Primitive yet Modern

Hot stone cooking has made home parties and particularly barbeque parties more fun and entertaining. Now one person need not be stuck in the kitchen for eternity cooking food and rest enjoy the party outside. Hot stone can be brought right onto the dining table or backyard and everyone can cook their own barbeques and enjoy together.

Hot stone cooking literally means cooking food on stones. However not just any stone from the roadside can be used to cook food as stones have the quality of being porous. Cooking food on stone is primitive method yet a very effective as well as healthy way of cooking food. In early days, people used small-enclosed area of stones, lit fire with coal or wood, and placed flat surfaced stone on the top where food would be cooked.

However, this method can be utilised only outdoors. Today modern cooking and especially domestic cooking requires different types of stone. Commonly used stone today is granite. It has a flat surface, heats up evenly and is available in various sizes.

An Innovative Way of Cooking

Usually this stone comes along with a set of stainless steel stand and alcohol burners. Before the stone is ready for use, it should be pre heated to a desired temperature. Granite stones can reach temperatures about 450 degrees. Once heated, it will retain the temperature for about 30 to 45 minutes. Therefore, hot stone should be used immediately for cooking.

For cooking, place hot stone on the stand and light the isopropyl alcohol burners, which will keep stone hot for another 30 minutes. Any type of food like meat, fish and vegetables can be cooked on the stone. It is a healthy way of cooking, as it requires little or no oil. Even bit of salt should help maintain the juices of the food and cook it evenly. Once cooking is done do not wash Hot Stone with hard soap instead use mild soap and warm water.

Have a nice time cooking on Hot Stones!

It gives subtle smoke flavour to the food

First thing that hits the mind when the word wooden oven is whispered is Pizzas. Lovely, crisp, thin, smoked flavoured pizzas. An Italian delicacy, pizzas are among the favourite food savoured around the world. If they are baked in the traditional wooden oven, they taste exceptionally good.

Wooden oven is also known as wood-fired ovens, Roman ovens, stone ovens, brick ovens, masonry ovens and Black Ovens. The origin of this oven dates backs to the Roman Era. They were widely used in Europe during the medieval period. Wooden ovens then were large in size, as food befitting the entire community would be cooked in them.

Fireproof material like concrete, stone, clay or brick is used to make a closed chamber and wood is used as fuel. A chimney is attached to release exhaust gases. It works on the principal of heat radiation. Heat released from burning of fire is spread all around and absorbed in by the base, sides of the oven, and later radiates out to cook food evenly.

Usually a fire is lighted inside and is kept burning until it reaches a desired temperature. Sometimes the fire is allowed to die down a bit and then the cooking material is put inside to cook or else once desired temperature is reached, fire is not extinguished completely instead some amount is kept burning to provide constant heat.

Baking can be Fun with Wooden Ovens

Other than pizzas, cakes, meats, bread etc can be made in the same oven once it is heated completely. As per the cooking time some foods like pizzas that cook faster go in first and breads that require slow and longer time to cook go in last.

Today better and robust versions of the conventional ovens are available and are widely used in several restaurants. They are electrically heated and food is cooked to perfection however, the delectable smoked aroma is absent that, many hanker after.