OFYR Corten steel products come with the additional service that the corrosion process has already started by the time they are delivered. Upon delivery, it takes another 6-12 months for the initial corrosion to turn into a fully protective layer. Due to this the color of the products can differ.
For optimum user comfort, we recommend using oven-dried/very dry wood with max. 20% humidity to prevent smoke formation during cooking. Moreover, oven-dried/very dry wood is much easier to light. One should use a harder type of wood because softer wood like birch wood does burn down way too quickly meaning that huge quantities are needed. Be very careful when using tropical hardwood. It does generate a huge amount of heat and when using too much of it at the same time, it can cause the cooking plate to warp. Oven-dried beech wood is best, because it heats very well and burns down to a mass of coals that optimally heats up the cooking plate. Oak wood we prefer less because it burns down to thin ash. Ash wood is a good compromise between beech and oak.
The ideal size for the logs is around 10 x 30 cm. We advise against using larger pieces of wood. These do tend to catch fire quickly, but generally do not burn down properly due to the lack of space for oxygen in the cone. For the 85 model you need to use smaller logs as the opening of the plate is slightly smaller than the 100 model.
For an evening of cooking (4-5 hours) you will need in average around two OFYR® Wood Bags of around 50 liters each, depending on the outdoor temperature and the weather conditions.
Charcoal can be used for heating the cooking plate, but the plate might get less hot. A combination of woodfire in the middle and charcoal around it does work better. Coconut briquettes are the preferred charcoal to use. Of course, woodfire does create a much nicer atmosphere than charcoal!
Stack the pieces of wood two by two, as if you were building a log cabin, with the bark facing outwards to further prevent smoke formation. With OFYR XL one should build three “log cabins” in order to speed up the heating of the plate. When you light the fire and when you add new wood to the fire, it will generally smoke for a bit until it catches fire properly. By using the OFYR Buffadoo blowing pipe this smoke can be avoided to a large extent.
Every kind of vegetable oil can be used for cooking because of the higher combustion rate. It is best to start with olive oil. Olive oil has a lower combustion rate and will therefore form a a nice brown-black hue. After the first few uses (2-3 times) you can start using other oil types such as sunflower oil or groundnut oil, whatever your taste prefers.
It is important to light a smaller fire for roughly 30 minutes to allow the cooking plate to settle properly. During manufacture, the middle of the cooking plate was pressed down just slightly. When the cooking plate is heated, it will bend down even further, but if you light too big a fire during your initial use of your OFYR® Cooking Unit, this may cause the cooking plate to bend down too far during future use. It is very important to prepare the cooking plate properly using the procedure outlined above.
In some cases, the cooking plate may bulge upwards in the middle and thus become convex. This means the steel is incorrectly stressed. If this happens, please contact your dealer.
Once the cooking plate is really well heated, drizzle on olive oil and spread it with a kitchen towel. The olive oil will mix with the factory oil and will make it easy to remove the factory oil. If olive oil is put on the plate when this is not well heated, what comes off is a sticky black substance that is not easy to remove. Drizzle on olive oil 2-3 times. Then scrape down the cooking plate with the supplemented spatula and push the scrapings into the fire. Once all you can manage to scrape off is beige scrapings, the cooking plate is clean and ready for use. Simply drizzle on olive oil once more and spread it out and start cooking!
Depending on the weather conditions and the outdoor temperature, the cooking plate will reach a temperature of around 300˚C on the inner edge and around 200˚C on the outer edge.
The time needed to heat up the cooking plate very much depends on the outdoor temperature. The time needed can range from 25-30 minutes during spring and summer to 45-60 minutes during fall and winter.
Temperature zones can be used to create a warmer and colder side of the plate. The hotter side can be used to grill, for example, meat. The colder side can be used to grill, for example, salmon or keep foods warm.
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