You Can Build an Improved Stone Pizza Oven : Stone Pony II

The Stone Pony is the nickname for my beloved home made stone oven. I use this to make anything from pizza to barbecue, including my annual Thanksgiving turkey. I have measured temperatures up to 750 degrees Fahrenheit (390 degrees Celsius) before my oven thermometer self-destructed.

This is a follow up project to You Can Build a Stone Pizza Oven. Which was posted in December of 2007.  Before reading this article you should read You Can Build a Stone Pizza Oven

first. I have since updated that article with pictures of the cement creation process.

The oven is shown below with the electric rotisserie attachments. Also note the added warming rack above the oven. The picture on the right is a roast in cooking in the over in a rotisserie basket. 

I have been using the oven for almost 3 years now and I must say that I am very happy with it. For one thing it cooks food with an absolutely phenomenal flavor. Also, it can be used in any weather and it is very versatile in terms of the foods that can be cooked in it. The following recipes have been made using the Stone Pony for this site.

1.  Rustica Shrimp-Gorgonzola Pizza
2.  Pizza Bianca Verdi
3. Smoked Turkey with a Side of Sausage
4. pizza arabiata
5. New England Lobster Grill
6. quick and healthy vegetarian burger blast
7. smokey swordfish salad
8. Pizza Quattro Carnita
9. Spring Grilled Feast

Anything that you can make on a grill can also be made better using this oven. I regularly make steak, barbecued ribs, and chicken. I usually cook with apple wood because it is a mild smoky taste, also I live in Apple Country.

Like I said before, rocks vary widely in size, so this set of instructions gives you the general idea, but your own creativity is the key to building an oven.

As any technologist would tell you; there is always room for improvement. Rustic stone ovens are no exception. I wanted to increase the capacity of the oven and also be able to cook things at different temperatures simultaneously. The changes to the oven all center around the chimney area:

1. Increase the size of the Chimney. Even though the diagram does not show it, I also made the chimney taller, as well as wider. 
1. A taller chimney gives you a greater temperature gradient between the top and the bottom of the oven. This will result in an improved draft. 
2. An improved draft will add a convection effect which will cook food faster and more evenly.
2. Take advantage of the increased chimney volume and create a secondary cooking chamber inside the top of the over. 
1. This gives a good place to cook things that you want to cook with slightly lower heat. 
2. I use this space for baked potatoes and corn on the cob. The great thing is that these can be cooking at the same time as the main dish in the main cooking chamber.
3. Take advantage of the increased surface area on top of the chimney to create an external cooking surface.
1. This is great for things you want to grill slowly on low heat such as sausage, ribs, or natural casing hot dogs
2. I sometimes use a grill cover on the top if cooking sausage in cold weather to give more even cooking.

The extra cooking space has been great. For example while cooking the Thanksgiving turkey inside the main chamber, I can be making extra wings on top of the Chimney while baking potatoes inside the secondary chamber. Also since I can cook everything at once, I end up using much less wood for cooking.

Steps:

1. I removed the old chimney leaving the back of the oven open. You have to be careful to not remove anything structural, but my old chimney was just stuck on to the back of the superstructure.
2. The second picture below shows you the plan for inserting a grill to create the secondary chamber. I took this pictur while measuring it.

3. Mix up a batch of fresh mud based cement, see You Can Build a Stone Pizza Oven for illustrated instructions.
4. Lay down a generous layer on the stone that forms the base for the chimney. 
5. Spread evenly to a thickness of about 2 inches (5 cm).

6. Place a layer of carefully selected rocks
7. Fill the gaps between the from the top with cement. Push the cement in between the rocks.
8. Cover the rocks with another generous layer of cement.
9. Keep repeating this process until it is time to add the grill for the secondary cooking chamber.

10. Now it is time to add the grill, which will be structurally supported by the chimney on 3 sides.
11. Lay down a generous layer of cement on top of your last layer of rock 
12. Press the outer end of the grill into the cement. 
13. Add more cement on the 3 sides of the grill that correspond to the chimney walls.
14. Add a layer of rocks above the grill.
15. Continue to build up layers of rocks until you reach the desired height for your chimney. For me this was about 6 feet (~2M)  above the ground. This way I can stand on a large rock when I am cooking on the top.

This is what the finished chimney looks like with and without a top grill.   

