Lovers of country holidays cannot imagine their pastime at the dacha without barbecue. And really, could anything taste better? fresh meat, richly flavored with spices and thoroughly roasted over charcoal? If such a thing exists in nature, then it can only be meat that is baked in a brick tandoor. For those who don’t know, a tandoor is a special Turkish oven that produces kebab with simply incredible taste. And the whole secret of such an exquisite taste is that the meat is baked extremely evenly, and solely due to the fact that the spread of heat in such a design is balanced. So, today we will find out how to build a tandoor with our own hands, get acquainted with possible options and give detailed instructions on production.

How to make a tandoor on your own

Option #1. Traditional clay tandoor

According to the ancient technology mentioned earlier, a true tandoor should be sculpted, not built. Moreover, kaolin clay (ideally of Akhangar origin), which has excellent thermal insulation qualities, should be used for this. To prevent the furnace body from cracking under the influence of high temperatures, sheep or camel wool is added to the clay. Making an authentic tandoor is extremely difficult, since Asian craftsmen are not very clear about the exact composition of kaolin clay. Simply put, you will have to perform all manipulations “by eye”, constantly conducting experiments.

An approximate manufacturing technology for the classic version of the described furnace looks approximately as follows.

Step 1. To make a tandoor with your own hands, you need to mix clay with wool (the length of the fibers of the latter should be about 1-1.5 cm). The result should be a fairly viscous mixture, reminiscent of sour cream in consistency.

Step 2. Next, you need to wait 7 days for the resulting composition to dry and achieve the required condition. During all these days, the mixture should be stirred periodically so that drying occurs evenly. All water that accumulates on top must be removed immediately (it cannot be mixed into the composition).

Note! The lower the moisture concentration in the composition, the lower the risk that the oven will crack during drying or firing. When the preparation period is over, the consistency of the mixture should resemble dense plasticine, suitable for modeling.

Step 3. From the resulting “plasticine” you need to mold long sheets of oblong shape with a thickness of at least 5 centimeters. From these plates, gradually moving in a circle, you need to build a tandoor.

Traditional dimensions look something like this:

• the neck should be 50-60 centimeters in diameter;
• before narrowing, the diameter should correspond to 100 centimeters;
• The recommended height of the structure is from 100 to 150 centimeters.

It is necessary to leave a hole in the bottom side of the case through which air will flow inside.

Step 4. When the oven is ready, it is transferred to the shade and left for another 30 days to dry.

Step 5. The walls must be lined with fireclay bricks, and adhesive composition in this case, it can be either kaolin clay itself or a special clay oven mixture that contains plasticizers and quartz sand. Sand or salt must be poured into the cavity between the resulting layers, periodically compacting while filling.

Step 6. The inner surface is coated with cotton oil.

Step 7 After this, all that remains is to fire finished oven, that is, to bring the material to the state of ceramics. The temperature should increase gradually and not very quickly. The duration of firing can reach 24 hours, this is explained by the fact that if raw clay is subjected to sudden heating, it can crack.

Video – Traditional tandoor: technology and interesting facts

Option #2. Making a tandoor with your own hands from a barrel (simplified technology)

It's no secret that making such a stove using the technology described above is extremely difficult, especially in the absence of special skills and knowledge. And many home craftsmen will confirm this. The surfaces turn out to be crooked, and the clay often cracks when drying. To avoid this kind of trouble, a simpler “recipe” for this design was developed, which is based on creating clay walls around a barrel made of wood.

To create such an Asian oven, you need to prepare in advance:

• kaolin clay;
• vegetable oil;
• fireclay sand (and its fraction should not exceed 0.5 millimeters);
• a wooden barrel with iron hoops;
• wool (one of the options listed above).

Now let’s find out how to make a tandoor from all this with your own hands. First, fill a barrel full of water and wait at least 24 hours for the wood to soak and swell. After this, mix wool (0.5 parts), sand (2 parts) and clay (1 part), wait a few days until the resulting mixture dries. The next step is to drain the water and completely dry the wood. The internal surfaces of the barrel are processed using vegetable oil, after which they are soaked overnight. Next, the inside of the barrel is covered with a 4- or 5-centimeter layer of the resulting clay mixture. The composition is leveled with wet hands so that the walls are as smooth as possible. As you move upward, the thickness of the clay layer should increase, that is, the neck of the kiln should gradually narrow. Traditionally, it is necessary to leave a small hole at the bottom through which air from outside will enter the housing.

Note! To dry, the structure should be moved to a ventilated, shaded and dry place. The process may take 3 to 4 weeks. Over time, the barrel will begin to lag behind the clay walls.

When everything is dry, the iron hoops must be removed and the barrel itself removed from the tandoor. Next, the stove is installed on a thick “cushion” of sand and fired, that is, it is melted for the first time. It is necessary to light a small flame inside and maintain it for approximately 6 hours, periodically loading small portions of fuel. After this time, the stove is covered with something, the fire is turned up higher and eventually brought to the maximum level. It is important that the tandoor cools down slowly afterwards.

If desired, you can additionally insulate the stove to improve its thermal insulation qualities. To do this, you can build brick walls around it.

