Aldi Kamado Oven
Discussion
dapprman said:
Big Rig said:
£329 with that code.
Are they as good/better than a Weber kettle? Was planning to purchase one of those in next few weeks.
Different style of BBQing. Think there's more than a few of us here who've moved from a kettle BBQ to a kamado.Are they as good/better than a Weber kettle? Was planning to purchase one of those in next few weeks.
Kamados are particularly good for low and slow and keeping the temperature steady and hot as hell. They are overkill for a few sausages and burgers (but I’d argue a Weber kettle is too).
eyebeebe said:
I thought my barbecues were pretty good with my Weber. I bought a Monolith Kamado about 5 years ago and it’s much better. The Weber is next to it and only really gets used for overflow these days.
Kamados are particularly good for low and slow and keeping the temperature steady and hot as hell. They are overkill for a few sausages and burgers (but I’d argue a Weber kettle is too).
Very good summary. The key difference with the Weber is the degree of insulation which makes it thermally efficient and stable - it's almost like an outdoor AGAKamados are particularly good for low and slow and keeping the temperature steady and hot as hell. They are overkill for a few sausages and burgers (but I’d argue a Weber kettle is too).
We use ours winter and summer. It can go about 12 hours on a bucket of charcoal and once stabilised hold a temperature +/- 2 degrees. It's obviously overkill for sausages but I often fire it up for a couple of steaks.
oddman said:
eyebeebe said:
I thought my barbecues were pretty good with my Weber. I bought a Monolith Kamado about 5 years ago and it’s much better. The Weber is next to it and only really gets used for overflow these days.
Kamados are particularly good for low and slow and keeping the temperature steady and hot as hell. They are overkill for a few sausages and burgers (but I’d argue a Weber kettle is too).
Very good summary. The key difference with the Weber is the degree of insulation which makes it thermally efficient and stable - it's almost like an outdoor AGAKamados are particularly good for low and slow and keeping the temperature steady and hot as hell. They are overkill for a few sausages and burgers (but I’d argue a Weber kettle is too).
We use ours winter and summer. It can go about 12 hours on a bucket of charcoal and once stabilised hold a temperature +/- 2 degrees. It's obviously overkill for sausages but I often fire it up for a couple of steaks.
hotchy said:
oddman said:
eyebeebe said:
I thought my barbecues were pretty good with my Weber. I bought a Monolith Kamado about 5 years ago and it’s much better. The Weber is next to it and only really gets used for overflow these days.
Kamados are particularly good for low and slow and keeping the temperature steady and hot as hell. They are overkill for a few sausages and burgers (but I’d argue a Weber kettle is too).
Very good summary. The key difference with the Weber is the degree of insulation which makes it thermally efficient and stable - it's almost like an outdoor AGAKamados are particularly good for low and slow and keeping the temperature steady and hot as hell. They are overkill for a few sausages and burgers (but I’d argue a Weber kettle is too).
We use ours winter and summer. It can go about 12 hours on a bucket of charcoal and once stabilised hold a temperature +/- 2 degrees. It's obviously overkill for sausages but I often fire it up for a couple of steaks.
Big Rig said:
Well I ordered one, being delivered on Wednesday next week.
What essentials do I need to buy? I’d like to try cooking pizza and maybe a rotisserie or beer can chicken.
Make sure you have decent charcoal and some chunks of smoking wood. Online is probably best. Big Green Egg are reliable but a bit pricy but a good place to start. Safety first - Be aware that when you are cooking the chamber will be slightly anaerobic, generating CO and you need to carefully 'burp' the barbecue before opening the lid. If you open quickly you might get a blowback where the CO burns off in the rush of oxygen and you'll lose your arm hair eyelashes and eyebrows. Decent gloves and good tools - wire brush and tongs.What essentials do I need to buy? I’d like to try cooking pizza and maybe a rotisserie or beer can chicken.
Buy a barbecue book - Ray Lampre's Slow Fire is pretty comprehensive. American recipes use a lot of dried garlic, celery and onion powder. I find if you get the basic salt sugar and black pepper right(to make the smoke stick to the meat, the rest is up to you I always have a bit of paprika and chilli powder but I leave the garlic and other wet ingredients for the sauce/basting stage.
