Barbecue ovens: types, placement and design

On their suburban area today, everyone has the opportunity to organize a corner for cooking in the fresh air. There are a huge number of options for the construction and location of a summer kitchen. Next, we will consider various barbecue ovens, their types, placement and design.

Any family wants to cook food in the fresh air conveniently and comfortably in a warm season. Moving the kitchen from a stuffy house to the street in the summer, you can get not only wholesome healthy food, but also a lot of positive emotions, especially if you equip not only a barbecue in the yard, but also a comfortable gazebo with a dining table and benches next to it. Such an oven can be multifunctional: in addition to cooking kebabs, it will be possible to make any other hot dish in it, up to soups and pastries.

There is no clear definition of barbecue; in general, it is believed that this is a method of cooking meat and other food on an open fire or glowing coals.

In fact, such an outdoor oven can be equipped so that food can be cooked in different ways., to combine various national traditions: with the function of tandoor, barbecue, cauldron. An oven can be inside, burners are fitted on top, as on a conventional gas stove, the structure can be equipped with an extractor hood. And all this in addition can be arranged around a gazebo with a roof that protects from the rain, put a cutting and dining table with benches.

The simplest outdoor barbecue oven can be made of brick walls with protrusions that will play the role of shelves, on which there is a grill-brazier, skewers, a cauldron for pilaf or a baking sheet. At the bottom there will be a kindling hearth with coals. The structure itself will be in the shape of the letter P, no more than a meter in height, and the area for it is minimal, it is suitable even for a tiny area. Such devices can be found in recreation areas and even in residential courtyards abroad; they appear in city parks and in our country.

Such a stove is versatile, it can function as a barbecue and barbecue., since both the grill and skewers can be placed on the ledges. Before construction, the base is usually prepared, the upper fertile layer is cleaned, then covered with rubble or a flat concrete surface is poured. This will make the kindling more efficient. After preparing the base, proceed directly to the laying of the walls.

A similar primitive oven can be expanded by adding other elements to the side. First of all, it is best to make a cutting table so that it is convenient to cook food next to the brazier. You can also put dishes already cooked on the barbecue on it. To add new elements to the main oven as far as there is space and imagination - modular prefabricated structures are often found, containing, in addition to the main brazier, a baking oven with hotplates on top, a compartment with a hot-smoked smokehouse, a woodshed, a section with shelves and even a sink with a sink.

In addition to a barbecue, you can build other types of outdoor stoves on your suburban area.

• Tandoor is an oriental type of barbecue. It is popular in many countries of Central Asia, the Caucasus and southern Russia. The stove is in the form of a cylinder or a jug, its upper part is slightly narrowed relative to the lower one. At the bottom there is a grill with coals, and bread or other food is fried on the inner walls. The stove is usually made of clay; it is quite possible to equip a corner of your summer kitchen in the country with it. In addition to the cylindrical tandoor, there are other design options, the main feature is cooking on the inner hot walls.

• Russian stove - the traditional, familiar to everyone, option, suitable for preparing any hot dishes in a sealed container: porridge, soups and others, you can also make baked goods in it. Thanks to its excellent thermal properties, food cooked in it will be simply delicious. Its peculiarity is the cooking chamber recessed into the depths; in front of it there is a small threshold. The Russian stove is capable of keeping warm for a long time, for which it is appreciated in the preparation of many dishes.

• Finnish stove in many ways it is similar to the Russian one, it contains a cooking compartment that can retain heat for a long time, in addition, usually a brazier is attached to it. Thus, the design will be universal, in it you can cook not only soups, pies and porridge, but at the same time fry kebabs and barbecues over an open fire. Often the Finnish furnace is equipped with a massive tube, and it can be made from ordinary refractory bricks. In the lower part there is a spacious woodshed, the second tier contains a hearth for coals, and the third one is used to prepare food.

When the furnace complex with all the modules is ready, you can take care of the roof as well. A barbecue hidden in a gazebo is a great option to shelter from the rain in bad weather and prepare food in comfort. And also a good roof will help create shade and protect from the scorching sun. Gazebos with a summer kitchen are of various designs: with a straight, shed or gable roof, closed, Finnish with glazing, brick, wood, stone and with a metal frame, with a hedge.

If the barbecue oven is located in a closed or semi-closed gazebo, then you need to equip a hood on top of the brazier. It will help get rid of smoke, otherwise cooking and resting in such a building will be uncomfortable. The hood can be steel or aluminum, conical or pyramidal, it can be hung from the rafters of the gazebo roof or supported on the brick base of the stove.

The most common summer brick barbecue oven, and this is not surprising: this building material is cheaper than the others, retains heat well, is durable and unpretentious to weather conditions. Its main advantage is its versatility, it is possible to create a design of any shape and size, to bring to life any of the most daring designs. For the construction of a Russian or Finnish stove, tandoor, barbecue or smokehouse, only refractory clay or silicate bricks should be taken. Those parts that do not come into contact with an open fire and do not get very hot, for example, a wood-burning stove, a cutting table or a pipe can be built from the usual form - inside the rough one, outside the facing one.