Option #3. We make a tandoor from bricks on our own

So, do it classic version the oven is quite difficult, we have already found out. What’s more, not all masters succeed in this! Therefore, in order to simplify the task and not take unnecessary risks, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with the technology of making a brick tandoor - this way you are guaranteed to get the desired result, despite the fact that the finished stove will be very different from the traditional version described above.

First you need to prepare:

• stove brick;
• wooden template;
• masonry sand mixture;
• cement;
• kaolin;
• reinforcing mesh;
• sand.

The main thing is just beginning - the manufacturing procedure itself. The process consists of several stages, let's look at the details of each of them.

First stage. Base

Select a suitable flat area on which the future tandoor will be located with your own hands. Dig a round hole there, the diameter of which should be slightly larger than the planned diameter of the structure. Fill the bottom of the resulting hole with a “cushion” of sand (the thickness should be about 10 centimeters).

Cover the finished “pillow” with an iron mesh constructed from reinforcing rods or thick wire.

Fill the hole with concrete mixture, carefully level everything using iron rule. Don't forget to check the levelness of the surface using horizontal level. Now wait at least 7 days for the solution to set and concrete surface regained its original strength.

Second phase. Brick walls

Start laying the brick in a circle, the diameter of which you designated at the planning stage. As a rule, this is about 100 centimeters. Place the bricks on the end and, using the frame as shown in the image below, begin to form a circle. For installation, use only a stove solution consisting of fireclay clay, appropriate plasticizers and, of course, quartz sand. This will ensure that the composition will not crack when fired, will set quickly and will generally be plastic.

Traditionally leave the body at the bottom small hole, which during operation will serve as a blower. This can be either a small window equipped with an iron door or a chimney.

If the height of the stove is 100-120 centimeters, then four rows of bricks will be enough. Typically, when laying the last row, a tapering neck should be formed in parallel; therefore, the brick at this stage should be laid with a slight inclination towards the inside.

Third stage. We carry out coating and cladding

Coat the internal and external surfaces of the constructed furnace with refractory clay, the thickness of which should be approximately 5 centimeters. In addition, decorate the body of the tandoor with natural stone - so ready product will look more attractive.

Fourth stage. We fire the kiln

Let us immediately make a reservation that the firing procedure in this case is performed in the same way as in the previous two options. It is necessary to light a fire inside the tandoor; the walls of the oven should gradually heat up to high temperature(more precisely, up to 400 degrees), and then slowly - and this is very important! - cool down.

For a more detailed look at how to build a brick tandoor at home, we recommend that you watch the thematic video below.

Video - Making a tandoor with your own hands

Features of operation

There are a number of requirements that must be followed when using a stove such as a tandoor. Let's start with kindling. Here a lot depends on the time of year. In winter, for example, the temperature should increase gradually - first light the wood chips, let them burn, after which you can add the main fuel. In the summer, it is quite possible to do without preliminary kindling with wood chips. As for the volume of fuel, it should be 2/3 of the total volume of the stove. You can put more, but in this case a lot of thermal energy will simply evaporate without heating the walls of the case.

As for temperature restrictions, there are none at all for tandoor. Use it whenever you want, the main thing is not to forget what is said in the previous paragraph.

Cleaning the stove is also not difficult: just take a dustpan, poker and collect the ash. If fat gets on the walls, don’t worry - it will simply burn off during subsequent use.

Advantages of using the design

The problem of poorly cooked kebabs is familiar to everyone: with poor-quality heat treatment, part of the meat is fried to a black crust, while the remaining pieces turn out almost raw. Why is this happening? The reason is the uneven distribution of coals under the skewers, as well as the fact that they are coals with different temperature indicators. And the results of such roasting are described above.

But a brick tandoor is a completely different thing. Thanks to its unique design, this oven allows you to completely forget about such an unpleasant thing as undercooked meat. Another advantage of the tandoor is that not only meat is baked in it, but also traditional oriental flatbreads - tasty, and at the same time very healthy for the body.

Tandoor - design features of the stove

The design of such a furnace is very similar to most structures of this kind, but some differences still exist. Thus, the inner surface is made of an unusual (at least for such ovens) material - ceramics. But both wood and coal can serve as fuel (brushwood can also be used).

Externally, a brick tandoor is very similar to a hypertrophied clay jug, which was lined with brick. Coal or wood is placed directly inside the structure and then set on fire. Then, when the fuel turns into coal, the kebabs are placed in the oven. Typically, the meat can be hung on a hook to a special pole, which should be taken care of in advance, and placed with the sharp end on the foundation.

Note! Another advantage that a brick tandoor has is that it retains heat for quite a long time. Thanks to this, you can have time to make several batches of baked meat at once.

An interesting fact: the described stove first appeared in distant Mesopotamia, and soon gained considerable popularity among Asian peoples. It is for this reason that a number of oriental kitchens cannot be imagined without this miracle oven.

Operating principle

To find out how to make, you must first become familiar with the operating principle of this design. As an example, let's take a look at the classic Uzbek tandoor made of brick. Outwardly, such a tandoor is comparable to a clay cauldron, but only turned upside down (it’s as if the top has been swapped with the bottom). At the bottom of the furnace there is a special hole, which is also called a blower.

