well hung meals

zaphod · July 5

I'm going to start off by saying that this is more for the "can I" and for the fun of going off the beaten track. Part of the eggtraction for me are the gadgets and gimicks that I can do and can buy, but I have a bend toward the non-technical. So no electronic thermometors or probes, no electric starters. I like the simplicity of clay and fire. So while I have bought lots of bits and pieces, none of them plug in

I'm also Scotch (by volume) and frugal so I like to reuse things.

Many years back I was given some kabob baskets very similar to these from Outland:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/l0/03vtg1bme0kd.png

Mine had silicone handles instead of wood. "Had" because when I closed the metal lid of my gas cooker on them, they melted a big groove. Such is life and I pulled off all the silicone. But being 19" long or so, the handles stick out making only 1 of 4 orientations workable.

When I replaced the gas cooker with the egg, I gauged a fitment on the 18" grill and the handles still stick out. Darn. Not by much, but still ...

I've been eating Indian take-away for 40 years or so, and I now live in one of the most vibrant South Asian communities in Canada. So when I read about people doing tandoor in their egg it checked off all the boxes for fun, good food, gadgeting things, and tradition.

So I started looking into hanging skewers from the top vent (sans reggulator or daisy wheel). I looked at various flat style commercial skewers and the Letz tandoor set up, but nothing really worked in my brain (and Letz doesn't ship to Canada).

Then I remembered the baskets. I already could not use them as is (too long) so I decided to bend the wire handles down to shorten them and to create a hanger. Here are the baskets before bending, with tape marking the location of the bends.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/wt/uy9pa26fg46m.jpg

Here they are after bending:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/fj/b1kiu0p2ozv1.jpg

This shortens them enough to allow me to put them onto the grate by sliding the bent "tail" between the bars of the grate. Other orientations (top/bottom/side/other side) will also now work.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/by/sl0siuvradkn.jpg

More importantly, I can now hang the baskets, cantilevered, from the top vent. Here are the handles from the vent (tape still to be removed).

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/ui/6nf4z56mabob.jpg

The cantilevered hanging keeps each basket tucked under the lip away from the centre.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/7d/elkgjls2au2k.jpg

the view from inside shows the baskets hanging about 2 or 3 inches away from each other and the bottoms about 3 or 4 inches below gasket level.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/q0/fcmi2v7xorzy.jpg

the next step is the cook. I have a slab of paneer cheese and Tandoori sauce and

I'm not afraid to use them.

caliking · July 5

This. is. farkin'. BEAUTIFUL!!

Honestly, what a great setup. Quite elegant in its simplicity. All kinds of options to explore here.

If cooking paneer, or veg, the pieces in the basket closest to the fire may burn, depending on how much you fill the firebowl. Try loading a few pieces of potato (small unpeeled potatoes may be better) in that end of the basket. The potato gets basted by good stuff dripping down on it, and is pretty tasty in a tandoor.

Using your platesetter will obviously help to keep those bits from burning, but tandoori type stuff really benefits from direct heat.

Looking forward to your cooks with these.

GrateEggspectations · July 5

Great ideas and documentation. Fully agree with you that low tech is the best tech.

In this household, only the cook is well hung. 😁

RRP · July 5

Great work thru! And I have to add something else that makes us brothers by different parents - that is NEVER throw away something that you just know in your heart that someday, someway you will find a use for everything!!!

shtgunal3 · July 5

Very nice but after reading the title I was expecting a mountain oyster cook of some kind

zaphod · July 5

@caliking - what temperature would you recommend? I hear tell of 900F, but i think i'm going to get nervous after 500F.

I'm also going to put a spark screen over the open top vent. Just because.

caliking · July 5

Tandoors run raging hot, but they are deeper, and built differently than BGEs.

I’d start at 450-500F. Cook over direct heat (no platesetter), if you can. Baste the groceries mid way with some ghee. A turkey baster should work well. You want some char on the groceries, without drying them out. You may end up nudging the temp up to 600+ for better results.

A spark shouldn’t be necessary, but absolutely do what you feel is safer.

