Wood fired oven
pork knuckle
selected spices
seasonal vegetables
mushrooms and beets
something to grill to accompany the tsipouro
until the food is cooked.
Let's see all these
and remember, grilling and cooking is communication
you just need to have a nice company and a great time.
Hello dear friends!
I'm Andreas Mallioras and along with my brother George (Yorgos)
we construct grills and ovens.
Our passion for grilling as well as cooking is great
and we share it with you.
Subcribe to our YouTube channel "Grill philosophy"
or follow us on our Facebook page "Greek bbq club".
Happy grilling to everyone!
Firing the wood fired oven
Firing our oven isn't a great deal
as long as we use alcohol soaked cotton
and not other materials that will leave smell in our oven.
In the beginning, we need to put some branches, that need to be dry.
So, after piling the woods in a piramide,
you need to make sure you have left small gaps among them
so there can be airflow to help them light easily.
Since the alcohol soaked cotton is in the center and under the woodpile,
we first need to add alcohol
from the center till the front of the door
so we can easily light it.
We'll leave the door open a bit, so the oven is easier to light.
At this point, that the woods are well on fire
we'll place the door.
To avoid losing temperature, we'll place it in the front of the opening
to leave the chimney inside for the smoke to go out
and we'll lean it a bit so the air can pass underneath
and help the firing.
The spices
We have 6 knuckles, 3.5 kg (7.7 lbs) of meat approximately
and for the 3.5 kg (7.7 lbs) of meat we'll add
3.5 g (0.12 oz) black peppercorns
3.5 g (0.12 oz) coriander seeds
4.5 g (0.16 oz) granulated garlic
and 7.5 g (0.26 oz) onion
3 teaspoons savory
8 g (0.28 oz) sweet chili flakes
and 1 g (0.035 oz) hot chili flakes
and 35 g (1.2 oz) sea salt.
We'll bash all them in the mortar
until we have an even mixture.
In a plate we put 3 tablespoons spicy mustard
and 1 tablespoon of honey
and we mix them well.
This will be used for basting.
So, let's go to prepare the parchment bags!
The preparation
Today, I'm also going to have a helper with me
I couldn't have a better helper than my daughter, Dimitra.
We'll cook together, we'll have a very good company,
and she's also will be learning.
Hello from me, too!
Today, it's a great pleasure to cook with my father
so, shall we start?
Let's start. What are we preparing? Knuckles in parchment bags.
Yes.
So, let's see them.
Let's go.
We'll first season.
Then, we'll baste one time with the mustard mixture
we'll also turn it upside down.
We'll add 5 pieces of leek
2 pieces of celeriac (celery root)
and, grab a couple of small onions, Dimitra.
That's right.
Also add 2 cloves of garlic in between.
And one bay leaf. We'll place it on top.
Very nice.
And also some seasoning to the leek, the celeriac
and we need to distribute the spice mixture to all the knuckles.
And we'll use 4 pieces of parchment paper
approximately 50x70 cm (19.7x27.6 in) in size.
We tie this way, to keep the steam inside.
We need to cut the extra parchment
with a saw knife.
This is our parchment bag. The other ones will be done the same way.
- Your turn, Dimitra! Let's see what you've learned...
- Bravo, Dimitra!
Oven cleaning (paniasma)
Our oven is ready. Using an oven shovel we'll remove the charcoals
and place them in our charcoal grill to grill something there
for appetizer
until the food is ready.
We are ready to clean the oven.
We'll use a mop that is to be used only for oven cleaning
we shouldn't dry it completely, but leave much water on
because it needs to have moisture since when we put it inside, the water evaporates
due to the very high temperature that the oven has.
And we clean it very well.
This way, the base of the chamber cools down, too.
We'll also check the temperature with a thermometer
that uses infrared radiation.
At this moment, the base has 339°C (642°F)
in the dome is 342°C (648°F).
325°C (617°F) is on the sides.
The temperature is high, that's why we'll place the door in the front to close the chamber
so the oven matures
And when we'll open it again after half an hour approximately to check the temperature
it will have an even temperature at all spots.
Waiting needs appetizers
Here, we have placed a potato wrapped in alluminum foil
we throw much charcoal ash on top
and we have also added the charcoals of the oven.
Now we'll remove the rest charcoals of the oven
to grill mushrooms, potatoes
and vegetables.
So, we'll start with the beets
potatoes.
We'll also place the grilling grate to grill some oyster mushrooms
and the portobello mushrooms.
Depending on the heat we have, we'll turn them relatively quickly.
We'll baste our mushrooms with garlic olive oil with lemon.
When we'll turn them on their other side
we'll also baste this side too.
We'll also grill some mushrooms in rotation.
Also on the mushrooms in the spit.
As well as on the potatoes.
Bread as well on the charcoals, but sausage... There's nothing like it.
With a temperature at 240°C (464°F) approximately
we're ready and it's time to cook.
We remove the door.
-Come on, Dimitra, put them inside.
Those are yours!
We close the oven door.
We now place it on the inside to leave the chimney outside.
We'll also place the thermometer
and for 3,5 hours at least, we can forget about it.
Now it's time to dig up the potato of the ember.
Potatoes on ember taste very differently.
It is well roasted. You can tell by the cutting.
Olive oil with lemon.
We slit it first to let it go deaper
and salt with oregano.
And the tavla is set with the appetizers on for the first round of tsipouro.
We'll talk again in 3.5 hours.
Don't leave! Because time on video passes faster.
3.5 hours later
After 3.5 hours of cooking
we're at 120°C (248°F)
1.5 hours before we were at 356°C (673°F)
and after the first 2.5 hours we had 150°C (302°F).
My patience has run out. So now it's time to open it.
Perfect, it smells perfect.
It has completely melted.
It is very very soft.
Perfect.
Very tasty.
I'll go share it with the rest.
Happy grilling and cooking to everyone!
