Door (kind of)

[dmun]

I will change the titles.

Any recommendations?

I like "Pizzaiolo", it has a nice ring of humility. In my opinion, people with long standing in organizations can either lead from experience, or preach from pre-conception, which mostly takes the form of moaning about the way things used to be.

Also, "Pizzaiolo" is a reminder of our primary purpose, a simple thing well done.

[Frances]

Nicely said dmun.

Sorry to inturrupt this interesting discussion, just an update on my door:

...Its a piece of crap!

Like so many things in life, it may look good, but its pretty useless when the going (or the oven in this case) gets hot. The handles are ok, they're far enough away from the surface of the door, but said suface DOES get hot, far hotter than the simple if not so beautiful ytong board I've been using so far.

And when faced with precious heat leaching out of the oven into the environment rather than baking my bread, there's not really much of a coice, is there?

....Maybe I'll keep the metal door around for decorative purposes. It still must insulate better than a metal sheet, and the handles don't get hot, so it does work, kind of...

[james]

Originally Posted by dmun

I like "Pizzaiolo", it has a nice ring of humility. In my opinion, people with long standing in organizations can either lead from experience, or preach from pre-conception, which mostly takes the form of moaning about the way things used to be.

Also, "Pizzaiolo" is a reminder of our primary purpose, a simple thing well done.

That's why this is such a great group. Well said.

What is I change to Il Pizzaiolo. I little more definitive. :-)
James

[RCLake]

Originally Posted by dmun

I like "Pizzaiolo", it has a nice ring of humility. In my opinion, people with long standing in organizations can either lead from experience, or preach from pre-conception, which mostly takes the form of moaning about the way things used to be.

Also, "Pizzaiolo" is a reminder of our primary purpose, a simple thing well done.

Well stated Dmun, I can't tell members how much great advice I've received from you, as well as others, during my build. This forum has fostered that attitude and I greatly appreciate it. I'll add my two cents when I know something or know something I did that didn't work.
Thanks to James.

Frances, sorry about the door it looked so good, my only concern was whether the metal handles would get hot. Do you think more insulation was needed?

[gjbingham]

"Piece of crap" - nicely said yourself Frances

Congrats David on your new status. I'm not sure that I agree with you, but I'm sure not going to argue with you either. "Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to speak, and remove all doubt" Mark Twain I believe....

[Frances]

Originally Posted by RCLake

my only concern was whether the metal handles would get hot. Do you think more insulation was needed?

Well, as I said, the handles didn't get hot, so it was a partial success and would work better than cooking without a door at all. Maybe if I'd made it thicker, with more room for insulation? or with a stronger type of insulation?

[carioca]

Originally Posted by Frances

Well, as I said, the handles didn't get hot, so it was a partial success and would work better than cooking without a door at all. Maybe if I'd made it thicker, with more room for insulation? or with a stronger type of insulation?

Frances, I am still thinking about what kind of a door I am going to make for forno del gallo, but your experiment was valuable for me - my thinking now is that the two metal halves must NOT touch anywhere, particularly along the rim!

So one could probably make two shells, in a kind of double U shape each but one smaller by an ich or so... in that way you can put insulation between the two shells, and stuff more insulation along the rim between the larger U and the smaller U...

I should really make a sketch..

cheers
lmh

[Bacterium]

Frances - great work on the door aspect....even though maybe you feel you have not reached "nirvana" with it yet......I'm in the same boat.

Ok, time for me to chime in as I have some thoughts/questions on the door aspect, as I am yet to finish mine and head towards nirvana with it......but first I want to take it left field a bit.

Currently I use an old timber door - its a jalopy (old aussie slang for a piece of junk). When I bake bread, I hang a couple damp/dripping rags over it to help seal off the door and provide moisture (inside) and it does help with the breads rising. Now most of the talk is around a door retaining heat........What about it having the ability to fully seal off the oxygen. Ok, straight away people might think "backdraft"!

Well a couple months ago I was watching a TV cooking show where they were filming a Greek Cypriot name day. In this particular case it was on older style wood oven but basically the same shape/style as pompei etc.. Anyway they built the fire, got it down to nice embers(couple hours) then put the food (in trays) straight in oven on top of the embers (mostly) and then promptly sealed up the oven opening(the only one) with mud. Couple hours later it came out and no burning of the meat whatsoever. Some of it is here (sorry its only text but I have kept video of it on my PVR):
Food Lovers' Guide to Australia - Feast , St Savvas Day

CJ - more Mauve pics there too :-)

Anyway this got me thinking about some similarities to the Hangi (New Zealand Maori cooking method).
H�ngi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I remember trying one of these when I was only 9 or 10yrs old......and I still remember the taste/tenderness of the meat & vegetables and watching the old Maori bloke doing it. Although a Hangi strictly speaking doesn't seem to be about restricting oxygen - more controlling the escaping steam.

Anyway I guess my point is - when slow cooking meats is there times where it will be of some value to completely seal the oven from oxgen (well most of it)........mmmm I warned it was left field but hey I've only had one glass of red tonight

[Inishta]

Bacterium, I have an 'interior' door on my oven which slides across the opening, sealing the oven. I use this for slow roasting to great effect. There are quite a few instances of restricting or excluding oxygen. The Hawaiian Luau is totally enclosed for cooking. There isn't a whole lot of oxygen in a modern oven. There is no reason why you cant go that route. I intend to copy CJims door for when I wish to cook with a draft or for firing the oven up.

[carioca]

Originally Posted by Bacterium

<snip>


Anyway I guess my point is - when slow cooking meats is there times where it will be of some value to completely seal the oven from oxgen (well most of it)........mmmm I warned it was left field but hey I've only had one glass of red tonight

Hi bacterios! That lamb-in-a-tomb cooking sounds fingerlickin' good, to borrow a likely trademarked slogan... I copied the recipe using the brilliant little utility Evernote but have one question to the meat lovers on this site: how hot does the forno have to be during this sloooow cooking process?

Cheers,

LMH

PS: just shared half a bottle of lovely WA Bullant chardy with Bianca, who abhorrs chardonnay but rather liked this variety...