Inside the Tandoor: Why Naan Tastes Different From a Clay Oven

There is a question we hear a lot, usually from someone tearing a piece of garlic naan in half: why does this never taste the same when I make it at home?

The honest answer is not a secret recipe. It is the oven.

What a tandoor actually is

A tandoor is a tall clay oven shaped like a large vase, with a fire at the bottom and an opening at the top. That is the entire design, and it has barely changed in thousands of years. The word itself is ancient. It reaches English through Hindi and Persian from an Akkadian word, tinuru, that appears in writing as far back as the Epic of Gilgamesh.

What makes it special is heat. A tandoor can reach around 900 degrees Fahrenheit, roughly twice what a home oven manages. The clay walls soak that heat up and throw it back from every side, so food cooks from all directions at once, with a little smoke rising from the coals.

How naan is baked on a wall

Naan does not sit on a tray. The baker stretches a piece of dough, wets one side, reaches into the oven and presses it flat against the hot clay wall. It sticks there, hanging sideways over the fire.

Then three things happen in about a minute or two:

• The side against the wall crisps and browns where it touches the clay.
• The side facing the fire puffs up and blisters, which is where those dark, smoky bubbles come from.
• The middle stays soft, because the bread is done before it has time to dry out.

The baker lifts it off with a pair of long iron rods, brushes it with butter, and it goes to your table. That is why good naan arrives too hot to hold. If it arrives lukewarm, it was not made for you.

It is also why a home oven struggles. Without that wall of clay at that temperature, you get bread. It can be nice bread. It is not naan in quite the same way.

What the tandoor does to meat

Meat goes into the tandoor on long skewers, lowered straight down into the heat. Before that it spends hours in a marinade of yogurt, ginger, garlic and spices. The yogurt matters. It tenderizes the meat and helps it char at the edges without drying out.

At that temperature the outside sears almost at once, and the juices that drip onto the coals come back up as smoke. That is the flavor people mean when they say something tastes "tandoori."

A few things on our menu that come out of that oven:

• Tandoori chicken. Bone-in, marinated, charred at the edges.
• Chicken tikka and malai chicken tikka. Boneless pieces. The malai version is creamy and mild, a good choice for anyone who avoids heat.
• Lamb chops and lamb boti kabab. Lamb takes smoke better than almost anything.
• Malai paneer. Proof that the tandoor is not only for meat.

Tandoor cooking comes from the Punjab region. It spread across India after 1947, when families who left Punjab during Partition settled in cities like Delhi and brought their ovens and their recipes with them. Much of what the world now calls Indian restaurant food, including tandoori chicken and the tikka that later went into tikka masala, grew out of those kitchens.

Which bread should you order?

It depends on what is on the table.

• With a rich, creamy curry such as butter masala or korma, garlic naan or butter naan is the classic choice.
• With dal, order roti. It is whole wheat, lighter, and what many families in India and Nepal eat every day.
• As a snack on its own, cheese naan or aloo naan is a small meal already.
• If you like layers and a bit of chew, try a paratha.

Frequently asked questions

Is naan the same as pita?

No. Pita is a lean dough baked so that it forms a pocket. Naan is a softer, richer dough, usually made with yogurt or milk, baked flat against the wall of a tandoor.

Is tandoori food spicy?

Less than most people expect. The red color comes from the marinade, not from a mountain of chili. Most tandoori dishes are warmly spiced and smoky, not fiery.

Is tandoori food a lighter choice?

It is one of the leaner ways to order. The food is grilled over high heat with no frying, and the fat drips away as it cooks.

Come see what that oven can do. You can order for pickup or make a reservation, and if you are eating in, order the naan last so it reaches you straight from the wall.