Using Wood Fired Oven For Christmas?

[GrahamG]

Who else is using a wood fired oven to cook their Christmas/Holiday meal (apart from us).

[davemartin88]

Re: Using Wood Fired Oven For Christmas?

We plan to have pizza on Christmas eve and will cook a small turkey in the oven on Christmas day. We did a small turkey for Thanksgiving and it was really good- brined it overnight before roasting- only about 7 pounds so didn't take long. We'll also have a ham to reheat so will most likely put it in the oven as well.

[RichC]

Re: Using Wood Fired Oven For Christmas?

I expect I'll be using mine. Will probably roast potatoes in it. Anyone got any tips on that? I'm guessing I should try and make sure it's at about 200c for roasting? So I'll fire it up early and let it cool. I also usually do bacon wrapped sausage meat stuffing balls in the oven, they'll probably go in the WFO as well

[brickie in oz]

Re: Using Wood Fired Oven For Christmas?

We will be having a pork roast and veggies from the oven, my wife always does a sweet in the oven too.

Just as long as the day and the day prior isnt declared a total fire ban day that is, otherwise it will be done in the house oven.

[jeeppiper]

Re: Using Wood Fired Oven For Christmas?

Most definitely using the oven...not quite sure what we are making yet. We talked about getting a goose this year.

[RichC]

Re: Using Wood Fired Oven For Christmas?

My WFO saved the day! 18 mouths to feed and not enough oven space. I fired it up to just over 200C in the morning and ended up roasting vegetables, several trays of sausage meat and my sausage meat balls wrapped in bacon! It's amazing having an oven with nearly 1 metre diameter. I then got a big fire going in the oven as it got dark and sat outside drinking a beer and staring into it.....

[GrahamG]

Re: Using Wood Fired Oven For Christmas?

I bet the end result was awesome!

We cooked Turkey, pigs in blankets, parsnips and stuffing balls in ours yesterday, tastes beautiful!

But then I put some pork in with rubs on and left it 18 hours at 200C on a dying fire - came back to cinders this morning Never mind, it looks as though the WFO keeps too high a temp for too long!

Happy and Safe Christmas everyone.

[oasiscdm]

Re: Using Wood Fired Oven For Christmas?

yep me too - I met the deadline [barring my sealed door]. Had a Roast turkey [buff] stuffed with macadamia, Roasted pine nut and maple syrup stuffing. Roast pork shoulder, orange roasted carrots, sweet potato and pumpkin, roast spuds all done in the oven and I must say the meat was so moist and just melted in our mouths. and stuffing balls with the let over stuffing that didn't fit in the turkey. Everyone wanted to take those left home.

Oven was well over 250c for most so needed to keep turning and moving but nothing burnt and cooked more quickly. Controlled cooking by moving the pans throughout the oven. IR Gun very handy for doing this.

Cook had first meat cut [me] and I must say not a sole was not impressed with the food compared to a normal indoor oven.

Well worth over 12 months of toil

[Greenman]

Re: Using Wood Fired Oven For Christmas?

And that is what it is all about. It takes a lot of fuss out of the kitchen as well and the tasty results make the initial effort of building it worthwhile.

I reckon that if you can cook it in the kitchen oven you can probably cook it better in the WFO. (the baked cheesecake being the challenge)

Many a happy Christmas/Boxing Day meal for a long time to come.

[Spunkoid]

Re: Using Wood Fired Oven For Christmas?

Did up a turkey for the Christmas meal, Forno baked turkey has now become a tradition for our family for Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving. Brine the bird over night. Let it rest to bring it to room temperature, stuff it, rub it and slide it in the oven (500F or so) with tin foil and a meat thermometer. When you are about 30-45 minutes away from the bird being done, take the foil off. Cooked a leg of lamb a few weeks ago as well. Awesome!
I find meat cooked in the forno is very moist. Even the turkey leftovers a few days later are still very moist. I think it is because the oven is radiating the heat as opposed to a gas or electric oven turning on and off to maintain the heat thus drying the bird out as it cooks. Also the oven is pretty much sealed with the door closed keeping a hot moist environment while the bird (or roast) cooks.

[GrahamG]

Re: Using Wood Fired Oven For Christmas?

We have to use the outdoor oven, as we have no indoor kitchen! We are having a mid lie crisis...doing a barn conversion.

Renovation of Flint House Barn

70% complete, this year we will get it finished. I am glad I completed the pizza oven before starting on the barn.

[wotavidone]

Re: Using Wood Fired Oven For Christmas?

Chaps, I eat turkey if it is put in front of me, but I'm not fond of it as I find the meat a little (unpleasantly) sweet. Meat and sweet don't go together as far as my taste buds go. I run a mile from sugar/honey based marinades, though I make an exception every couple of years for sweet and sour pork from the Chinese takeaway.
Ticks the missus off no end.
Anyway, she does a pork dish where the meat is brined for a couple of hours before cooking, and it does a great job of tenderising the meat and generally changing the texture.
I see you guys brine the turkey overnight. What effect does it have?
I expect it would help with tenderising the meat, but does it reduce the sweetness?
How much salt in your brine?

PS your barn looks fabulous Graham.

[GrahamG]

Re: Using Wood Fired Oven For Christmas?

Thanks, it will be later this year, when it is completed. But I have a mammoth move as I built the WFO too near the house! S we have to move it around 100 metres to another location that I am planning a Big Green Egg too.

[RichC]

Re: Using Wood Fired Oven For Christmas?

Wotavidone, I'm with you on the sweet meet thing. I was also never a huge fan of Turkey until I visited the US and got to taste smoked turkey from a shop called wholefoods. I fell in love with the stuff. I've since bought a smoker and tried with no success to replicate it. I will persevere until I get there!! Ive started brining poultry too, one I oversalted had to be binned as it was too salty. I do find that brining results in a more moist end product

[wotavidone]

Re: Using Wood Fired Oven For Christmas?

Keep trying mate. Nothing more satisfying than smoking your own meats.
I do a hot-smoked snapper that leaves the commercial stuff in the shade.
I've also managed a palatable venison jerky.

I recommend this book. Perhaps the most important piece of information is the stuff on weighing the meats before and after smoking. I've never seen another book that even mentions the appropriate weight loss for any smoked meat.
Written by a bloke who lives quite close to you, so the information should match your climate somewhat.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Home-Smoking-Curing-Smoke-cure-Preserve/dp/0091778255/ref=tmm_pap_title_0