Kamado Grills

[alanz]

For those folk who have never seen a #7 Kamado, here is the one I received 3 weeks ago.

This cooker produced the pulled pork that we fed to Rachel and Jason on their recent visit.

Tonight I grilled soft shell crabs... this was my first time doing crabs, and the results were great!

Edited June 29, 2003 by alanz (log)

[dumpling]

It be pretty.

[=Mark]

Can these be adapted for use with natural gas?

[alanz]

Mark,

Yes, the gas option is available for either LP or Natural gas.

It really makes lighting the coals a simple task. I usually turn the burner off after the coals are lit, and just use the coals for the actual cooking.

[markf424]

To those who know:

How is food cooked on a Kamado compared to food grilled on an ordinary grill? I'm assuming there is more radiant heat from the ceramic walls and therefore perhaps the food is better seared all-around at the same time? I've never used one or eaten from one, but would consider purchasing one to complement my outdoor cooking instruments. I'd also like to hear any success/failure with smoking in one.

Thanks,

Mark

[sacre_bleu]

That there is one pretty cooker, all right. But if your cash is scarce and barbecue is more important than the aesthetics of your patio scene, I'd consider the Weber Smoky Mountain Cooker, Weber's charcoal-fired smoker.

It weighs in at about 30 pounds and goes for about $180. It looks like a fat black capsule standing on end, and is certainly nothing as attractive as the Kamado. It also doesn't have the radiant-heat versatility that the thick ceramic walls afford Kamado owners.

But it's the gizmo I'd recommend if your No. 1 concern is the shortest line between you and pulled pork, brisket or ribs in your backyard. Its airtight construction means that 15 pounds of Kingsford briquets can last for 14 hours, largely unmonitored with few if any temperature spikes, crucial for barbecue and hard to attain on log-burning rigs. Its adherents even have a non-company sponsored site with all sorts of helpful advice: The Virtual Weber Bullet

I usually put on my pork butts at 10 pm, pile in the oak and hickory chunks, and go to bed. Pull them at 8 am and have a breakfast that Atkins freaks can only dream of.

Still, I admit it, that Kamado is a mite sexy. Me wants. But I'd need to get more rebar under the patio somehow.

[jsolomon]

How quickly does one of those come up to grilling temperature after you dump in hot charcoal from a chimney? I am thinking of pointing an uncle the Kamado/Big Green Egg way, and don't want him to think he was told about a Super Ultra Flame Jet 3 and instead purchased the Kitty Crapper 5000 [again]

[fifi]

That is one of my questions. Also, I am not entirely sure how you go about loading charcoal, etc. My Weber Smokey Mountain is very convenient. I take off the upper cylinder and lid, fill the charcoal basket, sit the chimney on top and light that chacoal, dump the charcoal in the middle of the loaded basket and away we go. I am not sure I can see how to "load" a Kamodo. Also, I don't THINK there is a water pan, but perhaps you don't need that water for temperature stabilization what with the mass of the ceramic.

[CRUZMISL]

I've had my Kamado #7 for 4 years now and it was the absolute best investment I ever made. Alan may recognize my handle from the K forum so a big welcome to him. He's very knowledgeable and really knows his stuff. Sure to be a valuable contributor to this forum.

Anyway, I had a Lazy Man stainless grill I paid $3k for and sold it for the Kamado. That thing can't come close to the K. I can sear steaks at 800 degress (hotter if the wind is blowing the right direction) or cook a pork butt for 14 hrs at 225. It can also be used anywhere in between. I can usually get 500 degrees in 5-10 minutes if lit properly with coal.

I live in Ontario and we see sub zero days and 95 degree heat in the summer. I have had no issues with tiles falling off but even if I did they have a lifetime warranty against that. I've also done pizza's and bread as well. Just drop in a heavy stone and you're all set.

I had my parents and their friends over for some steaks and guess what....2 more customers. As strange as it looks it is truly beyond reproach.

I could go on but Cooking with Julia is on in 2 minutes.

Joe

Edited January 3, 2004 by CRUZMISL (log)

[skchai]

Came across this extremely comprehensive and amusing site on ceramic cookers:

Naked Whiz Ceramic Charcoal Cooking

It's particularly good on the Big Green Egg and on comparing lump charcoals. Anyone else familiar with this site?

Any other good general resource sites besides it and the Kamado discussion boards already mentioned?

