Getting a little over your barbecue? We get it. It’s been good to you, and you’ve cooked hundreds and hundreds of meals on it. Snags, steaks, a few grilled veggies paired with salad: it’s a staple of any meat-eating Aussie household.
But some of us dare for more. Some of us want to try new things, experiment, and reach new culinary heights. And if that’s where you’re currently positioned, we’d like to introduce a new backyard cooking experience: outdoor pizza ovens.
Embrace tradition
Pizza was invented in a wood-fired oven, over 400 years ago. Using a wood-fired oven is the only way to infuse that smoky, authentic, charcoal flavour into the pizza. It’s no secret either; the original Italian pizza makers always used wood to fire their ovens, and that’s why they’re still using wood today. Though an outdoor pizza oven may be something new for many Australians, it was simply the norm before we had the convenience of electricity.
Versatility in cooking
Pizza tastes heavenly when made in a wood-fired oven. But so does a whole range of other foods, from roasted meat, to veggies, to desserts and more. One of our favourite recipes is beer can chicken. Grab a standard Aussie beer, drink two thirds of it, stick the chicken on the can and place it into your wood-fired oven so that it’s standing upright on the can. Wait until your chook is cooked and enjoy a juicy, fresh chicken. Once you go beer-can, you never go back.
Advantages of cooking with wood
Well, there are many, but we’ll keep it short:
- Taste
First, the taste of your food. There’s just nothing better than the taste of a homemade meal, be it pizza, a roast or veggies, in your outdoor wood-fired oven. Wood infuses that delectable, smoky flavour into your meals which is something that can’t be replicated. - Health
Roasting food in your wood-fired oven is healthier than other methods, like frying your food on a pan. This is partly because there’s less oils and less fats, and partly because wood cooks your food faster. The benefit of this is that more nutrients and antioxidants are retained, due to less time in the oven.
Is the wood-fired pizza oven set to overtake the barbecue?
While wood-fired pizza ovens are a new cooking experience for many, they’re not going to overtake the good old Aussie barbecue. Why? Because they’re not in competition with one another, but rather they complement each other. There will always be a time and a place for each method of outdoor cooking.
If your heart is set on having your own outdoor pizza oven, talk to the team at Sydney Fire Bricks. As Australia’s favourite builders of premium quality wood-fired ovens, fire pits and smokers, they deliver their commercial and domestic products across the country. Browse the range and pick the perfect wood-fired oven for your home today.