The base, made of clay, is covered with brick. What is important is that there remains a small amount of space between the inner and outer layers. air gap, which is subsequently filled with sand or salt (the latter option is more preferable).

The fuel is placed into the housing through a hole located on top. Although there are versions of the stove in which it is located on the side, this arrangement is practically never found in the classic Uzbek version.

Note! The main disadvantage of the tandoor is that ash is removed from the body through the upper hole, which for obvious reasons is very inconvenient (this does not apply to portable stoves).

And to make it more convenient to fry shish kebab, the oven of the Uzbek version has a special grate. You can place not only meat on such a grill, but also, for example, fish or vegetables. All these products are guaranteed to bake equally well.

Note! If the tandoor is built competently and in compliance with technology, then you can cook on it within six hours after one-time kindling.

What is the secret of such high heat-saving properties of the structure? And the secret lies in the materials from which such stoves are constructed. Such materials have simply incredible heat-accumulating properties: for example, if you try hard, the walls of the tandoor can be heated to a temperature of 400 degrees.

As for the varieties of tandoor, the classification in this case is based on the installation location of the device - according to this parameter, the described stoves can be:

• pit;
• ground;
• portable.

Today’s article will discuss several options for creating a tandoor at home, however Special attention will be devoted to making a brick oven. This is explained by the fact that, for example, a portable structure is, in fact, a type of barbecue, while a pit structure is used in most cases for heating small rooms. So let's get started.

A lot of interesting stories and culinary gossip exists around the tandoor - the most ancient and well-known stove hearth in culinary circles. Some of the legends are indeed confirmed by practice, but most of the attributed characteristics and miraculous properties of the stove are ordinary speculations of traders in oriental goods. But it’s worth paying tribute to - the tandoor allows you to get very high quality meat, vegetables and, of course, the famous unleavened flatbreads cooked over coals. At the same time, it gives any famous dish a richer and milder taste; even kebab retains more than half of the marinade, fat and juice. So if you want to surprise your friends with an extraordinary barbecue, look for a way to make a tandoor with your own hands.

Advantages and disadvantages of a clay oven

Today you can buy or order the construction of a tandoor at summer cottage from the furnace masters. But in most cases, even a master experienced in laying all kinds of stoves will not always make a hearth required quality. In fact, the design of the tandoor is not so easy to manufacture. How difficult it is to make a real tandoor fireplace is eloquently illustrated by the fact that experts pay from 30 thousand to 100 thousand rubles for a ready-made clay tandoor pot. In addition, some types of baked meat, such as tandoori kabob, are quite problematic to cook without such an oven.

The advantages of the traditional tandoor can be listed in literally several points:

1. High efficiency. Literally a few dry logs are enough to prepare a full feast, including traditional kebabs, baked vegetables, bread cakes, which are called tandoor-nan. Even the simplest brick tandoor built with your own hands can retain heat and heat for several hours;
2. Versatility. With its help you can cook everything that can be cooked on a regular hob brick oven;
3. The peculiarity of the tandoor is the principle of its operation. The heated bowl of the oven does not burn or dry food with hot flue gases, but bakes with heat emitted by the hot walls.

For your information! Most often, the Asian or Uzbek version is known to us Europeans as the tandoor-amphora. So unusual name The tandoor received its characteristic profile, tapering upward, like an ancient Greek amphora.

In addition, you can take a tandoor-amphora with you on a picnic, as manufacturers offer a whole range of sizes.

Device

The structure of the tandoor, its shape and dimensions, have been perfected over hundreds of years by nomads and residents of Central Asia. In essence, the oven is a decent-sized clay pot, with a wide base, about 70-80 cm, and almost a meter in height.

There are no mysteries in the design of the tandoor; moreover, a careful and thoughtful person can make it with his own hands from brick, using only the drawings and the recommendations below. The capabilities of such a hearth will be enough for simple roasting of meat and vegetables at a very decent level.

The design of a brick tandoor is based on the same principles as a clay hearth, taking into account the specifics of constructing walls using brickwork:

• For prefabricated brick tandoors, the same spindle-shaped shape with a massive base is used;
• A blower is installed in the lower part of the body, through which air is supplied for burning wood;
• The body is laid out from fireclay bricks, used for laying fireboxes and fire chambers of fireplaces and wood stoves. Despite the fact that firewood is used for heating, the heat inside the tandoor heats the walls from 260 o C to 400 o C. Red ceramic bricks simply cannot withstand the heat.
• A flat table surface made of granite or sandstone is equipped in the upper part; the inlet opening of the hearth is narrowed to a size of 35-45 cm during the laying process. In the process of preparing especially important dishes, such as tandoor-kabob, after the coals and white ash on the walls of the hearth have burned out, the meat with spices is hung on a hook in the center of the tandoor, where the product is simmered in the heat;

The inner surface of the tandoor is lined with heat-resistant clay coating with the addition of fireclay, finely crushed silicon powder and grated oat straw.

Important! As in any business, success in cooking kebabs, lula-kebabs, baked fish and vegetables depends not only on the design of the oven, but also on the chef’s abilities.

