An amazing bed of coals is created when you make pizza in a pizza oven. The dad and I built a pizza oven some moons ago, and we never looked back. It is not easy work, but making pizza from scratch and then cooking it in a pizza oven is superior to all other forms of pizza!
Recently, my brother (who is visiting from the UK) wanted to make some pizza. We make some lovely coals, cooked pizzas and then it was time to add the roasts.
Because the pizza oven retains so much heat, it is perfect for slow cooking some roasts and big cuts of meat. I had some nice pork belly with the bone still in and beef short ribs. This was the perfect opportunity to cook them both!
Low and slow.
At first, I added some small bacon pieces and some oil, just to give the fat caps some colour to start with. I was very cautious of burning anything at this stage. Again, low and slow.
Even just at this stage, the smell was amazing. The bacon releasing its oil, the fat caps starting to get some sort of colour, the smell of the cooked pizzas in the background...
Then it was time for the spices and marinades, the star of the show. We normally use all of the leftovers from making pizza. I never use the marinara or tomato sauce, as from my understanding tomato acids and cast iron pots do not go well together...
So I used the following ingredients, sauces, and spices:
- soy sauce,
- chipotle sauce,
- vinegar,
- Worcestershire sauce,
- smoked salt,
- onion,
- pepper,
- garlic,
- fresh herbs,
- pineapple, and
- homemade stock.
I added all of this on top of the roasts. I used the chipotle with the beef, and the pineapple with the pork. The rest of the ingredients, I distributed equally in the two pots.
I put the lids on these pots, and placed them back into the pizza oven, with some coals on top and on the bottom, and I forgot about it for about 4 or 5 hours...
When I opened them after the 4 or 5 hours, we were greeted with one of the most beautiful sights...
Few people know the beauty of slow-cooked meat in the pizza oven. The sight is something to behold, but the taste is something else. It is amazing how much flavour can be pulled from the meat in such a simple way of cooking.
In some follow up posts, I will show you how I use these meats. For now, we dived into them, pulling them apart, putting the meat on rice, on toast, the way you can use the pieces of shredded meat is endless really!
I wish I could share a couple of pieces over the internet...
For now, please enjoy these photographs and do try it if you can!
Happy cooking, and stay well.
All of the writings used in this post are my own. The photographs are also my own, taken with my iPhone.
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Oh. My. God. That looks AMAZING! I wonder if I can do this in the weber?
Thank you so much! I am sure you can, it will just take some working out how long you need to cook it for and the temperature control! I have bad luck with Weber's, so I have no idea how to work with them.
Well, the 1st thing we've done is the gammon and that was amazing. I think it's kinda trial and error, but also helps to pick up tips from people who know what they're doing 🤔🤔😉😉 my brother in law makes AWESOME stuff every weekend. I'm always super jealous when he posts on Facebook.
Sorry for the slow reply! What a week.
In any case, for sure! Cooking is all about trial and error and finding the perfect balance of technique and recipe and improvisation with your own equipment. I am sure if you know the heat adjustments and how your weber works, you can slow cook a big piece of tough meat for a couple of hours to make the best pulled pork (or beef) you have ever had!
Oooooh we don't have our own one yet, this one was borrowed absolutely, temperature control is paramount. This one was old so getting that right wouldn't have been possible. Luckily we only did the glazing part on the weber. As for a pork belly, I need a controlled environment to get that meat juicy and the crackling just right.
Sorry for only replying now. Crazy week!
Oh yes, for sure. Temperature control is everything. If you cannot do that, you will end up with either raw inside or dry inside. Pork belly roast, if you get that crackling right, is something from heaven!
Oh absolutely. I stole a trick from Jamie Oliver that works every time. My own magic, is whether it's a piece of gammon or a pork belly, I stick it in a pot of cider 24 hours before roasting. It's obviously only the gammon that I boil, but that soak does something amazing to the meat on both very different roasts.