Grilling
I’ve seen this Kamado Kooker pop up everywhere. It’s $300. The reviews say that it’s a good grill. Compared to a Primo at $1,200 or the Big Green Egg (which is a pain in the ass to buy), seems like a good deal. I have a Primo and love it. But sometimes, I need more room. Anyone try one of those out?
June 29th, 2012 at 3:35 pm
why do you say the BGE is a pain to buy? I called up Hearth & Patio, gave them my debit card number, and they delivered and set it up same day
June 29th, 2012 at 8:50 pm
Called around for the BGE and found one in stock, had on my patio an hour later. Assembled myself in about 2 hours, though anyone who has done it before would probably get it done in 30 minutes.
Cannot speak to the other units, but the BGE is great. I used it all winter and it held steady low temp with a pork butt all night, during a freezing rain storm. There was an inch of ice on the ground in the morning, but a hot roast in the egg.
We use it for salmon: rub in some brown sugar and slat and let it marinate an hour or four; then wash it all off, dry the fish and toss it on the grill with some alder, apple, cherry or maple wood. Keep the temp right around 300 or a little lower. Don’t overcook the fish – give it about 12-15 minutes (for medium-rare and creamy fish) and don’t check it. Keep that lid down. It’s simple and it works. Most of the wood comes from my property.
We’ve done pork and lamb shoulders, chicken, ribs, all kinds of fish, vegetables, steak…blah, blah, blah. We keep it busy all winter, too. And we were not “grill people” before this thing.
If you can come close with the other units at a better price, then you will do great. If you get the other brands, I hope you report good things – we want another one for a vacation home and would love to save the green (cash).
June 29th, 2012 at 11:24 pm
It’s all about slow and even heat. However you manage to get slow and even heat, you’ve accomplished a good BBQ. The problem with the Kamodo was that the ceramic they were made form was a major PITA to handle if you ever had to move the unit as it was both heavy and fragile. The ceramic oven functions to slow-cook with a small fire. Given a good welder at your disposal, I can’t see why a good slow BBQ pit couldn’t be made up out of metal. I’ve seen one in TX that was made up of two heavy pressure tanks, one for a firebox and one for the cooking chamber, and there was a good damper to control how much heat went from the firebox to the cooking chamber. The unit used a huge amount of wood, as much as three ricks for a seven-brisket BBQ with a turkey or two thrown in. It also required a fire-tender for 20 hours or so.
The new Traeger meter-fed pellet BBQs take out most of the fire-tending drudgery, and seem to do a great job, but they can’t do a lot of meat at once, they are more the size for just one family.
June 30th, 2012 at 1:14 am
If high capacity is what you want, get a Weber Ranch Kettle – the same traditional black flying saucer/egg that runs on charcoal*, but bigger – about three or four feet in diameter – big enough to cook twenty-seven chickens at once.
I know they will hold that much, because my Father-in-law used three of them to cater a wedding, and he counted the chickens. Eighty one chickens makes quite an impression.
We grilled enough steaks and burgers and brats for fourteen people once for a party, on one kettle – we used a whole bag of charcoal to fire it up.
*I just had a mental image of a flying saucer that ran on charcoal. Heh.