Tandoors installed in restaurants and cafes do not even remotely resemble the classic oven design; many work on natural gas or electricity. At the same time, despite the criticism of numerous experts, meat dishes in such foci one gets enough High Quality. In this sense, a brick tandoor, assembled with your own hands, allows you to achieve even better results.

The structure of the tandoor is shown in the drawing.

The dimensions of the tandoor, its depth and the diameter of the outer hole were not chosen by chance. After such a furnace has cooled, you can easily reach the bottom with your hand and remove ash and coal residues without the risk of damaging the lining or the upper edges of the body.

The classic structure of a tandoor involves installing a huge massive pot made of special grades of baked clay inside a brick body. The space between the pot and the brick walls of the hearth is filled with grated salt mixed with crushed limestone. Salt absorbs and re-radiates some of the infrared rays best; as a result, heating increases by 30-40% compared to a brick tandoor.

The thickness of the walls of such a pot can reach 50-60 mm; this mass is quite enough for baking even very large pieces of meat in the hearth without any salt filler. The main secret of the tandoor lies in the clay from which the walls of the oven are made.

The main secret of tandoor quality

Before deciding whether to change your usual and easy-to-maintain grill or barbecue for a bulky and unusual hearth, you should simply compare the taste of two servings of meat cooked on a barbecue or in a tandoor.

Any product fried on a steel or cast iron grill inevitably acquires a metallic taste, which is masked by burnt layers and all kinds of sauces. Clean meat grilled on a steel barbecue will have a pronounced sour steel taste, due to the fact that the smallest particles of scale are transferred by hot gases to the product.

When cooking in a tandoor, the situation is somewhat different. In a brick fireplace there are no hot gas flows, there is only heat emitted by the walls. Most of the water that has evaporated during inner space hearth, sharply increases thermal conductivity and speed of cooking.

Some clay microparticles with a high silicon content, hundreds of microns in size, are torn off from the walls of the fireplace and transferred to the products. They give meat and vegetables a specific soft taste. It is because of this clay that raw dough cakes stick to the walls of the oven as if glued. It is this taste that is so valued by gourmets, who shell out a lot of money for original tandoors. This effect cannot be reproduced even in the most sophisticated modern computer-controlled tandoor ovens with electronic control of humidity, temperature and heat distribution.

We build a tandoor from fireclay bricks

It is necessary to build a tandoor on solid ground, on a small hill, where there is guaranteed to be no water, and you can install a heavy stove body.

Preparatory stage

Initially you will need to remove fertile layer soil by 15-20 cm, level it, fill it with a mixture of sand and gravel and compact a square area measuring 120x150 cm. Place it on the bottom of the prepared pit polyethylene film and a grid of six-millimeter reinforcement with a window size of 10 cm. Formwork 10-15 cm high is installed along the edges of the pit. The future base of the furnace must be tied to the ground; for this, we hammer one half-meter reinforcing pin into the corners. We weld the heads of the driven reinforcing bars to the grid.

After pouring M200 concrete, carefully level the level of the poured surface using a rule. Four to five hours after pouring the base for the tandoor, we clean it with a metal strip and trim the plane of the slab horizontally. No earlier than three days later we begin construction of the furnace.

Construction of the base and walls of the tandoor

After the concrete has set, you need to lay out the first row of the hearth base. Fireclay is laid out on a regular clay-cement mortar used for laying stoves.

The size of the circle at the base is 750 mm; a layer of waterproofing must be laid under the brickwork, otherwise the fireclay will draw moisture from the concrete and crack when heated.

The prepared fireclay brick is laid on a screed made of masonry mortar using the original device. This is a frame in which one side represents the axis of rotation, the second side is specially profiled so that when rotating outer part describes the curved surface of the walls.

The frame is installed in the center of the base and used to set the correct position of the brick.

The laid first row of the furnace wall is carefully tied together with annealed steel wire. Similarly, the second, third and fourth rows are laid out along the frame. Each brick is cut with a grinder “to a wedge” so that the fireclay blocks laid in a ring have the same seam width along the entire plane of the brick.

The fourth row of fireclay is the most difficult to lay. In addition to the wedge, you will need to trim the supporting part of the brick so that the fireclay block is heaped 5-6 degrees inward. The result is a barrel-shaped tandoor made of fireclay.

At the final stage, you will need to coat the inside and outside of the tandoor body. For external cladding, clay and tiles are usually used. natural stone. The upper hole and the inside of the tandoor are coated with masonry clay with a small amount of sand and oat straw filling.

To prevent the internal lining of the furnace walls from cracking and crumbling, ground calcite or natural silicon, ground into powder, is added to the clay instead of sand. It is often necessary to change the furnace lining two or three times before it is possible to select the required proportions of materials.

A more complex version of tandoor

To build a professional version of the tandoor, you will need to increase the size and thickness concrete base from 120 cm to 180 cm. In the central part of the base, a landing belt is cast in the form of a shallow niche, into which the body will be laid out. The furnace consists of two buildings separated by a layer of basalt thermal insulation.

The principle of laying fireclay is no different from the previous version. The first four rows are laid out in a wedge with the obligatory arrangement of a blower in the first row. Inside the first building, the hot part of the tandoor is laid out in half a brick.

