Derek

I can't speak for the lime juice option but i did a very nice tasting pathia last week using lemon and sugar.

i did for a long time think that the sweet and sour taste came from tamarind and sugar but last weeks efforts confirmed otherwise.

unfortunately i didn't take exact measurements on juice/sugar i put in last week but i expect for the two portions i made it was 1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar and 3/4 - 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. 

Hi Haldi, yes i posted something during the summer last year (i forget where)

the Naans were the best thing about the cooking for me because they are basically restaurant quality, it very much looks like yours are too judging by your pictures.

how long does your gas tandoor take to heat up? mine takes a good couple of hours to reach the critical temperature to hold the naan to the wall (and singe my arm hairs off  )

they've had that 'new domestic range coming soon' banner for a long time now.

i have a tandoori-q charcoal oven and it is superb although i think i would prefer the control that gas gives.

hi, yes they were every bit as good as BIR the only difference was that i didn't brush with butter or ghee which would have upped them to proper BIR standard.

i was a bit annoyed with the chicken as i prefer it a little blacker than it was but it was wonderfully tender and tasty.

naans were CA's and the chicken was blades recipe all good stuff.

hi

lumpwood charcoal would probably help as it burns really hot. judging by the size of your tandoor it probably needs and absolute load of charcoal to make it work properly. my little tandoor needs a couple of kilos of charcoal just to get it started and then a few more kilos of lumpwood to heat it up. i would suggest at least a 5 or 6 kilo bag of briquettes followed by a 6 kilo bag of lumpwood for yours judging by the size of it.

i would say that if the naan is sticking then the walls are actaully hot enough it's just the interior heat thats lacking.

just one more thing but you might want to angle the wall at the top inwards so there is more of a funneled heat effect.

in terms of insulation then maybe you need to skim some concrete over the outside of it.  

probably doesn't help much but it's my two penneth worth anyway.

cheers

finally a decent weekend. fired up the tandoor yesterday. unfortunately no pics of the oven cooking because things got a bit hectic however here are the results.

right thats it then i'm going to try and do a DIY job on it for the weekend. some sort of cotton bag filled with old socks (or similar) should do it.

thanks for the link Unclebuck, it would probably be a bit of overkill to get one shipped in from the states but it's at least an option if my DIY attempt goes wrong.

i would have thought that they are available here in the UK but if they are easy enough to make then i guess that the demand for them isn't there in the first place.

now all i need is a spell of dry weather to fire up the tandoor.