Pizza Oven Smoker ?

[Yelsevel]

Hi, I live in a Sheffield and a couple of years ago I chucked my old gas BBQ for a wood fired pizza oven, which I love messing around with. I'm pretty comfortable using the oven to cook pizzas and I've also done the odd roast and other meat cuts in it.

I recently bought a proQ cold smoke generator and have been playing around with smoking meats and cheeses in the pizza oven. The next thing I'm thinking of trying is hot smoking, so I would be interested if anyone can point me to articles, discussions, etc. that relate to using a domed pizza oven for smoking. It's not ideal I know but I can't really run to a decent 'proper' smoker at this point. The main difference seems to be that smokers typically rely on the heat/smoke rising to the meat but that is hard to achieve in the domed oven as you only have a restricted entrance way (think igloo), so the food normally ends up at the same level or slightly higher than the smoke source - I've been using wire cooling trays raised on bricks, but two bricks high is the practical limit.

Also, if anyone has any ideas for creating an insulated oven door I'd love to hear them. My oven is from Dingley Dell and it came with a door made out of a single thin sheet of metal - it works fine for regulating the fire for cooking that takes 1-2 hours, but does nothing for retaining the heat. I'm thinking of adding an insulation layer (don't know what) plus a layer of wood to the existing door - somehow

Cheers

[robgunby]

Eyup from another Sheffielder! I'm up in sunny, lovely Firth Park...

I can't point you to articles, but in theory any enclosed area you can put a fire in and control airflow to can be used as a smoker.

You mention it has a door but it doesn't do too well at maintaining temperatures. Is this because your fire is going out / running out? Fire control using a decent fire basket and the minion method should keep your fire going. Does the door have air inlets? I presume the oven has a chimney?

Regarding insulation, you need to find out what sort of temperatures your door is exposed to (particulary during pizza cooking) to make sure you get something that will cope with the heat. It may not be necessary if you follow advice above.

A remote temperature probe would be a very wise investment to keep an eye on the oven temperatures, if you don't already have one.

Alternatively, you could build a UDS for very, very little money. I'm in the same town, so can help with tools, locations to pick up bits and pieces etc. Would work a lot easier than using a pizza oven!

[Yelsevel]

Thanks for the swift reply Rob. I'll try to answer your questions.

I don't use the door during pizza production as I'm usually cooking two at a time and they only take a minute of so anyway. The oven is fantastic for what it was designed for, I'm just being Yorkshire and trying to squeeze more use out of it. The main issue with the door is that as it is only a sheet of metal it offers little insulation, it also has no vents so temperature regulation is based around opening the door a little bit.

Hopefully I've managed to add an image from the manufacturers website that shows the door, if not see http://ps.b5z.net/i/u/68100169/i/pizza% ... ss_piv.jpg

I have a three foot chimney on it so there is no problem on that front.

I'm going to do some cooking this weekend so I'll do some temperature measurements.

As I'm new to smoking I'd not heard of the minion method, but I know now.

Cheers

[robgunby]

OK, from what you've said and from the looks of that pic, it sounds like you need to modify your door, and then you should be able to regulate temps accordingly. This isn't too difficult, especially as it's thin. You'll need to make a baffle to cover the vents to bring temps down as needed.

What's the fire basket in the oven? Is it just some fire bricks?

[robgunby]

PS as we're both in Sheff, if you want to meet up for a pint to chew over options and talk q, give me a shout!

[CyderPig]

Hi and Welcome
I think you should be able to use your oven as a smoker of sorts just by controlling your fire.
Start your fire as per normal and bring your oven up to the temp you use for cooking pizza, rake out the embers you have left, use these embers to light some charcoal and 2-3 large chunks of wood, the oven should hold temp with the door closed and no fire in it due to it's design so open the door a little to allow temps to drop.
Set up your bricks and rack and add the meat.
Place a small amount of the lit charcoal as far away from the meat as poss, ie spread it around the sides of the oven and add the wood chunks then shut the door, the draw from the chimney should, in theory keep it smouldering gently.
Cheers
Si

[Yelsevel]

Great, thanks Cyderpig, I'll give it a try this weekend and post the results.

Rob, yes I'm just using fire bricks.

[robgunby]

Have you had a crack at it yet mate?

[Yelsevel]

Sorry, been busy. Yes I had a go last weekend, it was... Interesting. I hadn't appreciated the time involved, or to be more precise, how early I needed to start if I wanted to eat at a decent hour.

The brisket turned out very tasty but wasn't as soft (if that's the term) as I would have liked, even though it was in for ten hours. I suspect this is because I underestimated the amount of charcoal required, meaning that mid-afternoon the oven cooled significantly (need to do something about that door) until I ended up having to light a small wood fire at the side and then spent the rest of the time juggling that to maintain the correct temperature.

So, 6 out of 10, must try harder - once I find somewhere selling charcoal at this time of year.

[robgunby]

Hi there, I'm going to do a run up to Direct Charcoal (just past Hope) in the next week or so - they do restaurant grade charcoal £7 for 12kg, very cheap, excellent quality stuff. Happy to grab you some while I'm up there, let me know.

I hadn't realised you were doing brisket. It is one of the hardest pieces of meat to get right. You mention it was in for ten hours, time is irrellevant, as the meat is done when it's done. I usually do brisket cooks overnight using a UDS (very little attention needed during the cook). Whilst I cannot stress enough that internal temperature, not time, is the sign of when the meat is done, you should bank on about 1.5 hours per lb of meat as a rule of thumb. Large cuts can be kept warm by foiling, wrapping in towels and putting in a cool box.

Working with a pizza oven is never going to be as easy as working with a system that allows you to precisely control the air intake. Controlling this is by far the best way to regulate cooking temperatures. If you want to get seriously into your bbq, consider investing in a smoker or building one to sit next to your pizza oven.

Drop me a line about charcoal if you want any fetching.