After about three to four days, the first body is wrapped in a layer basalt wool 90 mm and sealed with foil insulation. The second body of the tandoor is laid out with air gap 5 mm between the insulation and the brickwork of the furnace.

A steel ring is mounted in the neck of the tandoor, on which a lid or cauldrons with pilaf, shurpa and other dishes will be installed. On the upper surface of the tandoor you can lay a granite ring on which trays with food will be placed.

The design strength of the furnace wall will be achieved no earlier than in two weeks. Until this point, the tandoor can be covered with a cloth or opaque film. After about a week, you can check the operation of the fireplace by burning a small amount of paper and wood chips.

For tandoor, you can use hard wood, such as acacia. Birch, larch, spruce, pine can only be used for initial kindling.

The first full-fledged kindling of the tandoor is carried out with three stacks of firewood, six to seven logs each. Within an hour, firewood must be added to the stove two more times. The tandoor needs approximately 45-50 minutes to warm up, the nature of the smoke will change, from whitish it will become completely transparent, and the soot and burning on the walls of the hearth will become white. As soon as white coating will begin to break off and be carried away by hot air, it is believed that the tandoor has reached the required temperature of 270 o C, and you can load the food into the oven.

You cannot simultaneously load a tandoor with fuel more than 1/6 of its height.

Conclusion

The tandoor can rightfully be considered one of the most advanced ovens ever invented by man. Such a structure can be easily built in the ground with your own hands from sandstone and feldspar in almost any area. The durability of such a stove will be short, but the tandoor made will work and will help you cook food without any problems. The disadvantages include the need to use only dry and well-burning wood, which limits wide application stoves in the country or in a private house.

Tandoor is an unusual oven that is common in Asian countries. It is a vessel resembling a jug. The stove is made of clay or brick. Initially, the stove was used for cooking and heating, but now the tandoor is an excellent replacement for a barbecue in a summer cottage. You can make a brick tandoor with your own hands without any special knowledge.

The Asian stove has many advantages that lovers of oriental cuisine appreciate:

1. The operating principle of a tandoor is reminiscent of an oven. Food is cooked thanks to the heat that comes from the walls of the oven. This method of cooking is much healthier than cooking over coals.
2. Tandoor does not require constant monitoring. For example, skewers with shish kebab are loaded vertically into the oven and cooked without turning over or adding water.
3. Food in an oriental oven cooks quite quickly due to good heat transfer.
4. Some dishes cooked in a tandoor do not require separate utensils.

For example, oriental flatbreads are cooked on the walls of the oven. You can make such a miracle stove, which is indispensable in your summer cottage, by yourself, following step-by-step instructions.

Making a tandoor with your own hands takes place in several stages:

1. Laying the foundation.
2. Creating a template.
3. Making a tandoor from brickwork.
4. Strengthening the structure.
5. Furnace lining.

Laying the foundation for the tandoor

Before making a furnace, it is necessary to lay the foundation. This is done in order to protect the tandoor from the influence of weather conditions. The ground can erode the soil, causing cracks in the brickwork.

For the foundation you will need:

• geotextiles;
• crushed stone;
• waterproofing material;
• concrete;
• several bars made of reinforcement;
• polyethylene/sawdust.

The stove must be located at least three meters from the house. It is advisable to choose for tandoor sandy area land. The place should be with a minimum level of humidity.

Do strong foundation under the tandoor in a few simple steps:

1. First you need to dig a pit for laying the foundation. The depth of the pit is at least 60 cm. It is advisable to make the hole a little larger than necessary for installing the stove.
2. The bottom of the pit must be lined with geotextiles. Non-woven fabric will protect the foundation from mixing with the soil.
3. A layer of crushed stone is laid under the foundation. It must be compressed by hand to make it denser and more reliable. Next is placed thin layer dry sand.
4. As waterproofing, you can use a special waterproofing membrane or a roll of bitumen material.
5. Since the tandoor is heavy, the foundation needs additional strengthening. To do this, you can use reinforcement bars made in the form of a mesh. The diameter of the rods must be at least 6 mm. It is best to use a reinforcement grid with cells 20 by 20 cm.
6. Next, the main concrete layer should be poured. Its thickness can vary from 8 to 15 cm, depending on the size of the future oven.
7. Polyethylene or sawdust will be needed to protect the structure while the concrete hardens. It is necessary to cover the foundation for several days and also moisten it.

After laying the concrete, you can begin building the furnace no earlier than a few weeks later. During this time, the structure will completely harden and shrink.

Template for oriental stove

The template for the tandoor is special device, which will serve as a ruler when laying brickwork. The template is made of wood and is a prototype of the shape of the future building.

When creating a template, it is necessary to take into account the selected dimensions of the tandoor. The height of the furnace is usually from one to one and a half meters. The diameter of the oven at its widest part - in the middle - usually reaches about a meter or a little less. In the lower and upper parts the jug narrows to half a meter.

The bottom beam of the template is equal to the radius of the circle along which the furnace will be built. The vertical beam is placed at right angles to the bottom. Next, you need to make several transverse boards, to the edges of which the curved part of the template will be attached. It should repeat the shape of the future tandoor. If you rotate the template, it will completely repeat the shape of the oven.

