Restaurant DNA
Tandoor and charcoal cookery
Extreme, mostly radiant heat chars the outside of marinated meat and bread quickly while keeping the inside moist; smoke adds aroma.
How the tandoor works in a restaurant
A clay tandoor is fired with charcoal or gas until the walls are extremely hot. Marinated meats on long skewers are lowered in, cooking from radiant heat off the walls, hot air and the hot skewer. Breads such as naan and tandoori roti are slapped onto the wall to bake in a couple of minutes. Fat dripping onto the coals adds smoke.
Marinades
Tandoori marinades are typically in two stages: first an acid (lemon juice or vinegar), salt, and ginger-garlic, then a yoghurt-based marinade with spices and often mustard oil. Yoghurt clings to the surface and its proteins and sugars brown quickly. Acid and salt season and slightly firm the surface; they tenderise only the outer few millimetres.
- Thick (strained) yoghurt clings better and chars more
- Kashmiri chilli powder gives colour without too much heat
- Marinate chicken 2–12 hours in the fridge; longer can make the surface mushy
- Baste with butter or ghee during cooking
Charcoal grilling
Open charcoal grills (sigri, angeethi) are used for seekh kebabs, tikkas and corn. Glowing charcoal radiates intense heat; adjust by moving skewers rather than turning heat down.
Bring it home
- Use the oven grill (broiler) at maximum with the food on a rack near the element, turning once; finish under the grill for char.
- A preheated cast-iron pan or grill pan gives char marks on tikkas.
- Add smoke with dhungar: a piece of hot charcoal in a small bowl set inside the pot, drizzled with ghee and covered for a few minutes.
- For naan, use a very hot cast-iron pan and then the grill, or a preheated pizza stone or steel at maximum oven temperature.
- Check chicken reaches 74 °C in the thickest part.
Related techniques
These lessons describe widely used professional practice. They are not any restaurant’s proprietary recipes or methods.