Rubble stone or cobblestone is a very good solution for building an outdoor oven with a barbecue., you can create a massive structure from it, and it is quite easy to find this practically free material in the vicinity. It has a stunning natural look, and the finished brazier will look noble and very stylish in any landscape on a suburban area. In addition, the walls of rubble will be as strong as possible and will last for more than a decade.

But with due diligence, you can bring ideas to life, the main thing is to install the formwork and fasten the stones with cement mortar.

Concrete stoves as monolithic structures are durable and perfectly retain heat. Any shape can be created from the mortar by installing the formwork. But concrete, unlike brick, does not look so pleasant, in the future it will most likely have to be faced. In addition, it can be more expensive, and over time, under temperature loads, it tends to crack.

For the base of the brazier and spacious gazebos with barbecues and barbecues, it is best to use concrete floors. Pouring will help create a flat surface on which you can build a kitchen complex of any complexity. And if you then cover the concrete with some kind of finishing coating, then the gazebo can turn into a full-fledged summer dining room.

The roaster and cooking chamber can be cast iron. This material retains heat well inside, does not let it out. In addition, cast iron hearth dampers can prevent sparks from entering the street.

The chimney or hood can be made of various durable metals that are not exposed to moisture, for example, stainless steel. If a pipe is used instead of a chimney, then it is usually brick.

When a barbecue is equipped with a gazebo made of combustible materials: wood or plastic, then you need to take care of its fire safety. Wooden structures should be treated with a refractory compound, elements subject to combustion should be located away from open fire.

The simplest options for an outdoor barbecue oven can have a height of 0.7 - 1 m, one section with a brazier is 90 cm long and wide. the woodshed, hearth and chimney will be about 2200 mm high to the base of the chimney.

A Finnish or Russian stove has a height from the floor to the base of the pipe 2 - 2.2 m, their width is 2 m. When adding additional modules, the dimensions may increase. There are no definite standards here, it all depends on the owner's project and free space on the suburban area.

Even the simplest version of the outdoor barbecue oven with one brazier section can be made in a completely original design. For this, facing bricks of various colors are used, staggered or arranged in a pattern. The lower compartment with a hearth is made with a forged fireplace grate. It is possible to revet such outdoor stoves with natural or artificial stone of any color and texture, use metal, wood, plaster or paint.

Outside stoves with a brazier, oven and wood-burning stove can be straight or angled. In the latter case, beautiful shelves made of the same brick or metal can be placed on the sides of the main part. They hold grills for frying, skewers, cutting knives, dishes and other kitchen utensils. A good option when the oven vent is closed is to equip it with a fireproof glass damper. Then at any moment you can watch a beautiful flame inside.

If the barbecue oven is equipped with a canopy or a full-fledged gazebo, then the possibilities are still expanding. You can choose furniture that suits your design: kitchen table, rustic benches or chairs, cabinets and much more. Cool and gray concrete floors can be covered with polished planks, mat or linoleum. A hedge is created around the kitchen and dining area. To do this, it is enough just to install metal or wooden guide poles, pour fertile soil below and plant shoots of dense climbing plants. In general, you can equip such street barbecues as long as the creative idea is enough.

A stove with a barbecue for a summer residence, first of all, should be placed in such a place so that the prevailing direction of the wind does not blow away the smoke from the coals to the residential building.It is also undesirable for him to go to the adjacent sections, where he can make the neighbors dissatisfied, or to the roadway. A high chimney can solve this problem, the smoke will diffuse high above the garden area.

Outdoor kitchens with a barbecue oven should be located on a relatively flat place with a flat relief, without an abundance of floating soil. This will simplify construction, make the recreation area safe. With massive structures of a brazier, stove, oven and other elements, it is imperative to carry out concrete pouring in compliance with the level for the site.

For convenience, you can choose a place for the summer barbecue oven, adjacent to the wall of the house. So, you do not need to build additional structures. If the site already has a ready-made summer cottage, then it will not be a problem to build a small brazier inside. The main thing is to make sure that the hearth has a reliable concrete base that can withstand high temperatures, and that smoke escapes from the enclosed space using an exhaust hood or chimney.

You can make a fire at full power, you can cook food in barbecue braziers when the concrete mortar has set, that is, a few days after construction. A closed stove can be kindled with any dry wood, coal or peat. But only wood or charcoal can be used to grill kebabs and barbecues on an open fire. After the end of cooking, you need to wait until all the coals have rotted away, then remove the ash, and the brazier and the mouth of the stove must be cleaned each time.

A beautiful light brick stove with a brazier and a stove. Great design, yet very functional.

An example of a corner oven with several modules. This design looks very nice, especially behind a hedge.

Corner barbecue oven with tandoor. The light stone design is simply stunning.

A very unusual example of an outdoor barbecue oven.

Sketch of the original project of a street barbecue.

For information on how to make a brick barbecue oven with your own hands, see the next video.