Making a template for a lightweight version of a cylinder-shaped tandoor is much easier. A flexible sheet of metal, roofing felt or PVC is suitable for this. It is necessary to make a cylinder of the required size and secure the edges. Thus, you will get a template for the tandoor cylindrical.

Making a tandoor from brick

There are several ways you can make a brick tandoor yourself. First of all, one principle should be taken into account - the bottom layer of the masonry must be lined with bricks and reinforced with mortar. Concrete does not tolerate much heat, so making a stove on a bare foundation runs the risk of destroying the foundation.

Tandoor shape

The tandoor is usually made in the classic shape of a jug, but you can use several masonry options:

• cylindrical;
• barrel-shaped.

The easiest way is to lay out fireclay bricks in the shape of a cylinder. To do this, the brick is laid in the shape of a circle, and the distance between the masonry is covered with mortar. A cylindrical stove is easy to operate, but it retains heat much worse than a barrel-shaped tandoor.

The shape of a barrel, or jug, is a masonry structure with a narrowing at the bottom and at the top of the structure. This oven heats up quickly and retains heat well. It is also much larger than a cylinder-shaped tandoor.

Bricks can be laid vertically or horizontally. The vertical method is most often used for laying a barrel-shaped stove. When placing vertically, it is advisable to make at least four rows of masonry. Several bricks can be trimmed to make the bricks fit more tightly together.

Such masonry is laid edge-to-edge to each other (vertical spoon masonry) or in a wide part (vertical butt masonry).

To lay with a vertical poke, several conditions must be met:

• trim the end of the bricks of the bottom row by a few centimeters;
• trim the top and bottom ends of the second row;
• lay the bricks close to each other;
• change the shape of the last brick so that the row is complete.

Horizontal masonry will require more time and skill. To make the perfect rounded shape tandoor, many bricks will need to be trimmed. It will also require more material. To make it easier to create a stove, it is better to make horizontal masonry from equal halves of brick. The seams with this method should not be more than 1 cm. The structure should also be strengthened by caulking the external seams.

Mortar for fastening furnace walls

How reliable the oven will be depends on the correct solution. In order to prepare a special solution, you need clay, water, sand and salt.

A mixture of clay, water and sand is done by eye. For one bucket of solution you need to add a tablespoon of salt. How much sand is needed depends on the fat content of the clay. You can find out whether the solution is correct by using a visual test. The mixture should roll and clump. You also need to throw the solution on the ground. The solution should flatten, perhaps become covered with small cracks, but not spread. If the mixture spreads, the seams of the tandoor will crack after just a few fryings.

You can also use a ready-made heat-resistant solution to make a stove.

Furnace laying

Before laying bricks, you need to make sure that all parts of the stove fit tightly together. To do this, you need to lay out the bricks in advance according to the chosen shape and trim some of them. You can make small notes so that when reassembling the tandoor, the masonry is positioned correctly.

Before applying the mortar, it is necessary to hold the bricks one by one in cold water. It is worth doing this until the bubbles stop coming out. After washing, you can apply the solution and install the masonry according to the template. Before further work, you should wait until the solution has completely hardened. To prevent it from cracking summer period, it is advisable to cover the tandoor with polyethylene film.

Strengthening the tandoor structure

The bricks must be covered with an additional layer to strengthen the stove structure and retain heat. The inner and outer layers of the oven must be completely coated with clay mortar. A homemade masonry mortar, mixed until it is suitable for modeling, is suitable for this.

Before lubricating the oven, it is necessary to moisten it using a spray bottle of water. The layer should be no more than 1 cm. After applying the clay solution, wait a few minutes and wrap the outside of the oven with a soft mesh. After this, you can hide the mesh and level the oven walls with mortar.

Eastern stove lining

After applying the clay, it is not necessary to line the stove, but this will make the structure more attractive. Give tandoor interesting decor possible using decorative rock, porcelain tiles or fireproof paint. The top of the tandoor can be decorated with an iron lid or a marble slab with a hole inside the diameter of the oven.

The tandoor differs from other stoves in that it is more like an oven than a standard stove. You can easily make such a stove yourself.

The brick tandoor is the best option for making it yourself. Many people want to make this oven out of clay, but this design will not last long, because baking ceramics requires temperatures over 1000 degrees. In addition, the bricks are cheap enough and the process is so simple that there is no reason not to build a tandoor with your own hands.

Drawings and dimensions

There are two types of brick tandoors - horizontal and vertical. The vertical one is considered classic; its lid is on top, not on the side, and it is this one that is used for preparing Uzbek cuisine. In addition, it is easier to build since there is no need to wall the base.

The general layout of the tandoor looks like this:

Three-digit numbers indicate overall dimensions (in mm). It should be noted that they may vary depending on the type of masonry and the number of rows assembled. The rest are marked:

1. Bassoon trims.
2. Fireclay bricks laid vertically in three rows.
3. Expanded clay.
4. Red brick.
5. Expanded clay with clay mortar.
6. Bassoon trims.
7. Paving slabs.
8. Blower.
9. Metal plate above the blower.
10. Grate bars.
11. Galvanization.
12. Hanging for vegetables.
13. Skewers.