BeanHead · July 5

Love this idea! I was just looking at a tandoori for sale and got “the look” from DH. To be fair I do have over half of the garage full of BBQ stuff and weird tools for my wine making and rock cutting and polishing hobbies…

Canugghead · July 5

Great contraption. I once tried converting the cracked base of a Large BGE into a tandoor but gave up, removing the bottom with a masonry grinder disc was just way too messy and slow.

Are you in Surrey?

zaphod · July 5

Yep, I'm in Surrey (the Canajan one - eh)

zaphod · July 5

RRP said:

Great work thru! And I have to add something else that makes us brothers by different parents - that is NEVER throw away something that you just know in your heart that someday, someway you will find a use for everything!!!

Proud to have you as my brother - and with our birthdays only a couple of days apart on the calendar, we might just be twins separated only by decades.

caliking · July 5

zaphod said:

Yep, I'm in Surrey (the Canajan one - eh)

High school BFF lived in Langley for some time. He took me to a guy making jalebi, in front of a Fruticana, when I visited many many moons ago. I'll try to get the coordinates. Best jalebis I've had outside of the motherland.

caliking · July 5

Also, if you should ever want to build (or hack) a tandoor... I know things

I took a very deep dive some years ago.

Stormbringer · July 5

That looks amazing, looking forward to seeing cooks with them.

Canugghead · July 5

zaphod said:

Yep, I'm in Surrey (the Canajan one - eh)

It's a no brainer based on what you posted

A long time Egger @Skiddymarker lives in Surrey BC too IIRC, have not seen him lately, hope he's doing well.

Edit: @caliking is a legend over at the Brethren too, in case you don't already know

MrCookingNurse06 · July 5

Need a cook on this setup. Very cool

caliking · July 5

Canugghead said:

zaphod said:

Yep, I'm in Surrey (the Canajan one - eh)

It's a no brainer based on what you posted

A long time Egger @Skiddymarker lives in Surrey BC too IIRC, have not seen him lately, hope he's doing well.

Edit: @caliking is a legend over at the Brethren too, in case you don't already know

Ha! Haven’t participated over there in quite a while. Too lazy to be on more than one bbq forum 😀

I had posted a bunch of pics of my tandoor cooks there, but they’re lost in PB purgatory, now.

GrateEggspectations · July 5

Canugghead said:

zaphod said:

Yep, I'm in Surrey (the Canajan one - eh)

It's a no brainer based on what you posted

A long time Egger @Skiddymarker lives in Surrey BC too IIRC, have not seen him lately, hope he's doing well.

Edit: @caliking is a legend over at the Brethren too, in case you don't already know

Sleuthing again, @canugghead? You need to make bread, because your crumb game is on point.

Canugghead · July 5

GrateEggspectations said:

Canugghead said:

zaphod said:

Yep, I'm in Surrey (the Canajan one - eh)

It's a no brainer based on what you posted

A long time Egger @Skiddymarker lives in Surrey BC too IIRC, have not seen him lately, hope he's doing well.

Edit: @caliking is a legend over at the Brethren too, in case you don't already know

Sleuthing again, @canugghead? You need to make bread, because your crumb game is on point.

Yessir, SD loaf.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/xf/gi2i1uldesc4.jpg

zaphod · July 6

so cooking happened.

we started off the egg with a nice gentle 425F indirect to roast some seasoned cauliflower florets - cumin, mustard seed, the usual stuff. It's a family favourite that makes a crunchy spicy savoury side dish. And since we had florets and an egg that needed warming up...

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/up/s8inmdlgn238.jpg

Popped off the top reggulator, pulled out the plate setter and watched the temperature zoom up. I've never cooked without the regulator so it was an interesting learning curve. settled it out to about 500F, with only a credit card opening, but over the course of the cook I raised to a nice 630F or so. Perfectly manageable, no sparking, just a happy fire.

We decided on paneer tandoori with a commercial - homogenized - cooking sauce. That was likely the only mistake, we should have used a better sauce with more kick and flavour. We marinated the paneer for an hour before assembly. Next time I'll marinate all the items and use a better sauce.

Assembled the baskets alternating red onion, bell pepper, and paneer, with a potato on the end and a mushroom on top. We oiled the basket wires, but got a lot of sticking. This may be an inherent problem that baskets have which skewers do not have. More research is needed (that is, more dinners).

