Can I get close to the Tandoori flavor in my MAK with charcoal pellets?

[Saxguy]

I was thinking about picking up an outdoor tandoor but was wondering if using BBQr's Delight Charcoal pellets would get me pretty close to the traditional flavor. Any thoughts?

 

[didisea]

What kind of flavor is the charcoal bringing to the meat? I would have thought that the tandoor flavor is coming from the tandoori spice itself?

 

[Saxguy]

No, it's the char that results from a combination of the high heat, charcoal and juices dripping onto the coals that give it the signature flavors. Different spices contribute to the overall flavor but the tandoor is about fast cooking with high temps. There's a product I'm looking at called the homdoor, but it's somewhat pricey. If I could get 90% of the way there on the MAK I would be ok.

 

[RickB]

I would just make a traditional tandorri paste. apply...ref..then smoke with wood of choice then crank it up and get some char.

 

[TentHunter]

Because of the high heat in a tandoor oven, Tandoori Chicken doesn't have a lot of smoke flavor. Another thing that makes it taste different is the skin is typically removed so there's no smoke from chicken fat dripping, so what smoke flavor there is tends to be a cleaner smoke taste. I think a pellet grill, on high heat, is perfect for replicating that flavor. The charcoal pellets may help get that charcoal flavor.

I would do exactly like Rick suggests, apply the paste marinade, roll smoke for a short time and crank it up on high.

SoDakSmokerGolfer did some tandoori chicken here: http://www.pelletsmoking.com/cook-25/cook-tandoori-chicken-6234/

Here's another really good recipe: Home made Tandoori Chicken - Indian cuisine recipe video - YouTube

 

[Saxguy]

If I can modify some skewers to slide into the upper rack guides on the 4 Star I may be able to take advantage of the convection. Tough call as we're having a custom island built to house everything. I wanted to do the built in homdoor if I could avoid having the rolling one. I know I can make Naan on the MAK using my 1/2" baking steel, so the meat is the only variable.

 

[SmokeAndSpice]

I would just make a traditional tandorri paste. apply...ref..then smoke with wood of choice then crank it up and get some char.

That's what I do for chicken. I think it works well, though not identical to what I can get in local restaurants.

 

[didisea]

The only other thing that might help get a better char on the meat is to use some cast iron grill grates. (I used some Webber ones). That way you can heat up the cast iron, and it will be hot enough to put a nice char on the meat.
I just put them on top of the regular ones and it made a very nice steak.