What will you need?

To stock up on everything you need to build a tandoor, you will have to visit a hardware store.

Tools

The following tools will be used:

• Grinder with a diamond wheel designed for ceramics.
• Plaster rule and spatula.
• Paint brush.
• A vat for mixing concrete or an electric concrete mixer.
• Building level.
• Hacksaw saw.
• Hammer and nails or screwdriver and screws.
• Shovel.
• Pliers.

Materials

Names of required materials and their approximate quantity are displayed in the table. It should be taken into account that the actual consumption may differ both up and down.

Table. Material consumption for tandoor construction

Making a tandoor with your own hands

Since a brick tandoor is quite heavy and is installed under open air, its long-term service can only be ensured by the right foundation.

Before building it, you need to find out how high the The groundwater at the intended installation location of the tandoor. If they are close to the ground surface, you will have to find another area. Next, determine the type of soil. If it is clay or loam, you will need reinforced columnar foundation. On sandy and sandy loam, as well as on sod-podzolic soils, you can get by with a monolithic casting concrete slab. Since these soil types are the most common, a method for creating a concrete foundation will be described.

Pouring the foundation

The base for the tandoor has a size of 100 x 100 cm and a thickness of 10 cm. It is made like this:

Concrete mortar is prepared according to this recipe: three parts sand, one part gravel and one part cement. Add enough water to get the consistency of thick sour cream.

Making rules

While the foundation is hardening, it’s time to start making the rule. In shape it resembles a yacht sail and serves to ensure that the walls are smooth.

Since a regular tandoor has the same height and width at the base, the length of the bottom of the rule will be equal to half its height. The diameter of the neck is one third of the width of the base. Based on these measurements, a rule is made, placing its transverse strips at a distance of 25 cm.

For convenience, you can draw a pattern on any sheet of paper or cardboard.

Construction of walls

When the foundation has acquired sufficient hardness, the walls begin to be walled.

This can be done in two ways - placing the bricks vertically or horizontally. In the first case, significant savings result consumables, and in the second, the tandoor retains heat much longer and can reach a higher temperature. If it is planned to build a tandoor for household use, vertical masonry will fully justify itself, and will also take less time.

The process looks like this:

IN classic tandoor there is no exhaust pipe. Some craftsmen include it in the design of their stoves and claim that this greatly facilitates use. For example, it can be used in rainy weather, because air access to create draft occurs not through a slightly open lid (where water enters, which extinguishes the fire), but through a horizontally located pipe.

External processing

When brickwork will be finished, you need to start processing the outer part of the tandoor. It is plastered with a stove mixture, making sure that its layer is not less than 1 cm.

The upper edge is rounded and four recesses are made in it, into which the supporting parts of the lid are then placed.

After this, the tandoor is covered with cellophane and left until completely dry plaster.

Terms of use

Tandoor is a unique and multifunctional oven. You can bake flatbreads and pies in it, fry meat, bake potatoes and cook many more dishes.

Flour baked goods are “glued” to the walls of the tandoor. This is what the process of making samsa looks like:

The finished pies are pryed with a special metal spatula, placing a metal sieve with a long handle. The baked goods fall into the sieve and are taken out.

The shish kebab is prepared by hanging the skewers vertically on a special stand and closing the lid on top. In the absence of one, you can build the following structure from two empty skewers or thick metal rods:

Vegetables are baked, laid out on special grates. You can also put pizza, a large pie with filling there, or put tin bread. Assembling such a device with your own hands is not difficult. The grill is hung in the same way as skewers with shish kebab:

Cooking begins after the wood has burned out and only the coals remain, giving heat. The tandoor heats up to a temperature of about +450 °C and gradually cools down. It stays hot enough for cooking for 6-7 hours.

It is important to remember that there is a risk of getting burned, so you should work with the tandoor carefully and never let children near it.

A tandoor built near a private house or on a summer cottage can easily replace both a barbecue and an oven. It can be used at any time of the year, and the consumption of firewood is so economical that it cannot even be compared with other stoves. If the question is whether to build a tandoor or a barbecue, the choice is obvious.

A tandoor is a special jug-shaped roasting pan designed for cooking food. These stoves are most common in the East. Now they are increasingly used in Europe, since they have a lot good qualities. They can be stationary or small, portable. Historically, the tandoor is a clay product, but in modern conditions It’s much more convenient to build a brick tandoor with your own hands.

Historical reference

The first such ovens appeared in Asia. According to legend, they were invented by a shepherd named Tandoor. He saw that tulips close at night, and insects are protected from the cold in them. The young man made a bud out of clay and began to cook food for himself in it, lighting a fire inside. The food was delicious and stayed hot for a long time. The young man became rich by making and selling tandoors. He became a respected person.

Another legend attributes sacred meaning to the tandoor. It was allegedly invented by the Sarts in the tenth century. They lived on the territory of modern Uzbekistan and were fire worshipers. They believed that the tandoor was the spiritual home of beautiful spirits - peri, an analogue of European fairies. Only many years later did it acquire practical significance. This happened when the Sarts were conquered by the Mongols, and they were able to appreciate their invention.