You need a temperature probe for the barbecue- ideally dual probe for the meat and the barbecue with wireless so you can monitor is remotely
I'd suggest doing a chicken wing recipe. £2.60 a kilo at Morrisons so you'll waste more in charcoal than meat if you mess it up (unlikely). Once you've got over the faff of lighting, adding smoking wood, setting up the shelves and waiting for the temperature to slowly come up whilst you progressively close the vents, you'll be a minimum of 2 hours in on your first go at it. I can't emphasise how important it is to let it come up to temperature slowly.
My method is - fill the barbecue with good quality charcoal. Biggest chunks in first to create ari space. Use a couple of paraffin free barbecue lighters lid open bottom vent open. Leave about 10 minutes until lghters are burnt out but charcoal only just lit in to small patches. Put in smoking wood and asseble shelves as instructed by recipe. A big water pan beneath the meat shelf helps with temperature regulation, moisture and catches a lot of drips. Put the temperature probe closest to the hinge side so it's out the way. Close the lid and the vents to half. Wait. Wait. Wait - when it gets to 180 degrees F close the vents to a quarter. Then it's a bit of finesse - watch the temp - if it is rising by more than a few degree every five minutes close the vents further. If it stalls then open them up a bit but watch like a hawk. It is very difficult to cool it down if it gets away from you. I shoot for about 230 degrees and this takes best part of two hours. I tend to put meat in before it hit target temperature becuase opening the barbecue will draw more air and cause a mini surge of heat.
In this time you can be prepping the meat.
Great thing about chicken wings is the recipe is simple and they only take a couple of hours to smoke. Once they're smoked, you can slather with a sauce or sauces of your preference, convert the barbecue to grilling and get a bit of char on them (will take a minute or so at 500F.
Wings done this way are amazing - smokey and moist with some char and crunch. Just some coleslaw and french bread is a decent accompaniment. Wings are so easy you can throw them on when doing a bigger cook.
You can do thighs and drumsticks exactly the same way with a three hour smoke. I've always found beercan chicken a bit of a disappointment - the breast meat seems to dry before thighs are cooked
Beginning with wings you get to use the barbecue both ways in a time of possibly less than five hours.
Next up try ribs - essentially the same method but longer. US barbecue aficionados talk about the 3:2:1 method ie 3 hours in smoke 2 hours in foil and then 1 hour baking. I think you can get away with 1 hour in foil (with some apple juice) then slather and grill for a few minutes.
Once you are confident with the smoking process then a shoulder pork for pulled pork - very cheap - is a good way to really get into it. You can even do the beans in the barbecue with the pork. Be prepeared for the 'stall' at around 170F when the connective tissue in the pork is melting. I've had even small shoulders stall for four hours. Factoring ten hours from lighting to taking the meat out would be 'quick' in my experience. I often do slow cooks overnight. Even if the barbecue burns out overnight, the lion's share of the cooking is done and you can finish in a low oven.
I'm pretty decent at pizzas but I've never got the hang of it in the kamodo I burn the bottom before the top is done. I had a piece of 10mm steel sheet to fit our oven and use this for crispy case.
PS Fish
Google some kamado salmon recipes. BGE have a nice one (to sell you their 'smoking planks')
Slightly higher temperature (which paradoxically takes less time to get to as you don't have to do the 'grandmother's steps' thing as you do for very low cooking)
Shorter time less intense sugar and salt application so lighter smoke - really impressive - lovely with a few new potatoes, salad and a glass of white
Google some kamado salmon recipes. BGE have a nice one (to sell you their 'smoking planks')
Slightly higher temperature (which paradoxically takes less time to get to as you don't have to do the 'grandmother's steps' thing as you do for very low cooking)
Shorter time less intense sugar and salt application so lighter smoke - really impressive - lovely with a few new potatoes, salad and a glass of white
oddman said:
Make sure you have decent charcoal and some chunks of smoking wood. Online is probably best. Big Green Egg are reliable but a bit pricy but a good place to start. Safety first - Be aware that when you are cooking the chamber will be slightly anaerobic, generating CO and you need to carefully 'burp' the barbecue before opening the lid. If you open quickly you might get a blowback where the CO burns off in the rush of oxygen and you'll lose your arm hair eyelashes and eyebrows. Decent gloves and good tools - wire brush and tongs.
