Top 5 Things to Do on Your New Kamado Grill
About what to cook first on the new Kamado grill. Here, I present my recommendations that will help you get the most out of your early cook.
Is there a burn period?
The first question that pops up often is, “Do I need to burn in my new Kamado?”
Well, the short answer is no, there is no need to do any kind of aging or seasoning to your new kamado. Aside from some good hygiene practices, you’re better off going straight out of the box.
However, I strongly recommend that you set up your new Kamado for the sole purpose of playing games. Build a fire and play with the vents. See what interactions you need to achieve a temperature increase, and practice trying to slow down the fire and lower the dome temperature.
Common Kamado Settings
The most common cooking temperatures for smoking/low and slow are 225f, 250f, and 275f practice and adjust accordingly. Write down (mental notes) the approximate location of the vents. I’m talking about mental notes because every chef is a little different. Factors such as ambient temperature and humidity can affect the efficiency of a fire.
Fire it up, head to the steak searing area, open both vents, and watch the thermometer go up. If you like pizza, leave it open and head to the 500f area. You’ll be surprised how responsive Kamado is.
Once you’re done with your “practice” burn, I bet you’ll be tempted to put some meat on the grill. We often have high expectations for our first cook, and we immediately seek out the holy grail of low and slow-sirloin.
If you’re leaning toward brisket, check out this article, it might convince you to start with something different.
5 basic principles
My top 5 suggestions for cooking on your new kamado are based on learning the different principles of cooking on your kamado.
•Heat control
•Dual-zone
•Longer cook
•Multiple projects
•Smokes
Pork Ribs (Heat Control)
Reverse Grilled Steak (Dual Zone)
Beef Ribs (Smoked)
Pulled Pork (longer cooking time)
Roast Lamb and Hasselblad Potatoes (Multiple Pieces)
Now obviously when it comes to cooking, the world is your oysters. Literally, anything you can think of can be done on Kamado, sometimes you may need to tweak the recipe a bit, but it’s possible. I hope this gives you a little direction and some inspiration for your new kamado.
You Have This!
My first cook was what was in my fridge, cheap supermarket sausages �
I’ve been on this amazing learning curve ever since and have gotten more and more addicted. Like a can of Pringles, you can’t stop eating it.
Here is a link to a recipe I tried while learning kamado.
Pork Ribs (heat control)
Reverse Grilled Steak (Dual Zone)
Beef Ribs (Smoked)
Pulled Pork (longer cooking time)
Roast Lamb and Hasselblad Potatoes (multiple pieces)
If this helps you or is a little interesting, it would be great if you could share it on your social media.