The making of a clay tandoor is shrouded in mystery, which is protected and passed down from generation to generation. If you make a tandoor without skill, it will crack due to high temperature. There are secrets that are known. The clay is carefully sifted, like flour for dough. Sheep or goat wool is added to the clay. After firing, it burns out, leaving pores in the vessel. During construction, a barrel is often used - wooden or plastic. She keeps her shape. It is removed after construction is completed. Knowing these secrets is not enough to make a clay tandoor. At the dacha they usually build a brick one.

This does not detract from his wonderful qualities. The ancient nomads at each of their sites made stoves from whatever they could find, maintaining the principle, and the food turned out delicious. That is, initially a tandoor is a fire in a recess that saves it from the wind.

Tandoors are common in Armenia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Mongolia, and Japan. They have been used there for centuries. It is difficult to say who is older - the tandoor or the Russian stove.

Tandoor is the most famous name of this oven. The term is of Turkic origin. In Armenia they are called tonir, in India - tandur, in Tajikistan - tanur, in Georgia - tone, in Azerbaijan tandir. They all have differences, but the same principle of production and operation.

Read also: Brick for laying the furnace

In former times, this stove also served to heat the room. It is currently not recommended to use it indoors.

Construction

The construction of a tandoor, like any other business, requires preparation.

Preparation

It is necessary to select and prepare a place for the stove. It should be located far from the house and plantings. An area with minimal humidity is desirable. Everything unnecessary needs to be removed from it. It must be level.

• fire brick;
• sand, clay, fireclay mortar;
• grates (grid);
• cement;
• asbestos pipe;
• shovels;
• trowels;
• level.

Foundation

The best place for a tandoor is sandy. If there is no such place on the site, a shallow round pit is dug and filled with sand and compacted. On this site a foundation is made of brick or concrete. Can be used reinforced concrete slab. This a good option, but it increases the cost of the furnace. In addition, the slab must be laid very evenly.

Construction of a furnace

The walls are laid on the finished foundation. The brick is laid on the end or in 3 rows. The first row is laid in a circle and adhered with mortar. Inner diameter circumference 0.5 meters. An asbestos pipe is inserted into the second row; it will serve as a blower. Internal coating is made with fireclay mortar or clay. It is more convenient to do it immediately as the next row is installed.

Grate bars are installed on the second row. A total of four rows will be required.

When the oven is laid out and dried, all joints are sealed on the outside. Cement and clay are used. When plastering, the brick should be moistened, otherwise it will take water from the solution. When this layer dries, a second one is applied - made of clay mixed with straw. It will play the role of a reinforcing and insulating wall; it is allowed to dry for three days. If it rains while the tandoor is being laid, the construction that has begun must be covered with film. At the end, the tandoor is covered with a third layer. In composition it is like the first.

The oven is ready. The lid can be made from an iron sheet by welding a handle. It will help keep you as warm as possible. You can refine the tandoor externally, cover it natural stone. They begin to use when everything is well dry.

Earth tandoor

Sometimes a brick tandoor is buried in the ground. It will be more convenient to use - there is less danger of getting burned, it is easier to lower the products. The construction principle is the same. The pit must be dug deeper, three-quarters of the height of the furnace. The pipe for the blower should be longer, it is led out. Savings on exterior decoration, it will only be needed for the part coming out of the ground.

Read also: Brick for laying the furnace

It is profitable to build a brick tandoor yourself, since the work of a master will be very expensive. The simplified construction itself is not difficult, it can be carried out by anyone whose hands are not rooted to their pockets.

Of course, these are not the only ways to build such a furnace. There is, for example, a horizontal tandoor, which is easy to use. It can also be built from bricks. In such ovens, dishes are mainly prepared on a baking sheet. Outwardly, they resemble a Russian stove, but without a chimney.

Terms of use

The first ignition must be carried out carefully. The temperature must be raised gradually. Firewood is placed in two thirds of the tandoor; it must be dry. They set them on fire through the ash pit. Products are loaded into the oven when the wood has burned out, about an hour after ignition. The coals should be evenly distributed over the bottom of the oven. One dressing is enough to cook two dishes, and the second one will take twice as long to cook.

If the tandoor needs to be used again, it can be heated to operating temperature much faster than during the first ignition.

It's easy to check if it's ready for use. You need to run the stick along the wall inside. If the soot disappears and the wall becomes clean, the oven is ready for use.

The degree of toasting can be adjusted by supplying air to the tandoor through a vent or lid.

The coals must smolder without burning, so the vent is not closed after heating. To avoid unnecessary traction, open the lid at the same time.

Do not pour water over the tandoor to cool it down. It will give irreparable cracks. It should cool down on its own, naturally.

We must remember that when ignited, the height of the flame above the stove can reach one and a half meters. The temperature inside reaches 480 degrees, the outer walls also heat up. Children should not be near, everyone should behave carefully to avoid burns.

We should not forget about fire safety.

Advantages

Cooking in tandoor is becoming more and more popular. What contributes to this?

The flame does not blow out, the heat is long and uniform.

Cooking is similar to oven cooking. No harmful substances are formed in food during cooking. Even the kebab turns out to be dietary.