Buy a barbecue book - Ray Lampre's Slow Fire is pretty comprehensive. American recipes use a lot of dried garlic, celery and onion powder. I find if you get the basic salt sugar and black pepper right(to make the smoke stick to the meat, the rest is up to you I always have a bit of paprika and chilli powder but I leave the garlic and other wet ingredients for the sauce/basting stage.
You need a temperature probe for the barbecue- ideally dual probe for the meat and the barbecue with wireless so you can monitor is remotely
I'd suggest doing a chicken wing recipe. £2.60 a kilo at Morrisons so you'll waste more in charcoal than meat if you mess it up (unlikely). Once you've got over the faff of lighting, adding smoking wood, setting up the shelves and waiting for the temperature to slowly come up whilst you progressively close the vents, you'll be a minimum of 2 hours in on your first go at it. I can't emphasise how important it is to let it come up to temperature slowly.
My method is - fill the barbecue with good quality charcoal. Biggest chunks in first to create ari space. Use a couple of paraffin free barbecue lighters lid open bottom vent open. Leave about 10 minutes until lghters are burnt out but charcoal only just lit in to small patches. Put in smoking wood and asseble shelves as instructed by recipe. A big water pan beneath the meat shelf helps with temperature regulation, moisture and catches a lot of drips. Put the temperature probe closest to the hinge side so it's out the way. Close the lid and the vents to half. Wait. Wait. Wait - when it gets to 180 degrees F close the vents to a quarter. Then it's a bit of finesse - watch the temp - if it is rising by more than a few degree every five minutes close the vents further. If it stalls then open them up a bit but watch like a hawk. It is very difficult to cool it down if it gets away from you. I shoot for about 230 degrees and this takes best part of two hours. I tend to put meat in before it hit target temperature becuase opening the barbecue will draw more air and cause a mini surge of heat.
In this time you can be prepping the meat.
Great thing about chicken wings is the recipe is simple and they only take a couple of hours to smoke. Once they're smoked, you can slather with a sauce or sauces of your preference, convert the barbecue to grilling and get a bit of char on them (will take a minute or so at 500F.
Wings done this way are amazing - smokey and moist with some char and crunch. Just some coleslaw and french bread is a decent accompaniment. Wings are so easy you can throw them on when doing a bigger cook.
You can do thighs and drumsticks exactly the same way with a three hour smoke. I've always found beercan chicken a bit of a disappointment - the breast meat seems to dry before thighs are cooked
Beginning with wings you get to use the barbecue both ways in a time of possibly less than five hours.
Next up try ribs - essentially the same method but longer. US barbecue aficionados talk about the 3:2:1 method ie 3 hours in smoke 2 hours in foil and then 1 hour baking. I think you can get away with 1 hour in foil (with some apple juice) then slather and grill for a few minutes.
Once you are confident with the smoking process then a shoulder pork for pulled pork - very cheap - is a good way to really get into it. You can even do the beans in the barbecue with the pork. Be prepeared for the 'stall' at around 170F when the connective tissue in the pork is melting. I've had even small shoulders stall for four hours. Factoring ten hours from lighting to taking the meat out would be 'quick' in my experience. I often do slow cooks overnight. Even if the barbecue burns out overnight, the lion's share of the cooking is done and you can finish in a low oven.
I'm pretty decent at pizzas but I've never got the hang of it in the kamodo I burn the bottom before the top is done. I had a piece of 10mm steel sheet to fit our oven and use this for crispy case.
