Grilling, Smoking, BBQ, etc. WAYCT (What Are You Cooking Today) Outdoor Edition
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I think kamados (like the Big Green Egg) are the best if you don't mind the hassle of charcoal and the associated preparation and being patient enough / having the time to get the temp dialed in (sometimes you just want to use a gas grill to sear off something quickly). I think the best kamado, though, is the Primo Oval, because instead of being circular like traditional kamados, the Oval gives you several advantages while retaining what makes kamados so great. First, you can fit more ribs and other long items like salmon filets on there without needing a rib rack or to upsize your cooker; in general, there's more capacity because of a more efficient layout. Second, and most importantly, you can configure multiple temperature zones zones. So, I can be slow-roasting something in one area and searing something in another. This is not possible in a traditional kamado. Beyond that, the way that Primo designed the grill grates (reversible–can have your meat close to the fire or farther from the fire depending on how they are flipped) and associated accessories (like heat deflectors that can be applied to either or both sides of the grills, a firebox divider to keep the heat on one side, etc) afford you a ton of different configurations to do all kinds of different things concurrently on the cooker rather than tasking it with one thing at a time. They do make a gas version as well. I have the Large charcoal and it is the best cooker I have ever used. The XL would give you the capacity for a very large party.
The biggest disadvantage is that they are not cheap, and you need a few accessories to get the most out of it: deflector plate racks and deflector plates (these allow you to isolate the heat from the meat to do low and slow), a firebox divider can be helpful if you want to keep the heat on one side (I have not actually used mine yet, but it does help with zone cooking). Finally, extender grates both boost your grill capacity and afford you more temperature zones. There are also other things I don't have like griddles and I think now a rotisserie.
I think it's the best cooker on the planet because of its extreme flexibility.
Finally, the Smobot is recommended (for ANY kamado-style cooker) if you are doing things like shoulders or briskets that go overnight. This brilliant device replaces your daisy wheel with an actuated daisy wheel. It has a pit and two meat temperature probes, so you basically set it and forget it. There is an app for your phone and a website you can use to monitor the cook. It will alert you when the pit reaches your desired temperature (or strays from it by a configured number of degrees) and when each of the probed meats reaches a desired temperature. It takes advantage of what makes kamados great: their extreme efficiency and ability to maintain steady temperatures for long periods. Placing a fan on a kamado as all other temperature management systems do to me is sacrilege. And it is not as practical, because it is harder to run something like that that runs continuously off a USB battery if there is not an outlet handy. Smobot just makes little micro-adjustments to the daisy wheel the same way you learn to do manually with a kamado to maintain temp, and can keep temperatures for literal days depending on the size kamado you have.
They're built like brick shithouses and such a simple design it will outlast us all.
Finally, if it matters, they are made in America.
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@setandsetting - It kinda depends what you want to do with it. Is it a specialized or a polyvalent machine you want?
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Thanks everyone! And especially thanks @mclaincausey for that extensive writeup! I am looking for a charcoal grill, not gas. The Primo Large sure looks like an endgame piece that I probably will never need another grill in my lifetime.
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That's how I feel about mine. My wife bought it for me as a birthday present and I feel like she will never be able to top it.
I love Jealous Devil lump coal for it. My large + Smobot has kept 225F steady for over 20 hours before and there were still coals left.
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I think @LewisStonehouse or @scarfmace might be,better,able to help you out. I got nothing.
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https://prosmokebbq.co.uk/products/16-long-horn-7-in-1-smoker
This looks cool, but would be even cooler with reverse flow. Need it to have thick walls which this reputedly does. All I can say is that cheap ones really suck and have dramatic temperature gradients from the firebox to the exhaust and tend to leak, complicating the cook (can’t maintain steady temperature without constant attention) and wasting fuel. Offsets have become regarded as kind of “manly” or something so people will buy them for the wrong reasons. To get a good one that is worth the money is an expensive prospect as far as I’m aware.
My experience with them was that I bought a cheap one and hated it. Friends I have who use them have commercial grade ones that they either purchased or fabricated from propane tanks.
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@Alex I believe the Char Broils are decent for the price, but I’ve never had my hands on one. Joe’s and Yoder for something more premium (again haven’t used them but hear good things). I’ve used a Traeger which isn’t quite an offset smoker. Great results but it was all a bit automated for my liking, depends how hands on your pal wanted to be with it.
If it were me I’d just ditch the offset idea altogether and get a big joe with a sloroller, wayyy more versatile, but I’m fairly biased.
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PS little bit of brisket flat I did on my joe jr the other day, the bark was epic
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@goosehd offset is a bit of a one trick pony (obviously it does that trick better than anything else). You can cook anything from pizza to epic brisket on a kamado. I would buy an offset, but only because I’ve already got a kamado
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@LewisStonehouse i have already tried to convicne him to go Joe & Slo Roller as we have at work, but to no avail ::)
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Doh - odds on that he’ll spend a sleepless night tending a fire, cocking up an expensive piece of brisket on the first outing, immediately lose faith in it and it’ll then sit rusting in the garden for all eternity, incurring maximum spousal wrath
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This one if you were to seal up the inevitable gaps that would come with a $200 smoker might be a good option. It’s not going to have thick walls, which is a shame, but has a more practical form factor than most offsets, since hot air wants to rise (which is one reason I prefer reverse flow in traditional offset designs).
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Speaking of bark…
I am also a hopeless kamado partisan for home grilling and cooking.
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One of my friends is looking for an offset smoker, any tips on a good brand that he could find in the UK? @seawolf @mclaincausey @Jett129 and others
Thank you!Depending on budget honestly I’d look for one in the us and ship it. Mill scale has shipped a bunch of 94’s over. They used to build the pits for Franklin and many others… https://millscale.co/
If that’s not in the card take a look at Yoder, they make a great pellet grill (I have one and love it) and many offsets. The offsets are made very well, if I was in the market for an offset I’d look at them pretty hard at them. Here’s a distributor in Europe https://www.bbqeurope.com/product-category/grillsmokers/
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Those look magnificent,and they’re my BBQ goal for this season. Recently received a 35lb bag of Jealous Devil charcoal. Can’t wait! @mclaincausey
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@Alex I'd go with something from this place https://www.bbqmates.co.uk/product-category/bm-grills-smokers/
