Newcomer from New England-Homemade Oven

[gregsbrickoven]

Nice forum and beautiful ovens everyone. I've grown up with two famous Brick Pizza places a couple of towns away. Pepe's and Sally's. If you Google them you'll understand my need for brick oven pizza.

My oven is actually dual purpose. I boil sap for six weeks in late winter to produce Maple Syrup. So I decided to modify the arch into a 3 season brick oven. When you see the pics you'll see its low to the ground. Unfortunately thats a downfall. But other than that, I've modified it in a modular fashion so it can go back and forth depending on the season.

Thank you for all the great info. Hopefully some day I can join the ranks and own a "real " oven.

[dbhansen]

Re: Newcomer from New England-Homemade Oven

Looks like it gets the job done!!
Dumb question: Do you boil the sap on the top of the oven?
Welcome to the forum, by the way.
Daren

[gregsbrickoven]

Re: Newcomer from New England-Homemade Oven

Hi DB,
Thanks for reply.
Yep. The sap is boiled on the top. Its a hobbiest backyard set up using 4 restaurant pans. Briefly, I fill all 4 pans with sap about 3" deep. Once the fires rippin and boiling I start moving the sap from the rear pans up to the front pans. I continue to add fresh sap in the rear pan. After a long boil the front most pan has the concentrated sap which is almost syrup. At that point I remove the concentrated sap and finish it on a propane "turkey fryer" burner which accurately controls the heat. I've attached a couple of pics that may help better explain.

During pizza season, I close off the back half of the arch and place the flue in the front.

Dont know if you've ever heard of Sally's Pizza or Frank Pepe's Pizza. I grew up on their pizza which is partly why I had to try my hand at the art of brick oven pizza. Please google their names and you'll be pleasently surprised on their fame and amazinig pizzas! I'm sure I'll be asking for advise along the way at this great site.

[dmun]

Re: Newcomer from New England-Homemade Oven

That's great, with the price of syrup being what it is now (what, a hundred USD per gallon?) one is tempted to go out and tap the maples in the park and boil it down.

Oven too low off season? You can dig out a work area in front if you have a way to drain it, and deck over the recessed area when you need to be higher up.

My only recent trip to New Haven was at mid-day, and Pepe's isn't open for lunch. Is it their clam pie that's legendary?

[gregsbrickoven]

Re: Newcomer from New England-Homemade Oven

dmun,

I never thought of that. Going low and decking over when needed. Great idea, thanks.

Pepe's uses fresh shucked clams, olive oil, garlic, and few spices. No Mozz is the way to go. I have a recipe that I'll post that is pretty darn close. Like all good Italian recipes: few ingredients and fresh as possible.