Wood Burning Oven Q & A
Tim Green, Corporate Chef
Wood Stone Oven Corporation


What makes the wood-fired oven at The Green Parrot unique and one-of-a-kind? How is it different than wood burning ovens you’ve produced for other restaurants?
The Fire Deck 9690 is one of the largest Stone Hearth Ovens Engineered and Manufactured in North America USA. The weight alone of this oven is close to 10,000 lbs. The hearth of the oven is a 6” thick cast ceramic stone that is 1 piece. The dome as well is a single cast ceramic stone 6” in depth. This particular oven, unlike others that we have built, is 100 % fueled by wood alone. With two doors and two broilers in one set of doors, it is basically an entire kitchen line in one piece of equipment.

How long does it take to build an oven such as this one? What is the process?
Once engineering has been completed for an oven such as this, it can be built from start to finish in about two weeks. The process includes first building a stand of steel that can support 8000lbs of ceramic. At the same time, ceramic is mixed and poured into molds, one for the floor and another for the dome. Once the floor and dome are removed from the molds, they are set onto insulation that is on the stand. The dome of course sits on the floor and is surrounded by a steel exoskeleton. Covered with more insulation, it then goes through a three-four day curing process. The oven is finished with a galvanized steel shell and prepared for shipping in one single piece on a flatbed truck. Prior to this simple two week building procedure, literally hundreds of hours go into design and engineering. Once complete, the first oven goes through a listing process to be sure that it can be installed in accordance to listing standards of safety and sanitation. Overall, Wood Stone would say that nothing has changed in this 3000 year old tradition other than a little technology.

What is the benefit of using a wood burning oven as opposed to other ovens that restaurants usually tend to use?
Using an oven with solid fuel (wood) really gives us unlimited BTUs (heat). The dome of this oven could very well be at over 1200 degrees based on how much wood we burn in the oven. Both the hearth and dome of the oven absorb this heat acting as a HUGE heat sink that will never cool down in day-to-day operations. It would literally take at least three days for this oven to cool to down to room temperature. When cooking in a stone hearth oven with an open, radiant flame, we benefit from both top heat and bottom heat (heat from the hearth floor, dome and radiant flame). This, unlike a range top or broiler, cooks very quickly searing the outside of the food, creating color and texture, searing in moisture, and caramelizing the natural sugars. To fully understand cooking in these ovens is to become a fire manager before you become a cook. The ability to maintain consistent temperatures and understand cooking zones in this oven is to become an artisan. To cook in this oven often becomes a show to the customers.

What are some unique ways the oven can be used that typically would not have been thought of for an oven of this kind in a restaurant?
The fact-of-the-matter is that any food cooked in this oven will be different than if it were cooked in conventional cooking methods. Due to the fact that the oven holds onto heat many hours after the last log of the night has been put in the oven, you can actually cook in the oven with its residual heat. We often will do an overnight braise in the oven with Pork Shoulder or Beef Brisket – really any tough cut of meat that needs slow cooking to tenderize it. Many consider this oven to be a pizza oven, but for us it does everything from stock to steaks, as well as seafood and of course, great pizza.

Is there a specific type of wood that needs to be used in the oven?
We only consider using heavy hard woods, fruit/nut trees, Hickory, Maple, Oak, and Mesquite. These woods have good coaling aspects to them to maximize BTUs. They also must be cured to an interior moisture content of 12 – 20 %.

Are these types of wood-burning ovens the wave of the future for the restaurant industry? How will they evolve?
I think this is exactly what the cave men said 3000 years ago. They definitely have never been a tidal wave but always a good steady strong wave. When Wood Stone first started in 1990 we were told that we would sell 10 of these ovens and be out of business. We have nearly 8500 ovens today in 65 countries throughout the world. Stone Hearth Ovens will always be in, hip, and cool.