Your Kamado Grill Could Be So Much Better
6 Things You Need to Know About Your Kamado
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Introduction
Six Things That Will Step Up Your Kamado Cooking
What's up BBQ fans! Today we're talking about the Komodo Kamado and kamado-style cookers in general. Here are six things you need to know to get the most out of yours. Let's get into it.
1. Quality of Lump Matters
A kamado runs on lump charcoal, not briquettes or match-light. Lump burns hotter and lasts longer. If you're coming from a gas grill, where $20 to $25 fills a propane tank that lasts a long time, it's tempting to cut corners on charcoal. Don't. Cheap lump causes two problems:
Temperature swings. The density and size vary through the bag, so you end up chasing your tail on temps.
It can't hold high heat. Crank it to 600 or 700°F for a reverse sear, rest your steaks, and by the time you sear, you've lost power. Even grilling at 400 to 450°F, you'll burn through it fast.
Good lump comes in bigger pieces, burns hotter and lasts longer, so the cost per cook actually goes down. It sounds counterintuitive, but spend more up front.
What I use and like:
Fogo: the premium bag for smoking and the black bag for grilling.
Jealous Devil makes good charcoal.
Komodo Kamado Coco Char, made from coconut shells. It's super high density, lasts forever and is amazing for smoking. I also have a stash of their coffee lump left. I once bought about 300 lb.
I used to recommend Big Block from Kamado Joe, but the last time I used it, it didn't last as long as I remembered. In a pinch, it beats grocery store lump.
2. Learn to Start It Properly
This will save you a lot of headaches.
Wax starter squares work. I used them for five or six years. Light a corner or two sides, put lump around and a little over them, and leave room to breathe. They burn about 10 minutes. The trick is using enough: one for 200 to 225°F, two for 350°F, three for 550 to 600°F. With only one for a 600°F cook, you'll wait 30 to 45 minutes, and that frustration keeps you from firing it up.
A tumbleweed in a steel ball. The ball lets oxygen around the starter so it doesn't get snuffed out. Bury it in lump. For high temps, use two and bury them deeper.
The GrillGun (use code: RUMANDCOOK to save 10%). I resisted it for a long time, and I wish I'd bought it sooner. It runs on a 1 lb tank or, with an adapter, a 20 lb tank. For a 450°F cook, 45 seconds to a minute and everything is lit. I use it on my offset, my wood-fired oven and my fire pit too.
Pro tip: when a 1 lb tank is done, vent out whatever's left, wait until it's completely empty, and punch a hole in it before it goes in the garbage so it can't explode when it's crushed.
3. Heat Soaking Is Important
For a quick cook like hot dogs, burgers or steaks, treat it like a kettle. Fire it up and grill.
Beyond that, heat soaking is where these cookers shine. The walls are very thick. In the Komodo Kamado, it's refractory cement. Once every surface is hot, you get 360-degree cooking, with all that heat energy firing into the meat. If you don't heat soak properly, you're not getting what this cooker can really do.
Try chicken early on. There's very little moving air in a kamado, so nothing pulls moisture away. It'll be the juiciest chicken you've had in a long time.
Make pizza soon, too. With the stone raised up in the dome, you get some top-down heat. It's not a wood-fired pizza oven, and you won't get charred pepperoni cups without overcooking the pie, but it makes some pretty damn good pizza. It'll ruin delivery for you.
4. All Smokers Are Different
YouTube is how I got my start, and it's a great resource. But a lot of people watch an offset cook at 275°F or a pellet grill at 225°F and use those times as a reference. A kamado cooks quicker than a lot of other cookers because of that 360-degree heat.
Even among kamados, it varies. The Big Green Egg and Kamado Joe have much thinner walls and hold less heat energy than a Komodo Kamado. Take the basics from other videos, learn the ins and outs of your own cooker, and remember it might not translate directly.
5. Tenderness Is King
People get hyperfocused on numbers: wrap brisket at 165°F for the stall, it's done at 203°F. The final temperature doesn't matter nearly as much as tenderness. Push a tender brisket from 203 to 208°F and it'll get mushy, so temperature isn't meaningless, but tenderness is what matters most.
Use a good instant-read thermometer. Mine is an older ThermoWorks MK4. Check the temperature, but mostly use the probe to feel the meat. You want it to feel like warm peanut butter everywhere, with no tough spots. Use time and temp as guidelines, and focus on tenderness.
There are no rules in barbecue. That's the best thing about it. Experiment and make it your own.
6. Practice Makes Perfect
What you make today versus five years from now will be night and day. If you only cook spring to fall, you might get in 20 or 30 cooks a year, so it takes time.
YouTube is full of perfect barbecue, and nobody shares their mistakes. I pride myself on showing mine. I don't reshoot a cook until it's perfect. I've been smoking meat for about 30 years, and my brisket five years ago versus today is a night-and-day difference, about 500 cooks later on this channel and probably closer to a thousand across all my cookers.
Final Thoughts
Buy good lump, light it with enough fire, heat soak it, learn your own cooker, cook to tenderness and keep practicing. Jump in, have some fun and share it with your neighbors, friends and family.
Thanks For Watching
Whether you're a seasoned pitmaster or a novice, these tips will enhance your cooking skills and leave your family and friends raving about your delicious, smoky creations. Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more step-by-step videos, and let's together become the barbecue heroes we were meant to be!
*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. You will pay the same price, but I will earn a small percentage, which will help support the channel.
