An Introduction To Cooking On A Kamado BBQ Grill

In this post, we’re going to give you an introduction to cooking on a Kamado BBQ Grill.

A Kamado BBQ Grill is certainly one of the most flexible cooking units you can buy and will provide years of service if properly looked after.

Using A Ceramic Kamado BBQ Grill

The ceramic egg grills known as a Kamado BBQ Grill are extremely flexible and offer a range of cooking options.

You can use a kamado BBQ as a conventional charcoal grill, but it also can be utilised as a smoker.

But there are actually other options to it. Using it as an oven gives fantastic results and because you can quickly reach and control high temperatures you can also use it as a great pizza oven or even a tandoori oven.

Lighting Your Kamado BBQ Grill

Setting up a ceramic grill depends greatly on what you’re going to be cooking, however, conventional charcoal is always the fuel.

Lighting your charcoal can be a challenge but please try to steer clear of lighter fluids and firelighter cubes that are petroleum-based as they will taint the flavour of your food not just for your first cook but also for any future cooks as the accelerants get absorbed by the ceramic.

If you have to use firelighters use a non-petroleum-based one. Put the firelighters in the charcoal, light it, and then leave the kamado lid and the bottom vent open.

Once the firelighter has burnt out, close the lid and fully open the dual disc cap so that you get maximum airflow.

Keep your eye on the temperature gauge because it’ll rise quickly and you need to control it once you are up to temperature.

A cleaner method to light a kamado is to use an electric fire starter, it’s like a super powerful hair drier and as they are electric they never run out of gas and don’t taint your food.

To order one click here.

I like to use a charcoal starter chimney, these units can get your charcoal lit and up to temperature very quickly, you can use a non-petroleum firelighter or the electric fire starter.

To order one of those click here.

Kamado BBQ Grill Temperature Regulation

The biggest advantage of cooking on a kamado grill is once you have your temperature set, your grill will run at that temperature without the need to manually adjust the airflow constantly.

Once you have your kamado bbq grill lit, make sure the top and bottom vents are fully open, then you should see the temperature rising via the gauge, it should be rising 10 degrees a minute.

There are some general rules for creating a solid consistent heat:

The temperature consistency isn’t just governed by the heat of the charcoal, you also have to make sure the ceramic grill itself can absorb as much heat as possible, part of the design and advantage of a ceramic grill is its ability to absorb and retain the heat.
To warm up your kamado grill remove all the cooking parts, the deflector stones, grills, and cooking grates. This will ensure a consistent build-up of heat gets absorbed by the ceramic walls of the grill.
When you then insert the deflector stones, grills, and cooking grates they will restrict airflow so the temperature will drop. However, if you have allowed time and room in your grill for the heat to build up in the ceramic walls, the temperature drop will be a lot less.

Everyone has a different method for temperature control and it will depend on which model you own, but here is a brief general guide for temperature regulation:

Open up the top and bottom vents and the temperature will rise quickly
Once you achieve your required temperature, shut the bottom vent too leaving approx ½ an inch (1.2cm) this will stop the temperature from rising.
Adjust the bottom vent to make large changes in temperature but whilst the grill is operating at your chosen temperature range you should only need to use the top daisy wheel for fine-tuning it.
When you have reached your desired temperature only adjust the bottom or the top vents independently never both at the same time or your temperatures will rise too quickly and burn through your fuel.
When using the kamado grill for normal BBQing set the bottom vent open by about 1 inch (2.1/2cm) and have the daisy wheel vent fully open
Should you have the small top vents open, closing them halfway will bring the temperature down by around 10°C / 18°F
To achieve a steady smoking temperature set the bottom vent open about a 1/4 of an inch (0.5cm) and set the small daisy wheel vent to half-open.

If you want to use your Kamado grill for roasting, you’ll need to achieve a temperature of around 150 – 180°C (300 – 350°F) a really easy way to do this is to fully open the bottom vent and just have the small holes on your daisy wheel open.

