BA's Dome! Let the games Begin!

[exceloven]

Re: BA's Dome! Let the games Begin!

Bill,
I too have slow cooked ribs and pork shoulder and they turn out perfect. You are soooo right about the ovens being forgiving. I can put a pork shoulder in for 6 hrs or 9 hrs and its turns out just as good.
I really want to start using smoke, but I here's the problem I have run into. I usually smoke my meat about 225 degrees. When my oven gets to that temp (second day) there is not enough heat to smolder the soaked wood chunks I put in. So, the meat falls off the bone but no smoke flavor, which is really the most important part. IMO. Any thoughts?

Mark

[Les]

Re: BA's Dome! Let the games Begin!

Bill,

Do you close your door tight or keep it cracked open a bit?

[Bandrasco]

Re: BA's Dome! Let the games Begin!

Thanks Scot,

I've made ribs a few times and they've come out great. I just got the oven to a nice temp of about 350-400, placed the water try/drip pan in place, set up the rack, placed the ribs on the rack and let it go. I'm still experimenting but what I've found is that these ovens are very forgiving. I don't know if what I'm dong is correct or not but I judge my cooking like I judge wine. If I like the way it tastes then it's good. I've had ribs on for a few hours and some for 4-5 hours; all came out super fantastic!

I haven't soaked the wood as once you place the door on it cuts down the oxygen supply down enough that it causes a tremendous amount of smoke. At least with the wood I've been able to get my hands on which has been just oak. I haven't tried anything more flavorful yet but I'm waiting to find a good suppler. So far the oak has been awesome. I normally have a pile of coals the size of a half of a basket ball then place a few fresh sticks on the pile once I've moved it over to the side. It smokes for hours and doesn't get too hot. The oven hold the temp so well I really don't mess with it too much. I take a temp reading on the arch fire brick (the inside arch) and if it drops below like 300 I open the door for a few minutes to get the coals to flare up and then shut it for the remainder of the cooking. I haven't had to put more wood on yet since there's been plenty of smoke and coals. The smoke penetrates so deep it's amazing. I'm guessing it's due to the high moisture content and intense amount of smoke but I'm no expert so who knows.

Thanks again and I'll post some pics of the top once I get to it.

[smuth10]

Re: BA's Dome! Let the games Begin!

Bill, I am glad you put this out there. I would also like to use my oven to smoke a lot of food and I was curious to how this was going to work out. Sounds pretty straight forward to me. Have you done anything larger, like a pork shoulder or ribs? Did you soak the larger wood first? I am assuming you would just need to throw small pieces of wood on the fire from time to time to keep the smoke going for those extra hours. I just need to get my hands a good smoking rack.

I am also thinking about pouring a concrete top for mine so I am curious to see your results. Please keep us updated with details on this.

Thanks, Scott...

[Bandrasco]

Re: BA's Dome! Let the games Begin!

Ok, I know these ovens are known for their ability to cook awesome pizzas but I have to say that I'm using it to smoke 100% of my smoking of foods instead of the old smoker. Saturday I smoked about 10lbs of fish that I caught and it is awesome! I get the oven up to about 350f, small fire for about 20-30 mins. then throw on a few larger logs. once it lights and gets glowing I simply move the coals/logs to the left side, place a water/drip pan in the middle oven. I use 4 fire bricks that act as my stand (until I get legs welded) for two heavy duty ss steel racks and place them over the pan. fish go on the racks, stainless steel door goes in place and 2 hours later I had the most moist smoked fish I've ever had. Once the fish was removed I moved the coals to the center where the pan was and I had a self cleaning oven.

I think my old smoker is going bye bye...

[Bandrasco]

Re: BA's Dome! Let the games Begin!

Hey Mark, I thought I replied to your post; sorry. Thanks for the kind words!

Ahhhhhh, the counter top. I'm really thinking about making it out of concrete. I think I could make it super cool, add fragments of left over brick and maybe even some small stones I was able to bring back from a few quarries in Italy... If it doesn't look cool I can always have a granite top made.

Thanks again,

Bill

[Bandrasco]

Re: BA's Dome! Let the games Begin!

Thank you Elizabeth

My worry about the counter tops staying hot was mainly for the soapstone. It has a tendency to hold heat for a very very long time which is probably why they make fireplaces, pots, pans, and even pizza stones out of it. I'm trying to use something that will tie in with the old world theme I have going on. I even thought of using bricks cut to the proper thickness and then just grinding them down as even as possible. Still not sure.... Maybe in another 6 months I'll decide.

Thank you again,

[egalecki]

Re: BA's Dome! Let the games Begin!

I'm not sure that any counter surface will not be hot- given the radiant heat from the oven and the sun. All I can think of is to go lighter in color to lessen the sun's effect. I have a sort of reddish-green (sounds horrid but it's pretty, really) porcelain tile on mine in the front. It does get hot, but it's held up well. If I can ever get caught up on the rest of my projects, I'll finish my countertops with the same tile. Our very last child graduates from high school on FRIDAY!, so maybe when that's all done I'll have some more time....

I really like the facing on your stand, and the brickwork to support the counter is really cool.

[exceloven]

Re: BA's Dome! Let the games Begin!

Bill,
Everything looks awesome! I especially like the double arch above the oven and the protruding arch above the niche. The face of the counter is also very creative. Your oven is one of my favorites. As far as granite goes, I think if you get the right color it will look great. I'm looking for some slab remnants for my tops.

Mark

[Bandrasco]

Re: BA's Dome! Let the games Begin!

Thanks Joe,

The chimney works incredible and rarely do I have any smoke coming out of the front. I used the tapered clay flue pipe technique like Les and Mike have used. It draws very fast, even at start up.

I hear ya on the granite in the sun. Here in July you could probably bake pizzas on dark stone in the sun without a pizza oven . My real concern is the radiant heat that builds up in the flared entry. It heats up anything within a foot of so from my arch. I may be worrying about something that I cannot control; I just want to keep the old world look I have going on. I mean come on, Hephaestus needs to look down and see something cool right?

Thanks again for the kind words Joe,

[Calabrese]

Re: BA's Dome! Let the games Begin!

Hey Bill that looks awesome. I love the way you seperated the front and back with a screen. Your chimmney looks great. And from what I can see you have no smoke issues, BONUS ! I installed a granite countertop to mine and my only regret is that it gets very hot in the sun, so hot that you have to be carefull. That might be an issue in a hot climate.

Regards Joe

[Bandrasco]

Re: BA's Dome! Let the games Begin!

Thanks Les.

The line is the 'clear' silicone sealent I used to hold the screen in place. I guess clear can mean 'partly cloudy' as well.

Thanks again for the kind words, hopefully I can get to the countertop soon.

[Les]

Re: BA's Dome! Let the games Begin!

Very nice indeed. Bill, on the third picture down - what is that white line between the front and rear brick? Is it the camera or is there something there?

Les...

[Bandrasco]

Re: BA's Dome! Let the games Begin!

Thank you Mike!

I've struggled on these details waaaaaaaay too long and wanted to actually apply some. Any thoughts on the countertop?

By the way, I really like the arch on your oven. It looks great! You can never have too many arches. I've always said that

[mfiore]

Re: BA's Dome! Let the games Begin!

Oh man, does that look good! I wish I hadn't seen that. Kind of makes me rethink my entire build. Really nice work. I love the detail.