Tandoor: Afghanistan, Pakistan and North Indian BBQ
Grilled on October 4th, 2008 in BBQ
Another one of my favorite styles of BBQ is one I can only get from my local Indian restaurant - Tandoori Chicken (or anything). The meat is prepared in a cylindrical clay oven that’s known as a tandoor and it’s most common in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and most of the Indian subcontinent. It’s origins are in Afghanistan though but wherever you get it, it still tastes great.
The oven is fired by charcoal or wood and temperatures within that clay oven can reach 900°F! The style of cooking is mostly radiant heat cooking, meaning a fire is left to burn as a heat source within the oven.
In addition to meat, the tandoor is designed as an oven so you can use it to bake breads as well.
(Photo: diametrik)
900 degrees? Holy cow! I wonder if the idea for the big green egg came from the tandoor? Very interesting, had never heard of it before. I spent 2 weeks in a hotel in Jerusalem with a very bad Indian restaurant in the lobby. Everything I had smelled like curry for a long time after that. I may now have to lift my boycott of Indian food and look for some Tandoori :).