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/ee/qgz21v2i2zc9.jpg

The baskets were hung from the top and worked like a charm. Fun shot looking straight down the throat.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/74/4zh3gnyx9u3n.jpg

Pulled them out after 10 minutes, but no big change. This is where I upped the temperature to 630F. Happy sizzling began to be heard in the egg.

All done after 20 minutes total cook time. EVERYTHING stuck to the baskets, but popped off with a kitchen knife. Again, more oil or sauce, but the paneer stuck so maybe just more oil.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/g1/lgudbrozipiv.jpg

Paneer was tender and not rubbery with a nice squeek. I could have used more bite or flavour on the food, but we went with a commercial sauce to minimize the number of new things to learn in a very new experience.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/xj/wjqtg21i37yl.jpg

All told it was a very normal cook, fun to do and worthwhile doing again.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/sz/htgy6sqbrmrb.jpg

Botch · July 6

Fascinating, thanks for posting this.

lousubcap · July 6

@zaphod - great documentation, cook and results. Way to break-in your very creative baskets. Congrats.

BeanHead · July 6

This is a really fun cook! Let us know if you come up with a recommendation for making them nonstick.

Canugghead · July 6

Wrap the bottom two and top two wires with foil? Food will still get stuck on the sides but should be less difficult to dislodge?

zaphod · July 6

not a bad idea, but would it interfere with the cook? worth a try. darn, more cooks.

FWIW, i cleaned out the ashes in the egg this morning. normally the morning after I clean out the remaining lump but today i found very little lump and just ash. Apparently 630F burns a lot more lump

johnmitchell · July 6

Canugghead said:

Wrap the bottom two and top two wires with foil? Food will still get stuck on the sides but should be less difficult to dislodge?

Foil😳😳😳😳

Canugghead · July 6

zaphod said:

not a bad idea, but would it interfere with the cook? worth a try. darn, more cooks.

FWIW, i cleaned out the ashes in the egg this morning. normally the morning after I clean out the remaining lump but today i found very little lump and just ash. Apparently 630F burns a lot more lump

That's why I don't believe in cooking pizza in the Egg. I usually make ten or more pizzas at a time, the lump savings probably paid for the dedicated pizza oven already or close to breakeven.

You can also try grinding a tine or two off a fork and use it to scrap food off skewer/grid, I stole the idea from a bbq restaurant in India.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/it/0vc40b6mlh2d.png

zaphod · July 6

oh, I like that - I tried the BGE V-notch cleaner, but it didn't fit. Thanks!

zaphod · July 6

Canugghead said:

A long time Egger @Skiddymarker lives in Surrey BC too IIRC, have not seen him lately, hope he's doing well.

caliking said:

High school BFF lived in Langley for some time. He took me to a guy making jalebi, in front of a Fruticana, when I visited many many moons ago. I'll try to get the coordinates. Best jalebis I've had outside of the motherland.

I'm sure that there are some eggers around here, but I've never run into any. usually when I am at a dealer, i'm the only one there. They must all be egging at home, or i'm supporting the dealers single handed - my wife is already suspicious of that. I'd be happy to meet people, but the local BCeggfest died a few years back and doesn't seem to be returning.

I've lived in the Surrey Langley area for over 30 years now, I remember when Fruiticana started up - now they are everywhere! Coordinates to that one would be great.

caliking · July 6

If the paneer turned out tender, that means a home run

Store sauces are pretty meh. The texture, and flavor, are usually not great.

You should be able to find Kisna Tandoori Masala near you. I like the flavor, and that its not too salty.

For a basic marinade (pardon me if this is already known to you) - for a pound of protein, add minced garlic 1 tsp, minced ginger 1 tsp, Greek or hung (!) yogurt 2 TBSP, mayo 2 TBSP, tandoori masala 1 TBSP. The mayo should help to keep the protein from sticking to the baskets, and also to make a thickish marinade that will adhere nicely to the protein.

You can riff on the marinade, per your taste… ground fennel seed, kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves), and so much more.

caliking · July 6

well hung meals

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