The only reason I'm aware of the Naked Whiz site is because the same guy also put together the extremely funny Devil's Dictionary of Cricket.

[Keith_W]

I bought a Kamado over the weekend and thought I would head over to my favourite cooking forum to see if there are any threads on this. I did a search - only 3 threads! This one was the longest, and was last updated in 2004!!

Why isn't there more Kamado love? Is it because these are not as sexy as immersion circulators, antigriddles, rotavaps, ultrasonic homogenizers, carageenans, and alginate?

I cooked my first meal with it over the weekend and was astounded by the results. I am mulling over the possibilities offered by my new unit. I have ordered a Rocks BBQ Stoker - which is a computer controlled fan that controls air supply to the charcoal, and thus maintains the temperature of your Kamado. With this, my Kamado will be a handy alternative to my oven.

[Kerry Beal]

I bought a Kamado over the weekend and thought I would head over to my favourite cooking forum to see if there are any threads on this. I did a search - only 3 threads! This one was the longest, and was last updated in 2004!!

Why isn't there more Kamado love? Is it because these are not as sexy as immersion circulators, antigriddles, rotavaps, ultrasonic homogenizers, carageenans, and alginate?

I cooked my first meal with it over the weekend and was astounded by the results. I am mulling over the possibilities offered by my new unit. I have ordered a Rocks BBQ Stoker - which is a computer controlled fan that controls air supply to the charcoal, and thus maintains the temperature of your Kamado. With this, my Kamado will be a handy alternative to my oven.

Look for Big Green Egg stuff and you'll get lots of info to help you out.

[gdenby]

snip

Why isn't there more Kamado love? Is it because these are not as sexy as immersion circulators, antigriddles, rotavaps, ultrasonic homogenizers, carageenans, and alginate?

snip

There is a fair amount of conversation about ceramic cookers. The Kamado brand may come up less, because it is somewhat more expensive, and harder to get than other brands.

Some years ago, I was searching for a better cooker for BBQ, and came across an home-made blower rig a fellow had put together to control a Kamado to within 1 degree. At the time, I thought that was insane.

So now I have 2 ceramic rigs, but no automated blower. They seem to do pretty well without.

And they have almost replaced my kitchen stove. Not quite as convenient, what with cleaning out the ash, but a much better cooking environment. I'd bet you will be cooking a lot more with your new appliance.

[HungryC]

RE: not so much love on eGullet for kamados: as far as I can tell, eGullet membership skews toward the urban. So many people seem to be in city apartments, condos, etc. where open-fire cooking is prohibited or highly regulated. But several specialty ceramic cooker message boards are crazy-busy with some incredible cooking. Check out the ceramic grill forum and the big green egg forum @ eggheadforum.com.

[Kerry Beal]

RE: not so much love on eGullet for kamados: as far as I can tell, eGullet membership skews toward the urban. So many people seem to be in city apartments, condos, etc. where open-fire cooking is prohibited or highly regulated. But several specialty ceramic cooker message boards are crazy-busy with some incredible cooking. Check out the ceramic grill forum and the big green egg forum @ eggheadforum.com.

There has been a change in forums - so there are now two forums www.greeneggers.com and www.eggheadforum.com available.

[Keith_W]

Thank you for your replies. Of course, I should have done a search for "big green egg" ... over here we call them "Kamado style cookers" because BGE does not have market dominance And thank you for pointing me towards the correct forums.

[jeffsf]

Kamado themselves have a forum in addition to those already mentioned. I've had a #7 from back when Kamado was in Sacramento. I've also got one of the early BBQ Guru thermostat-controlled fans which makes six-hour ribs or all-day and over-night cooks possible as well (there are newer models as well similar devices now).

There has always been a lot of bad blood between the Kamado and the Komodo people, with a lot of name-calling about who is scum/scam/thief and the like. I made some opinions back then, but that was a decade ago and people and companies change. I can say that I still love my concrete (yeah, yeah, they say it's "ceramic" but it ain't anything like CorningWare) cooker and still prefer the "heavier style" to the BGE and other similar cookers.

Edited August 15, 2011 by jeffsf (log)

[qrn]

I have a Kamado,that is really old ,it was the origional one that was made in Japan, gotta be 30/40 years old and works great,still...got it at the thrift store for $20 or $25

Bud