Slow Cooking in the Woodfired Oven

[@vezina100]

I've made my own oven and started to enjoy your videos to try some recipes. Keep up the good work!

[@mannadavid]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@denmorin]

I learned a lot. Thank you

[@mannadavid]

that's great news - so glad you found it useful Den

[@hermitage6728]

Loved it! Thank you! That was very helpful.

[@mannadavid]

You're very welcome. So glad you found it useful.

[@nhamm21]

Brilliant, David. Time we did a podcast, methinks...

[@mannadavid]

thanks Nick - that would be great fun; let's do it! David

[@markelliott6112]

great video. I'll use this info in my oven in New Zealand

[@mannadavid]

fantastic - do let us know how you get on Mark. Best wishes, David and Holly

[@danhem100]

Informative video David, I had to laugh at tue start when you said a dried pot of beans and a charred nugget of meat - I’ve done exactly that on the past :). You put it perfectly here, the heat feels insufficient but the power of retained heat in the firebrick is amazing.

[@mannadavid]

We've all been there Danny - coming back later to the oven, all excited to open the pans of gorgeously slow cooked food and then been, err, slightly disappointed! It's all a learning opportunity. Best wishes, David and Holly

[@Lee-ot2uk]

Fantastic! 😃 Just the area wood-fired oven cooking I've been wanting to exploit better! Thank you for this.

[@mannadavid]

thanks Lee - so glad it's useful for you. Best wishes, David and Holly

[@Lee-ot2uk]

Hello David and Holly! Missing your great videos and just wondering if you're both okay...

[@mannadavid]

@@Lee-ot2uk HI Lee - many thanks for your message and great to hear from you. We are both fine thanks - we've just been flat out teaching for a few months so haven't been able to upload anything lately. We have some filming days booked in so hopefully not too long before there's some more content to upload. Thanks so much for your support. Best wishes, David and Holly

[@Lee-ot2uk]

Fantastic! Glad to hear your both okay and keeping busy.

[@mannadavid]

@@Lee-ot2uk thanks Lee, hope all well with you as well

[@brendanhose1065]

I have underestimated residual heat to good vid thanks

[@mannadavid]

so easy to do Brendan and so frustrating - you can overliquid the beans so you know they won't dry out and then reduce or thicken the sauce at the end if necessary. It is remarkable how much heat will come out of the oven with no obvious heat source - ie fire! Best wishes and thanks for your comment, David and Holly

[@kennykennington5876]

Another excellent video. Hope the filming for the online course went OK, and no doubt equally delicious food was the end result. Still deciding on the oven type to move up to, but every video that you produce is convincing me more and more toward the Bushman :-)

[@mannadavid]

thanks Kenny - so glad you found the video useful. Getting there with the online course - first one coming together now so out soon! Best wishes, David and Holly

[@SaraswatiChB]

Rereading your lovely cookbook before our Halloween party. Great recipes and knowledge! I have come back once to the tiny amount of charred meat once... now taking out the coals next time. Was still confused about the menu ideas from page 16 onwards as it never states whether the oven should have embers or a fire or nothing in it and door closed or open.

[@mannadavid]

So glad you're enjoying our cookbook. The honest answer with doors is it depends....it's really not an exact science. If you have flames or active embers, no door; if you have just retained heat, then put the door on. It also depends on the amount of heat you have stored, and the kind of oven you have, so you might have the door on ajar to let fumes out and to maintain some heat. Do check out our video on using the door kzbin.info/www/bejne/jJPaamCYnrx9jJI

[@SaraswatiChB]

@@mannadavid Thanks so much for the swift and in-depth reply. I have a home built cob oven and also thanks to the book I am enjoying it a lot.

[@mannadavid]

@@SaraswatiChB fantastic - do let us know how you get on

[@michaelelsom5225]

Very good video really enjoyable. I have just booked onto one of your courses in suffolk for 2022, and would like to ask your thoughts on using the oven in the winter months? pros and cons...Thanks in advance.

[@mannadavid]

Thanks for your comment Michael and we're looking forward to welcoming you to the course in Suffolk. We use our ovens all year round - it helps if you and the oven are under cover and protected from the weather and make sure you have lights to cook by and that your wood is kept super dry. Cooking all year round is good for your oven as it keeps it dry and in good shape. Wood fired food and cooking is great at any time of year!