What a generous and considered post. Mines been sat under it’s cover all winter and I’m going to get it out this weekend clean it up and then follow that chicken wing recipe and method to the letter. Lump wood charcoal being ordered! Buy a barbecue book - Ray Lampre's Slow Fire is pretty comprehensive. American recipes use a lot of dried garlic, celery and onion powder. I find if you get the basic salt sugar and black pepper right(to make the smoke stick to the meat, the rest is up to you I always have a bit of paprika and chilli powder but I leave the garlic and other wet ingredients for the sauce/basting stage.
You need a temperature probe for the barbecue- ideally dual probe for the meat and the barbecue with wireless so you can monitor is remotely
I'd suggest doing a chicken wing recipe. £2.60 a kilo at Morrisons so you'll waste more in charcoal than meat if you mess it up (unlikely). Once you've got over the faff of lighting, adding smoking wood, setting up the shelves and waiting for the temperature to slowly come up whilst you progressively close the vents, you'll be a minimum of 2 hours in on your first go at it. I can't emphasise how important it is to let it come up to temperature slowly.
My method is - fill the barbecue with good quality charcoal. Biggest chunks in first to create ari space. Use a couple of paraffin free barbecue lighters lid open bottom vent open. Leave about 10 minutes until lghters are burnt out but charcoal only just lit in to small patches. Put in smoking wood and asseble shelves as instructed by recipe. A big water pan beneath the meat shelf helps with temperature regulation, moisture and catches a lot of drips. Put the temperature probe closest to the hinge side so it's out the way. Close the lid and the vents to half. Wait. Wait. Wait - when it gets to 180 degrees F close the vents to a quarter. Then it's a bit of finesse - watch the temp - if it is rising by more than a few degree every five minutes close the vents further. If it stalls then open them up a bit but watch like a hawk. It is very difficult to cool it down if it gets away from you. I shoot for about 230 degrees and this takes best part of two hours. I tend to put meat in before it hit target temperature becuase opening the barbecue will draw more air and cause a mini surge of heat.
In this time you can be prepping the meat.
Great thing about chicken wings is the recipe is simple and they only take a couple of hours to smoke. Once they're smoked, you can slather with a sauce or sauces of your preference, convert the barbecue to grilling and get a bit of char on them (will take a minute or so at 500F.
Wings done this way are amazing - smokey and moist with some char and crunch. Just some coleslaw and french bread is a decent accompaniment. Wings are so easy you can throw them on when doing a bigger cook.
You can do thighs and drumsticks exactly the same way with a three hour smoke. I've always found beercan chicken a bit of a disappointment - the breast meat seems to dry before thighs are cooked
Beginning with wings you get to use the barbecue both ways in a time of possibly less than five hours.
Next up try ribs - essentially the same method but longer. US barbecue aficionados talk about the 3:2:1 method ie 3 hours in smoke 2 hours in foil and then 1 hour baking. I think you can get away with 1 hour in foil (with some apple juice) then slather and grill for a few minutes.
Once you are confident with the smoking process then a shoulder pork for pulled pork - very cheap - is a good way to really get into it. You can even do the beans in the barbecue with the pork. Be prepeared for the 'stall' at around 170F when the connective tissue in the pork is melting. I've had even small shoulders stall for four hours. Factoring ten hours from lighting to taking the meat out would be 'quick' in my experience. I often do slow cooks overnight. Even if the barbecue burns out overnight, the lion's share of the cooking is done and you can finish in a low oven.
I'm pretty decent at pizzas but I've never got the hang of it in the kamodo I burn the bottom before the top is done. I had a piece of 10mm steel sheet to fit our oven and use this for crispy case.
Thanks for taking the time to write all that.
Gone a bit AMG said:
oddman said:
Make sure you have decent charcoal and some chunks of smoking wood. Online is probably best. Big Green Egg are reliable but a bit pricy but a good place to start. Safety first - Be aware that when you are cooking the chamber will be slightly anaerobic, generating CO and you need to carefully 'burp' the barbecue before opening the lid. If you open quickly you might get a blowback where the CO burns off in the rush of oxygen and you'll lose your arm hair eyelashes and eyebrows. Decent gloves and good tools - wire brush and tongs.