Now that I have  near perfect stone oven, I would really like to start from scratch and build a really great one. For example I would point the firebox in a different direction from the cooking chamber. I would also make a larger cooking chamber. Of course any change would force me to re-design the electric rotisserie that built for this oven.

Again, this is only a rough guideline. I encourage you to use these ideas, but you will have to solve many problems yourself, depending on the type of material you have in your area. For example, in Morocco they build ovens completely out of mud. They are able to cook an entire lamb in such an oven.

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Copyright © 2009 Lizabetti.com, All Rights Reserved

Go Green with Gift Wrapping

Go Green with Your Holiday Gift Wrapping

When wrapping gifts whether for the holiday season or any other occasion, think GREEN. Not only will you save money, your presents can still look beautiful and festive. My goal is to use what I have at home to do the wrapping. More importantly, I choose materials that I can ultimately recycle or re-use. Here are some tips:

• instead of store bought wrapping paper, use paper you already have in the house such as newspapers, magazines, circulars from local stores and speciality holiday catalogs
• instead of gift bags, use brown lunch bags
• instead of tissue to stuff the gift bags, shred your own paper
• make your own gift tags using holiday cards from previous years

Materials

• newspapers
• magazines of all varieties
• store circulars
• brown lunch bags
• speciality holiday catalogs
• regular, straight edge scissors and craft scissors with zig-zag edges
• box cutter
• paper shredders the type that shreds full length, not cross cuts
• ribbons-curling, fabric or wire type
• ribbon shredder (this is an item I have owned for at least 15 years, I don't know if they are available at local stores, there is some availability online- nice, but not absolutely necessary)
• paper punch
• embellishments such as shiny pipe cleaner, small ornaments, floral picks ( added pretty touch, but not necessary)

Although you may not be able to go green with all your gift wrapping, every little bit will help.

Personalize the paper by choosing a theme that interest the gift recipient. For example, for the sport fan, use the sports pages of the newspaper or a sports magazine. For the fashionista on your list, use a fashion magazine. For the health and fitness guru, use a fitness magazine. You get the picture. I think that magazine ads are ideal as substitute wrapping paper for the smaller items. Many of the magazines have the ideal weight of paper and there is a nice sheen to paper. For some of the medium sized gifts you may have to use 2 pages of the magazine and overlap them to size. Also, since the sheets aren't large, you don't have to fight with the paper when trying to size it. Use a box cutter to careful cut the sheets out of the magazines. Trim to size if necessary. For the speciality catalogs, often times they are just stapled in the middle. So, carefully remove the 2-3 staples and you have a large size sheet of "wrapping" paper. The speciality holiday catalogs are beautifully photographed and the paper is a heavier weight.

For the larger gifts, newspapers and the weekly circulars work best. Or with a little imagination, several sheets of paper can be taped together to fit your package.

Make each gift even more special by using beautiful ribbons which you can reused again and again. Although ribbons can be expensive, during the holiday season, you can often find ribbon on sale. Stock up and choose some ribbons that are more neutral and can be used throughout the year. So, the only cost you incur is for the ribbon, if you need to purchase them. Use a single contrasting color of ribbon for a pop of color. For example, if you wrap with black and white newspaper print, use a bright red ribbon. Use several colors of the curling ribbon on a package. As for the ribbon shredder, it is used with curling ribbon. You will need to curl the ribbon, using the edge of the scissors. Then, take the ribbon shredder and feed one of the curled ribbon through. You push down on the so the metal teeth lock down. Then carefully pull the ribbon through to shred it.

The brown bags, such as the lunch bags can be used for gifts that are awkward to wrap. To create a fun bag, cut out images/words from the magazines and glued them to the bag. You don't need many, just a few. You can use the shredded paper to cushion the item in the bag and it will also help to keep the bag shape. To decorate the bag, you can fold the flap and center punch 2 holes about 1 inch apart and loop a piece of ribbon. Add embellishments if you like and tie a pretty bow. Another alternative is to close the flap without folding it and punch 4 holes about 1 inch from the top and loop a piece of ribbon around. Tie the ribbon in a bow. Tying the ribbon around the bag ensures that busy prying eyes can't get to the present.

The shredded paper can also be used as packaging for gift baskets.

The gifts tags can be made by cutting holiday cards from previous years. I like to use craft scissors that have the zig-zag edges. It makes it fast work of cutting because you don't need to be precise and you can decide what shapes your tags will be. I managed to make about 20 or so tags from just 6 cards

I have included many examples of wrapped gifts. Have fun wrapping and let your imagination be your guide. And don't forget to recycle once the festivities are over.

