Hello all!

[Khalsarule]

Hello all!

Was looking for a new smoker to back up my Brinkmann gourmet, which I bought about seven years ago and came across the Excel 20 which I will be ordering tomorrow with an additional stacker. It was from searching around for a bigger smoker that I came across this site, lucky me!

I have been into live fire cooking for a good number of year's. I grew up in a catering family and I was always fascinated by the Tandoor, being a kid they tried to keep me away from the contraption which, being a kid, only added to my desire to see how the big scary barrel worked! Once I was old enough I hassled the tandoori chef to teach me his skill's and the rest is as they say history.

I have owned a number of tandoor's and presently have two along with the brinkmann gourmet smoker, a brinkmann smoke and grill flat bed and a cypriot rotisserie BBQ. They all produce very different Q in very different way's and I do find myself alternating between each. I grill all year round, just for ourselves and for party's and even on me tod!

I never fail to be amazed as to how much there is to the whole art of Q. In fact I am at the moment working towards turning the hobby into something more but I won't bore you guy's with that sort of thing at the mo but will update(if your interested) once I have more solid news.

Anyhoo the site seem's really friendly, which is great and I hope to become a useful contributor. Btw I came across Aussie heat beads for the first time about 5 years ago and thought they were awesome so good to see that they are sponsoring here.

[All Weather Griller]

Hi Khalsarule and welcome to the forum, it's really interesting to see someone that is using the Tandoors, it would be cool if you could post some photo's. If I'm honest my only experience of this style of cooking is the typical kind of expose most brits get.

I think you will enjoy your excel, the extra stacker is a good investment to if you need to improve your cooking capacity.

[esselle]

Hello and welcome to the site. I'm still new here myself. I'm sure you will find everyone here very helpful. I would love to know more about tandoor cooking but I think if I did that would be another cooker added to the overcrowded garden and I don't know if mrs esselle would stand for that

[Khalsarule]

Will get some pic's of the kit up soon AWG (hope you don't mind me turning your moniker into an acronym!).

I know what you mean by typical tandoori food, it unfortunately means a traffic light red bit of charred chicken to a lot of people. Combination of reasons for this, commercial considerations not least but also a general lack of knowledge, skill and I suppose enthusiasm amongst many in the business of selling tandoori food.

Sad really because there is so much more to tandoori food and so much more to the tandoor as a cooker. There is a vast library of authentic tandoori dishes that you just won't find on a restaurant menu in the UK. Although the traditional tandoor has a number of drawbacks for the domestic user it does have its own unique way of cooking which gives a particular flavour to things cooked in it, much in the same way as the smoker or grill produce distinctly different Q.

The use of the tandoor was almost exclusive to the Panjab region until partition after which many refugees took their tandoors southward and got into the food business in Delhi and elsewhere which brought the tandoor to the attention of the rest of India. When Indian food came to the UK and restaurants started to appear they were owned and run almost entirely by people from the Bangladeshi community who didn't have a tandoor tradition but the die was cast and tandoori became synonymous with the curry house and the curry house with the late night pi$$ up....the problem with that being that I, like most people, am not at my most discerning after eight pints;)

Hi Esselle! Would be very happy to talk about tandoori cooking in greater depth. Like smoking it has a whole methodology of its own. Take your point on the wife front..my other half cannot fathom me and outdoor cooking, I think she stopped trying a good while ago:)

[All Weather Griller]

No worries on the AWG front it gets used a lot. I think I for one would be really interested to see your cooker and perhaps a view of the dishes that wouldn't be on a menu here. Typically I have never been that much of a fan of Indian food and I think that is because of the bravado attached to eating the hottest dish you can find as you say after 8 pints.

That said a friend and colleague of mine was from India and her father used a tandoor cooker, she would bring food into work for us all to try and I have never tasted food like it since. Her father was of the generation that was displaced by the kashmere (not sure if that's spelt right) split with India. So I don't know if the regional food thing is similiar. I suppose I'm ignorant to that aspect of the regions geography and history.

One thing I know for sure is I am not too partial to the commercial brand of indian food we see here and would opt for a Thai or Chinese instead but when I am fortunate enough to get home cooked Indian cuisine I really enjoy it (not too hot though)

I really looking forward to your posts now!

[Neil]

Hi Khalsarule,

Welcome to the forum . I think you may have sparked big interest in tandoors I have never used one (to be fair never seen one either) so would be interesting to see and learn more about them

[Khalsarule]

Hi Neil ! Will be very pleased to talk about all thing's Q and will be happy to share all and any info I have with regard's to the tandoor. It looks like this weekend may be a go for a BBQ provided I don't get hijacked by other commitments...if so will take some pic's and post.

Hi AWG,

Your spelling of Kashmir is more correct, phonetically speaking:)and yes they do have a grilling tradition there, the region was part and parcel of Panjab in years gone by...sorry don't mean to bore you with a history lesson!

I can cut and paste from a menu that I did for a restaurant/pub offering a little while ago just to give you an idea of what you don't readily see on curry house menu's if you like but there is a lot more besides. Whole leg's of lamb and shank's prepared especially for tandoor cooking for example and then there's game. Hunting was very popular in the Panjab (now banned)so there are a lot of traditional recipes for game. Also hog, wild boar to be exact and then there is the sea food again with specific tandoor treatments, not to mention a huge veggie repetoire....went to a place in Panjab that had over 20 different marinaded chicken preparations for the tandoor!

[Steve]

Hi Khalsarule,

Welcome to the forum. I'd be very interested to learn more about Tandoori cooking and see the kinds of food you are cooking. I'm fortunate enough to have some very close Asian firends, one of which is lucky enough to be married to the most amazing cook. Hence I've been able to sampla a lot of homecooked Indian food which has blown my mind. Admittedly my friend lives in a small urban property so they use an electric Tandoor but still some of the food that comes out of it is incredible.

It's the masalas that I would really like to learn about, not just the ingredients but gaining an understanding of the principles behind them and the marinading processes.

Cheers

Steve

[Khalsarule]

Hi Steve,

I will post over the weekend and hopefully answer some of the questions you have regarding tandoori cooking. Also hoping to get to cook this weekend, weather is perfect so If I don't get roped into doing something else I will try and get some pic's up as well.

Have a great weekend yourself!

[joker smoker]

Excellent to see somebody on the forum with tandoor knowledge. I have been considering buying a tandoor for some time now so you can guarantee there will be plenty of questions from me.