Buy a barbecue book - Ray Lampre's Slow Fire is pretty comprehensive. American recipes use a lot of dried garlic, celery and onion powder. I find if you get the basic salt sugar and black pepper right(to make the smoke stick to the meat, the rest is up to you I always have a bit of paprika and chilli powder but I leave the garlic and other wet ingredients for the sauce/basting stage.
You need a temperature probe for the barbecue- ideally dual probe for the meat and the barbecue with wireless so you can monitor is remotely
I'd suggest doing a chicken wing recipe. £2.60 a kilo at Morrisons so you'll waste more in charcoal than meat if you mess it up (unlikely). Once you've got over the faff of lighting, adding smoking wood, setting up the shelves and waiting for the temperature to slowly come up whilst you progressively close the vents, you'll be a minimum of 2 hours in on your first go at it. I can't emphasise how important it is to let it come up to temperature slowly.
My method is - fill the barbecue with good quality charcoal. Biggest chunks in first to create ari space. Use a couple of paraffin free barbecue lighters lid open bottom vent open. Leave about 10 minutes until lghters are burnt out but charcoal only just lit in to small patches. Put in smoking wood and asseble shelves as instructed by recipe. A big water pan beneath the meat shelf helps with temperature regulation, moisture and catches a lot of drips. Put the temperature probe closest to the hinge side so it's out the way. Close the lid and the vents to half. Wait. Wait. Wait - when it gets to 180 degrees F close the vents to a quarter. Then it's a bit of finesse - watch the temp - if it is rising by more than a few degree every five minutes close the vents further. If it stalls then open them up a bit but watch like a hawk. It is very difficult to cool it down if it gets away from you. I shoot for about 230 degrees and this takes best part of two hours. I tend to put meat in before it hit target temperature becuase opening the barbecue will draw more air and cause a mini surge of heat.
In this time you can be prepping the meat.
Great thing about chicken wings is the recipe is simple and they only take a couple of hours to smoke. Once they're smoked, you can slather with a sauce or sauces of your preference, convert the barbecue to grilling and get a bit of char on them (will take a minute or so at 500F.
Wings done this way are amazing - smokey and moist with some char and crunch. Just some coleslaw and french bread is a decent accompaniment. Wings are so easy you can throw them on when doing a bigger cook.
You can do thighs and drumsticks exactly the same way with a three hour smoke. I've always found beercan chicken a bit of a disappointment - the breast meat seems to dry before thighs are cooked
Beginning with wings you get to use the barbecue both ways in a time of possibly less than five hours.
Next up try ribs - essentially the same method but longer. US barbecue aficionados talk about the 3:2:1 method ie 3 hours in smoke 2 hours in foil and then 1 hour baking. I think you can get away with 1 hour in foil (with some apple juice) then slather and grill for a few minutes.
Once you are confident with the smoking process then a shoulder pork for pulled pork - very cheap - is a good way to really get into it. You can even do the beans in the barbecue with the pork. Be prepeared for the 'stall' at around 170F when the connective tissue in the pork is melting. I've had even small shoulders stall for four hours. Factoring ten hours from lighting to taking the meat out would be 'quick' in my experience. I often do slow cooks overnight. Even if the barbecue burns out overnight, the lion's share of the cooking is done and you can finish in a low oven.
I'm pretty decent at pizzas but I've never got the hang of it in the kamodo I burn the bottom before the top is done. I had a piece of 10mm steel sheet to fit our oven and use this for crispy case.
What a generous and considered post. Mines been sat under it’s cover all winter and I’m going to get it out this weekend clean it up and then follow that chicken wing recipe and method to the letter. Lump wood charcoal being ordered! Buy a barbecue book - Ray Lampre's Slow Fire is pretty comprehensive. American recipes use a lot of dried garlic, celery and onion powder. I find if you get the basic salt sugar and black pepper right(to make the smoke stick to the meat, the rest is up to you I always have a bit of paprika and chilli powder but I leave the garlic and other wet ingredients for the sauce/basting stage.