Copyright © 2007 Lizabetti.com, All Rights Reserved

You Can Build a Stone Pizza Oven

A stone oven is relatively simple to build and can cook every bit as well as an expensive brick oven. It serves the purpose of a great grill that you can use year round. It also has the advantage of allowing you to bake awesome pizza in the summer without heating up your house. I make many different dishes in this oven including my beloved Rustica Shrimp Gorgonzola Pizza and the ever popular Smoked Turkey and Sausage Barbecue.

After you read this article, please see the follow on Build an Improved Stone Pizza oven. 

Since rocks vary so much in size, I will give you general directions. You will need to fill in some of the gaps with your own ingenuity.

Ingredients

• Rocks - I suggest you get them from your nearest construction site. They probably want to get rid of them anyways. Flat rocks are the best for rock walls, barbecue grills, and of course stone ovens. Do not use river rocks, as they tend to explode under extreme heat. The rocks should be roughly brick shaped, but they can be a variety of manageable sizes.
  
• Soil or Dirt - It does not need to be high quality, just not sandy.High clay content is desired.
  
  
• Water
  
  
• A used smoker barrel or any barrel with the top and bottom removed

Theory of Operation

The oven operates on a basic furnace principle where the heat from the fire causes air to flow up the chimney. This causes more air to be drawn in which gets heated up and shoots upwards. In this way it creates its own draft. The taller the chimney, the greater the temperature difference between the top and bottom, the greater the draft.

The heat diffuser barrel spreads the heat out for move even cooking.

Directions

Site Preparation

In a level spot, far from the house, dig a rectangular hole 6 inches deep and 4 feet wide by 4 feet long. Fill with gravel. The gravel provides a stable platform for the rocks as well as helping to drain the oven in the case of a rain storm. This is your foundation.

Dig 2 4 foot long by 6 inch wide trenches in a down hill direction from the edge of the foundation. Fill the trenches with gravel. These are your oven's drains.

Mix the Cement

The cement is really mud with organic material mixed in to give it strength. This is basically the same principle as adobe bricks, but used between the rocks. You can also do crazy things like putting tulip bulbs in your mud, and yes they will grow out the side of your oven.

1. Use a large tub, I used my kid's old sandbox.
   
2. Dump in about 10 shovel fulls of loose soil. It does not have be great soil, but it is better if it is high in clay. Sand is no good
   
3. Mix in about 2 shovels of grass clipings. Even weeds will do the job here.
   
4. Pour in just enough water to bind the mixture into a thick mud. Don't overdo the water.
   
5. Mix thoroughly with your shovel, this will be a great workout.
   
6. Let stand for at least one hour. You will need a rest anyways.
   

Build the First Level

1. Never build more than 2 or 3 layers per day. The cement needs to set, and you need to rest and watch sports on TV anyways.
   
2. Build 3 walls, rock wall style, leaving the front open. The 3 sides should be close enough that the barrel rests on all 3 walls.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Continue building until the height is about 2 feet.
   
   
4. Rest the barrel on 3 sides.
   
5. Use a large stone to cross over the gap on the front side, make sure you use lots of cement to bond all surfaces.
   
6. Build more walls on all four sides of the barrel. Use plenty to cement between the barrel and the rocks.
   
   
7. Keep building until the walls reach the top of the barrel.
   
    

Complete the Oven

 

1. Build the back and side walls up for another 1-2 feet. Of course leave the front open. Remember to use plenty of cement.
   
2. Lay a large flat stone over the top to form the roof, bonding with plenty of cement. Make sure to keep a 6 incg gap open to the rear to form a chimney.
   
3. The chimney is very important, so be creative. You can use a steel stove pipe, but I chose to build it out of rocks.
   
4. After you have made the chmney cover the remainder of the gap in the rear roof with  flat rocks and bond thoroughly with cement.
   
5. Cure the oven by running a fire in it for several hours. This will help the cement set. You can use crappy wood and even burn yard junk for this fire since you are not going to cook on it.
   
6. You may want to build some accessories for your oven. I made a heat proof door and an electric rotisseri. I will describe those projects for you on another day, meanwhile, enjoy your oven.

 

Don't forget to see the improved version at Build an Improved Stone Pizza oven.  

 Copyright © 2007 Lizabetti.com, All Rights Reserved