Kamado terms explained

The design is Japanese and centuries old: a heavy pot with a lid, a vent at the bottom and one at the top. Those two vents control the draught, and so the temperature.

The difference from an ordinary barbecue is mass. A kamado holds a steady temperature for hours on a handful of charcoal, and runs from 110 °C for pulled pork to well over 300 °C for pizza.

See also: Ceramic, Vents, Indirect cooking

The wall is usually a ceramic composite, often several centimetres thick. That mass is the whole reason a kamado works: it heats slowly, and after that barely needs touching.

Ceramic is also the reason for the two big drawbacks. It is heavy, and it can crack if you fire it too fast or let it freeze wet.

See also: Kamado, Cracks and crazing

Brands use their own names, but the size that matters is the grate diameter. Compact is about 33 cm, medium 40, large 46, and XL 60 and up.

Large is the right size for most households. Smaller burns less fuel but forces you to cook in batches; bigger costs more charcoal and more heat-up time for an evening with four people.

See also: Grate, Kamado

Grate in, lid down, and radiant heat from the coals does the rest. This is what you want for steak, burgers and vegetables: high heat, short time, a hard crust.

A kamado easily goes past 300 °C doing this. That is hotter than most people are used to, and it happens faster than you expect.

See also: Indirect cooking, Heat deflector

With a deflector between the coals and the grate, the kamado becomes an oven. Heat comes off the walls rather than straight up, and you can cook for hours at low temperature without blackening the underside.

This is what a kamado does that an ordinary barbecue does not. Pulled pork, brisket, whole chicken, bread and cake all come from here.

See also: Heat deflector, Low and slow

A ceramic disc or plate you put between the fire and the grate. Every brand has its own name — Big Green Egg calls it a conveggtor, others say plate setter or heat deflector.

Check whether it is included. On some models it ships in the box, on others it is a separate accessory of fifty euros or more, which shifts the price comparison.

See also: Indirect cooking, Pizza stone

Tough cuts with a lot of connective tissue — shoulder, brisket, ribs — only turn tender after a long stretch at low temperature. Reckon on eight to sixteen hours.

This is the discipline a kamado is built for. The mass holds temperature steadily enough to run overnight without sitting beside it.

See also: Indirect cooking, Vents

The bottom vent lets air in, the top one lets it out. More air is more fire and so a higher temperature. Some brands call the top vent a daisy wheel.

The classic beginner mistake is opening too far and then trying to come back down. On a kamado, going down takes far longer than going up: the mass that holds temperature so nicely also holds the temperature you overshot to.

See also: Low and slow, Flashback

At high temperature with the vents closed, unburnt gas collects inside. Throw the lid open and it gets oxygen all at once, and the flame comes out at you.

So you open the lid in two stages: a few centimetres, pause, then all the way. It is the most important safety habit to learn.

See also: Vents

Use lump charcoal, not briquettes. Briquettes contain binder and filler, give more ash and sometimes taste of it; lump burns cleaner and leaves less behind.

Big pieces burn longer and are easier to meter. Whatever is left after a session can simply be reused: put the kamado out by closing the vents.

See also: Smoking wood, Ash removal

Chunks work better than chips: chips are gone within ten minutes. Apple and cherry are mild, hickory and oak heavier, mesquite fierce.

Less is more. Two or three chunks for a whole low-and-slow is plenty; too much smoke gives a bitter, ashy taste that does not come out again.

See also: Lump charcoal, Low and slow

Grate diameter says more about what fits than the kamado’s external size. We record it in centimetres so two brands with different size names stay comparable.

Cast iron grates hold more heat and give a better sear mark; stainless steel is lighter and easier to clean.

See also: Sizes

A forty-kilo kamado needs to be movable, and without a stand it also sits too low to work at comfortably. Some models ship complete, others as a bare pot.

Count it into the price. A separate stand often costs over a hundred euros, and it is the difference between two models that the price tag does not show.

See also: Sizes

With a deflector underneath and a stone on the grate, a kamado makes an excellent pizza oven. The stone absorbs the heat and gives it evenly to the base.

Let the stone heat up with the kamado. A cold stone on a hot kamado can crack, and a pizza on a cold stone goes soggy.

See also: Heat deflector, Direct grilling

Without a good seal, air leaks past the lid and you lose control of the temperature. It is a wear part: after a few years of hard use, replacing it is normal.

A kamado that will no longer hold its temperature more often has a worn gasket than an actual fault.

See also: Vents, Cracks and crazing

Air comes up from below through the fire grate. With a layer of ash sitting on it, too little air gets in and you can no longer reach temperature — the most common cause of "it will not get hot any more".

Clear the ash while the kamado is cold, before any session of length.

See also: Lump charcoal, Vents

Crazing is the fine web of hairlines in the glaze. It is cosmetic and covered by almost no warranty — it says nothing about strength.

A real crack through the ceramic is another matter, usually caused by firing up too fast or by water freezing inside the material. Keep it covered and bring it up to heat gently.

See also: Ceramic, Gasket

When a shop shows "was €1,299", that is a claim by the party selling the thing. We record it under the shop’s name and repeat it as something they say.

We keep that claim per day. A discount is more often manufactured by raising the reference than by lowering the price, and only a dated record can show it.

See also: Price verdict

We measure every kamado’s price daily and set today against what we saw before. That produces "lowest ever", "sharp", "ordinary" or "dear".

While there are too few measurements, we say so. We never base the verdict on a shop’s struck-through price.

See also: Reference price