If you light the charcoal and then close the lid and leave it for about half an hour your grill’s ceramic walls will have warmed up gently and it will be ready to roast in.

The grill we sell has a dual disc daisy wheel design which is the adopted design for high-level temperature control using the top vent because it enables a huge amount of control over the airflow.

How to Cool Your Kamado BBQ Grill

Occasionally you may need to cool your grill, unfortunately, because the grill is so well designed to hold heat and retain a consistent temperature cooling a kamado grill is a little difficult.

The best way we have found is to close all the vents and put a pan of cold water on the grill, the moisture will dampen the charcoal heat and the water in the pan will absorb some of the heat.

Different Cooking Methods On A Kamado BBQ Grill

Here we’ll briefly cover the different cooking setups for a Kamado bbq grill.

Grilling

Only use a mix of old and new charcoal, or all-new charcoal if you want higher temperatures, don’t use old charcoal
Do not use a heat deflector
Place the grilling grate above the charcoal.
If it’s possible, split the grill grate and use half the grate on an upper level and half on a lower.
Target temperature is : 204c – 320c (400F – 600F)
Open the bottom vent by an inch and fully open the top daisy wheel vent.
Keep the lid closed for reaching temperature and holding it for longer grills, you can leave it open for short grilling when cooking hot dogs or very thin cuts, vegetables, etc.)

Searing

Only use a mix of old and new charcoal, or all-new charcoal if you want higher temperatures, don’t use old charcoal
Do not use a heat deflector
Place the grilling grate above the charcoal.
Target temp: 260C – 400C (500F – 750F)
Leave the lid open for the first 10 minutes
Open the bottom vent by an inch and fully open the top daisy wheel vent
After 10 minutes close the lid but remember to check and don’t leave the cook on for too long at the high temperatures

Roasting

Use a mix of new and old charcoal if you have old charcoal to get rid of.
Place the heat deflector above the charcoal
Put the grill grate on a rack above the deflector
If you have one place an oven tray as a drip pan below the grate
Target temp: 150C – 240C (300F – 450F)
Open both the top and bottom vents halfway until you get to your target temperature then close the bottom vent to within half an inch 1.2cm, and leave the daisy wheel half-open.
Keep the lid closed as long as possible whilst cooking
You can add a small amount of smoking wood or chips if you want to add a smokey flavour to your roast.

Baking

Use a mix of old and new charcoal or all-new charcoal if you want higher temperatures, don’t use old charcoal
Place a heat deflector above the charcoal
Then place your pizza stone onto the heat deflector
Target temp: 150C – 240C (300F – 450F) for normal baking; and for pizzas aim for 260C+ (500F)
Open both the top and bottom vents halfway until you get to your target temperature then close the bottom vent to within half an inch 1.2cm, and leave the daisy wheel half open
Preheat the pizza stone for 10 minutes before placing any food on to it.
Keep the lid closed.

Smoking

Only use new charcoal for smoking
Place the heat deflector above the charcoal
Put the grilling grate on a rack above the heat deflector.
Place an oven tray as a drip pan below the grate
A water pan is NOT required, you will cool the grill.
Target temp: 150C – 230C (225F – 275F)
Open the bottom vent around 2 inches (5cm)
Close the top vent but fully open the daisy wheel if your grill has one fitted. You can adjust the daisy wheel to raise or lower the temperature but wait 15 minutes before readjusting.
Keep the lid closed
Add some pieces of smoking wood at the beginning of the process.

Enjoy Using Your Kamado BBQ Grill

We hope the ideas here give you some inspiration for getting out there and using your Kamado bbq grill?

If you don’t have a grill there are lots of choices, you can pay a lot of money, upwards of a thousand pounds, however, if you fancy one and don’t want to invest a huge amount we sell a very nice small 13″ Kamado bbq grill in our online store, you can view the details here alongside the kamado grill we also sell a very nice conventional charcoal barbeque please browse our online store.

We’ll be posting recipes and other useful information over the coming weeks.

Enjoy your grill and if you have any tips or recipes yourself pop them in the comments