Smoking on a Kamado Cooker

Thanks to the insulative properties of ceramic, charcoal kamados are great smokers in terms of both cooking power and fuel efficiency. They can smoke for up to 18 hours on a small load of charcoal (and much longer on full loads), making them the most economical smokers by far. The round design of most kamados encourages smoke to circulate through the entire grill body and around your food before exiting the top vent, which is all the more reason to add a smoker box for even more complex wood flavors. If there’s a drawback of kamado grills, it’s the single analog thermometer. These thermometers are highly accurate, but we still recommend you invest in a remote BBQ thermometer to alert you when your grill or food has reached a certain temperature.

Baking on a Kamado Cooker

A kamado charcoal grill is basically a ceramic oven, so all you need to excel at baking everything from pastry to pizza is a heat deflector plate that creates indirect, convective heat in the cooking chamber. If you’re feeling pizza, kamados generate the high-end temperatures, all-over heat radiation, and convection currents to get the job done. Kamado cookers are also capable of holding steady baking temperatures of 300–400 degrees Fahrenheit for breads and pastries, though newcomers to this style of grill should consider baking with the help of temperature controllers. They attach to the bottom vent and regulate airflow to maintain precise temperatures, essentially upgrading your kamado’s analog controller (you) to a digital one (the device).

Grilling on a Kamado Cooker

We love the versatility of charcoal kamados, but they’re called “grills” for a reason. Using a kamado without a deflector plate is identical to using a basic charcoal grill, and the resulting direct, radiant heat is more than enough to put steakhouse-level sear marks on a thick sirloin. Because grilling uses radiant heat from the charcoal below rather than the ceramic walls, there’s no need to preheat the entire unit when grilling. That’s why all you need is about 5 minutes to get your cooking grates roaring hot, whereas preheating an entire kamado to 200–250 degrees for smoking can take anywhere between 30 and 45 minutes. Just place a temperature probe at the center of the cooking grates to let you know when they’re hot enough to grill and sear.

Primo Kamado Grills | The Oval Advantage

By shaping its grills as an oval instead of the traditional round shape, Primo enables you to take advantage of 2-zone grilling. Primo’s cast iron firebox is split into 2 distinct areas that can be used to cook with both direct and indirect heat at the same time, something other kamado cookers struggle to achieve without the help of accessories. You can sear a steak over blazing coals placed in just 1 area of the firebox, while the other half of the grill will be warmed with indirect heat best suited for veggies and sides. And if you want to smoke or bake with indirect heat, just place your food over the side with no charcoal. The oval configuration also fits oddly shaped objects like whole turkeys or long-handled pots and pans, just another of the many benefits of Primo ceramic grills.

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Blaze Cast Aluminum Kamado Grills

This might be the boldest take on a charcoal kamado we’ve seen yet. Rather than building another ceramic grill, Blaze tried something new with an entirely cast aluminum model. The benefits are clear — cast aluminum is far less fragile than ceramic, plus it’s a material that can never rust (testing included exposure to explosives and a dip in the salty Gulf of Mexico). No wonder the Blaze kamado has a lifetime warranty! Though aluminum doesn’t insulate heat as well as ceramic does, Blaze makes up for it with extra-thick walls that transfer heat much faster and more efficiently. This means Blaze charcoal kamados can reach extremely high temperatures, which is why they come with an interlocking aluminum hood flange that expands with heat to provide a tight seal.

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