Big Green Egg or Komado

Yes I got a Kamado this year and still can't believe the difference that this way of cooking produces. The BGE is the US standard, but pricey and too much for what it offers. The Kamado is a copy, but they've put a lot of effort in producing an excellent product and (depending on model) better than the BGE. I got mine from Costco, which has all stainless metal parts.

It completely changed the way I look at barbecues now. A chicken roasted at 225f for 2 2/12 hours is so succulent and beautifully smoked like none other I've ever tasted. The secret is in the perfect sealing lid and the hardwood charcoal.

Great fun and an absolute doodle to use.  

I bought my BGE about 12 years ago and have noticed since then that the Kamado is creeping into the US market. Also several copy cats of various colors. BGE is expensive but high quality (a bit like Naim). From what I read the Kamado is of similar build-quality and perhaps better with the stainless parts?

My romance with cooking on my egg waned as I've turned mostly vegetarian, with the exception of seafood, over that last decade. But I recently cleaned it up, took photos, and put an ad on Craigslist to sell it.  While the ad was posted I used the egg for three straight nights and fell in love again with what it does for food; any food you can grill.  We had crab-stuffed portabello mushrooms, coho salmon, and various vegetables. My family begged me not to sell it and to start using it again on a regular basis. So I'm holding onto it for a while and hopefully I'll stay motivated to keep using it. It can be a bother to use in cold, damp weather, but the taste is so rewarding.

Randy, I am coming up on the 3 year anniversary of owning a Big Green Egg (large size).  I got mine delivered the day before Thanksgiving and the first thing I cooked in it was the turkey.  It came out great, and I've been very pleased with the BGE ever since.  I enjoy its versatility -- it can do a Boston Butt (pork shoulder) and pork ribs at 240 degrees F. for 10 hours, and then it can do steaks at 600 degrees F.

It cannot smoke QUITE as well as a dedicated smoker I think, but I am ok with that.  My friend owns a very nice Cookshack smoker, but I think that he has gained at least 30 pounds since buying it.  He cooks and eats way too much fatty meat in it   The BGE does vegetables and fish quite well.  We do fatty pork only once every few months.

I agree -- I view it a bit like owning Naim and other luxury items.  It's extremely well made, a pleasure to use, and expensive.  But a true "value" as it delivers.

Good to hear from you Bart! It seems great minds think alike on feeding the ears as well as the belly .

You may have been as fortunate as bold to create a positive outcome with a Thanksgiving bird for your first foray using the egg. You cracked a tough one right off the bat. Congrats!

Yeah, I can see where Naim and BGE or Kamado owners might overlap. 

I'm looking at the pizza stone and plate setter as my next "upgrade".  High heat involved. Anyone tried them?

I'm a Primo fan, the oval shape is an absolute winner.  The BGE is the clear market leader, but I truly believe the Primo's are better.

The absolute 'Naim' of charcoal smokers is the Komodo Kamado which are stunningly beautiful and massively over built.  Don't confuse these with the Kamado mentioned above.  It's worth a search on YouTube to see it in action.

Back to reality though, I use my Primo weekly, the oval shape is much more versatile.  I have Junior, sometimes I wish I had the XL though.

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I did a quick goole of the Primos. Nice looking grills and the oval shape seems more practical in terms of arranging items and cooking surface area. How do you find the heat distribution in the Primos? One of the factors that drew me to the egg some dozen years ago was the oval shape which seems to offer uniform heat distribution within.

Joe,

The beauty of the oval is that i can set up a direct zone and an indirect zone.  I use this all the time.  I like to use the reverse sear method with my steaks.  This method has you cook indirectly until the steak is at 125 deg F, then transfer to the direct side flipping once until the desired level of 'doneness' is reached.

My other configuration is to use both deflector plates to create a complete indirect zone.