roasting door?

[kstronach]

last weekend i did a leg of lamb kleftico, it was cooking away in the oven at about 190c dropping to about 170c over about 5 hours, after this time i took it out to rest in a warmish oven inside whilst i did my roast potatoes and yorkshire puddings. the temp was a bit low so i chucked a few logs on the embers and had them burning for about 10 mins or so then chucked the roasties in and sealed her up, they came out looking beautiful but were spoiled as they had taken on to much smoke when i sealed them in, which got me thinking about making a door same as mine atm ( 4 "aerated conc block, ply face) but with a hole in about half way up to allow some air in the oven to keep a small fire ticking over and therefore not snuffing the fire and filling the oven with smoke whilst keeping the majority of the heat in the oven.

i've searched for similar questions but not found anything apart from blast doors which are used to get the fire roaring aren't they, kinda opposite of my idea, so i'm not sure if it would work. any thoughts on the door or other ways i can raise the temperature and cook again without too much smoke getting on the food?

cheers

[SableSprings]

Re: roasting door?

If you have charcoal briquettes (heat beads) available you might try them. Since you have coals remaining after/during your bake, there is obviously enough oxygen entering the oven to keep them going. Since coals take a minimal amount of air to continue burning, by adding charcoal to the embers you'd increase the amount of hot coals and temp with minimal smoke.

My experience with adding wood (and then closing down the door) during a bake tells me that in order to minimize the smoke you'd need to have enough air flow in & out to maintain a good fire and that might produce more heat than you want...so again, maybe charcoal is worth trying.

[kstronach]

Re: roasting door?

hi,

thanks, i never thought of charcoal, i use lump wood charcoal on the bbq so i could try that next time i fire. i'm wanting to get the routine correct before christmas as i'm going to roast the turkey in there this year . . .gulp! i just had a look at your bake pics on your website some nice looking food you're turning out! it looks like in the turkey and roast pork picture you sweep the coals out before baking, is that something you do every time or do you bake with the coals in there too sometimes?

[SableSprings]

Re: roasting door?

Yes, I only keep a fire in the oven when I'm doing pizza. My oven holds heat well after firing and I just don't like to have all the ashes flying around when I'm baking...so out they come before I start cooking. Normally I bake on Fridays between 15-20 loaves of bread in three batches and the temp holds just fine. I think as long as your oven is well insulated it will bake a lot of food after sweeping the fire out. If you have an IR gun (or can borrow one), bring the oven up to temp and use the gun to get some time/temp data. Graphing the data really helps you in determining your oven's capabilities. I attached a line graph of temps I did for my oven so you can see what I mean.

I just baked a 21.7 pound (9.8 Kg) turkey this last week in the oven. I started a fire late in the evening before, only coals left in the morning. Started the fire up again and when the oven cleared, I swept out the coals and closed it down to let the oven equalize. When I put the turkey (roaster pan + water/onions/apples) in, the oven temp was a bit high (500F/260C) but I covered the bird with foil and just rotated the pan every 45 minutes or so. I took the foil off for the last 45 minutes to get a good browning and made sure I had internal temps appropriate for turkey "doneness". Out for a rest after the four hour bake and it was fabulous.