[@michaelelsom5225]

Thanks for your reply, unfortunately our oven is slightly open to the elements, but I like to use it when no rain is forecast but jus love being out in the cold and feeling the warmth of the oven.

[@mannadavid]

@@michaelelsom5225 sounds great - we love using our ovens all year round

[@outoftheshed8407]

Awesome. I read that taking a temperature reading every hour for a 48 hour period then plotting a graph helps

[@mannadavid]

thanks for your comment and we're so glad you found the video useful. Definitely keeping a graph of how your oven holds its temperature would be a useful too - with food in it as well as on its own. Not sure we can stay awake ofr 48 hours any more though!! Best wishes, David and Holly

[@snazzyd6915]

Fascinating...I have to get one of these in my backyard!! Insta-subbed...

[@mannadavid]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@SaraswatiChB]

I built one from clay from our own garden and we just used it for the first time. The pizzas were fantastic. Better than anything I have had in a restaurant for years apart from a bit of fine sand underneath still. :-D Teething problems.

[@mannadavid]

@@SaraswatiChB If you use a brass bristle brush or a blowpipe to clear the oven floor that should be rid of the sand

[@nazchillies717]

Nice

[@mannadavid]

thanks Naz!

[@TacPrecision]

I did a shoulder of pork in mine just this last weekend, 16 hours in the oven in total. Though in truth I did only heat it up specifically to cook the pork!

[@mannadavid]

sounds delicious!

[@TacPrecision]

@@mannadavid It went down pretty well, 3.5kg of meat disappeared in about 20 minutes. I never thought to put a side of beans in there as well, will think about that for next time. Great video as always :)

[@mannadavid]

@@TacPrecision perfect combination and easy to put some beans in with the pork - especially for that length of time. So glad you enjoyed the video - thanks for your support

[@zurdac4511]

Hello, thank you for your videos as they are very important to us. I noticed your last video on KZbin was 1 Year ago. I then checked the internet and found no other new video from you. I think youtube is helpful to you as a guage and a face for you and your advertisers. Please make more videos if you can.

[@SaraswatiChB]

Is there a way to give 100 likes at once? 😉 I was just reading your cookbook after our first round of outdoor pizzas that turned out amazing. Thanks so much!

[@mannadavid]

Thankyou so much - we're blushing here!! So glad you're woodfired cooking is going so well. Best wishes, David and Holly

[@tobyc3692]

Hey David. Thanks, yet again, for another awesome video. I am definitely in that category where I want to use all the heat I can from the oven. I am building my oven this year - It will be refractory, but housed/enclosed. I was aiming to insulate the oven as per instructions (100mm wrap etc), but then cram every available space between the oven and housing with insulation. I assume that will add to the drop off of temp over time (not sure how much). Would you bother insulating so much? Would it be worth it? If the temp drop of was spread over a longer period of time, would that be beneficial? Or just keep temps up too high for too long?

[@mannadavid]

Hi Toby -thanks for your coment and so glad you like our video. Our oven is well insulated but I can't really comment on oven builds I'm afraid and the technicalities of too much insulation; I just do the cooking! I would suggest exploring this with a woodfired building group on facebook who would be able to help more. Best wishes

[@danhem100]

Toby, the more insulation you use the more thermal mass heating is required. This basically means that it’ll take the oven longer to heat up and fully saturate but of course you will retain heat for much longer periods. The down side to this is that if for example you wanted to cook pizza one night without having planned cooking for subsequent days, then the cooking of the pizza alone would require a lot of wood to heat the oven. The insulation thickness you have suggested would indeed give commercial level retained heat. I built my 36” diameter oven with about 100mm total insulation and can get 3 days of retained heat cooking with an insulated door on. If I could change anything I’d add more insulation under the oven floor as the 2” insulation board I used seems to give off the most heat sink after a full blown fire. Good luck with you build, it is challenging but the most satisfying thing I’ve ever done and the enjoyment with each fire is something to behold.

[@mannadavid]

@@danhem100 thanks so much for that Danny

[@tobyc3692]

@@danhem100 and David, thanks so much Danny. That is really insightful. Definitely lots to think about. Can’t wait to start building now!

[@kipsinc.-ottawaks9242]

Where did you go?