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.
It only took me a year but I pulled the trigger today on the Primo 200 Junior based on your recommendation. Bought the dealer's floor model and cypress cart and saved a few hundred. Got the deflector plates and holder things. That's it on accessories so far but I'm sure come spring I'll be ready to start doing all sorts of things with it. I went in thinking I was going to buy the Large but the Junior is not tiny at all will still fit a small Turkey.
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To celebrate out last motorbike trip only meaty stuff was gonna do. So on Sunday we put a lamb (minus hind legs) a-la-cruz (literally, crucified…) which takes about 6 hours to cook to perfection.
And last night we wrapped up with a traditional barbecue along with some corn chips, bread and pickled onions.
The journey is the objective.
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My jaw has dropped. That's amazing.
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@motojobobo Outerworldly. This is perfection!
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@Nocturama thank you will take a look and see if it’s available here in Oz
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@Nocturama said in Grilling, Smoking, BBQ, etc. WAYCT (What Are You Cooking Today) Outdoor Edition:
@Brian - I have an InkBird which has been reliable and not too expensive. They’re available from Amazon (at least in the UK).
They have them in Oz so ordered a 2 probe version
Thank youAlso this is todays task hopefully will end up as pulled pork
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great looking steak right there! what temp was your bbq? With all your charcoal lit, I can imagin it must have been quite high no?
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First smoke on the Primo! Bone in pork shoulder. Smoking duds involve IH Easy Shorts and IH jean vest.
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some sausages and beer , all I need
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@setandsetting A beer is needed in one hand to offset the weight of the spatula in the other hand. Not doing so is going to cause muscular imbalance and/or spinal back issues. Please correct asap as I don't want to see you get hurt!!
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@seawolf said in Grilling, Smoking, BBQ, etc. WAYCT (What Are You Cooking Today) Outdoor Edition:
Safety first!
unless it stops production
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Mother’s Day ribs, elote potato salad, slaw, mustard sauce.
