Ooni vs pompeii

[tommyc3]

Hi, total newbi here!

I've done loads of research and I'm looking to build a pompeii oven and am confident(ish) that I can do so.

My mate is going to buy a ooni koda or karu and having looked at the reviews they look pretty decent! To that end I'm looking for advice on whether it is worth the effort of building a pompeii or just pay £250 for an ooni?

What are the pros/cons of both?
What are the max oven temperatures of both?
Does the ooni really get to 500©?
Can you cook a pizza as quick in the ooni?
Can you do roast meat and other food in the ooni?
And obvs.. Which cook the best pizza?
I'll be really grateful for any responses on this!

Thanks,

Tom

[david s]

I have'nt used one of these ovens so can't be too critical. However as they do not rely on thermal mass in the dome to store heat they will tend to drop temperature quickly as soon as the fire is not maintained. Being made from stainless rather than refractory materials their conductivity is much higher, meaning faster heat up, but also faster heat loss. Stainless is also notorious for warping under heat.

Generally having the flue inside the oven chamber, while increasing the floor area, results in poorer circulation during firing compared to an oven with the flue at the front, independent from the oven chamber.
This all means that retained heat cooking is not really doable and it's pizza only. The big advantage is the low weight, so you don't need a bomb shelter to sit it on.

Regarding temperature be warned, it all depends on where you measure the temperature, so take any claims with a grain of salt. Pizza temperature should cook pizzas in around 2 mins.

[Brunello]

hey, what did you end up with? I am in the same situation now, willing to buy an oven but also make my own.. My friend has the smaller OONI and I ate his pizza. we are both Italian, and standing at our traditional recipes plus some tweaks, pizzas came out really good. it does reach almost 500C and pizza cooks perfectly. Now about the size, I can tell you that you can only cook pizzas in there, and only 1 at time. that's why I did not buy it yet. Unless you go for the OONI pro, it doesn't make sense to me paying 230£ to cook only pizza. what did you find in this time? I have seen this today on the B&Q website, here in UK what do you think of it? I am waiting for the company to answer a few questions about the size of it..cheers

[NewCar]

You can make some great pizza in those little ovens I'm sure. That's where it stops though. You'll be limited to high temp short duration cooking; that's not a bad thing just a limitation. The larger ovens are much more versatile and much better for parties and cooking a multitude of items over days. Then again, the larger the oven the more expensive it is.

[david s]

And the more fuel it consumes