You need a temperature probe for the barbecue- ideally dual probe for the meat and the barbecue with wireless so you can monitor is remotely
I'd suggest doing a chicken wing recipe. £2.60 a kilo at Morrisons so you'll waste more in charcoal than meat if you mess it up (unlikely). Once you've got over the faff of lighting, adding smoking wood, setting up the shelves and waiting for the temperature to slowly come up whilst you progressively close the vents, you'll be a minimum of 2 hours in on your first go at it. I can't emphasise how important it is to let it come up to temperature slowly.
My method is - fill the barbecue with good quality charcoal. Biggest chunks in first to create ari space. Use a couple of paraffin free barbecue lighters lid open bottom vent open. Leave about 10 minutes until lghters are burnt out but charcoal only just lit in to small patches. Put in smoking wood and asseble shelves as instructed by recipe. A big water pan beneath the meat shelf helps with temperature regulation, moisture and catches a lot of drips. Put the temperature probe closest to the hinge side so it's out the way. Close the lid and the vents to half. Wait. Wait. Wait - when it gets to 180 degrees F close the vents to a quarter. Then it's a bit of finesse - watch the temp - if it is rising by more than a few degree every five minutes close the vents further. If it stalls then open them up a bit but watch like a hawk. It is very difficult to cool it down if it gets away from you. I shoot for about 230 degrees and this takes best part of two hours. I tend to put meat in before it hit target temperature becuase opening the barbecue will draw more air and cause a mini surge of heat.
In this time you can be prepping the meat.
Great thing about chicken wings is the recipe is simple and they only take a couple of hours to smoke. Once they're smoked, you can slather with a sauce or sauces of your preference, convert the barbecue to grilling and get a bit of char on them (will take a minute or so at 500F.
Wings done this way are amazing - smokey and moist with some char and crunch. Just some coleslaw and french bread is a decent accompaniment. Wings are so easy you can throw them on when doing a bigger cook.
You can do thighs and drumsticks exactly the same way with a three hour smoke. I've always found beercan chicken a bit of a disappointment - the breast meat seems to dry before thighs are cooked
Beginning with wings you get to use the barbecue both ways in a time of possibly less than five hours.
Next up try ribs - essentially the same method but longer. US barbecue aficionados talk about the 3:2:1 method ie 3 hours in smoke 2 hours in foil and then 1 hour baking. I think you can get away with 1 hour in foil (with some apple juice) then slather and grill for a few minutes.
Once you are confident with the smoking process then a shoulder pork for pulled pork - very cheap - is a good way to really get into it. You can even do the beans in the barbecue with the pork. Be prepeared for the 'stall' at around 170F when the connective tissue in the pork is melting. I've had even small shoulders stall for four hours. Factoring ten hours from lighting to taking the meat out would be 'quick' in my experience. I often do slow cooks overnight. Even if the barbecue burns out overnight, the lion's share of the cooking is done and you can finish in a low oven.
I'm pretty decent at pizzas but I've never got the hang of it in the kamodo I burn the bottom before the top is done. I had a piece of 10mm steel sheet to fit our oven and use this for crispy case.
Thanks for taking the time to write all that.
Gone a bit AMG said:
What a generous and considered post. Mines been sat under it’s cover all winter and I’m going to get it out this weekend clean it up and then follow that chicken wing recipe and method to the letter. Lump wood charcoal being ordered!
Thanks for taking the time to write all that.
As you can tell I'm a bit of an enthusiast but there is a bit of a learning curve and it would be a shame if people's kamados became expensive garden ornaments. Mine wasn't so much a recipe as advice about what's needed for starting out and the general method. Do a bit of googling to find a decent rub/recipe for wings.Thanks for taking the time to write all that.
hotchy said:
The only unfortunate thing he's not mentioned about the chicken wings is you can't fit enough on it. You'll be wanting a kamado Joe XL soon enough just for more wings lol
Too true a kilo of wings spaced out will take up most of the grill. Could be an excuse to get one of the mini kamados 
ETA - another piece of advice which people might find really gross. Collect up all the bones from chewed wings, thighs and drumsticks. You can make a smoky chicken stock which, once reduced to a jelly, makes an awesome base for future barbecue sauces.
Edited by oddman on Thursday 2nd March 12:40
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