Kamado Grills : Big Green Egg, Grill Dome, Primo, Kamado Joe

I'm thinking of getting a ceramic lined Kamado style charcoal grill and I was wondering if any of you have experience with and can recommend any of the major brand names as being better than any other regarding features, price, quality, usability, etc...

The brand names I've come across so far are Big Green Egg, Grill Dome, Primo, and Kamado Joe. Are there others I should consider?

Big Green Egg is the "name" brand and is $1000 an up.

Kamodo Joe is a knockoff and runs a couple hundred cheaper.

I like the theory of them, but I'd have to grill A LOT to make it worth while.

Save your money and buy one (or two) Weber Performer 22.5" grills. They typically run about $335.00 for plain black---fancy colors are extra. The tools and accessories Weber offers for their 22.5" grills are amazing, rotisserie, gourmet grates, SS gratrs, etc. Lighting charcoal with propane; and, being ready to cook in about 15 minutes is killer. Need more? Buy the Weber 22.5" Smokey Mountain smoker.

'Coalway' (the place where I bought our Blaschak for the 2011/2012 heating season) is having a Big Green Egg demonstration event on May 11th. I think we will go and watch (and eat) all sorts of food being cooked on them. 10% off at this event.

We saw a 'Grill Dome' at a local Home & Garden show today, and they claim their product is superior to the BGE (but who knows if there is any truth in it).

From what I can tell, all of the various brand names that I listed (including the BGE) are clones of the original (and apparently no longer manufactured) Komodo Kamado. Only the Primo is made in the USA.

Big Green Egg is made in Mexico
Kamado Joe is made in China
Saffire is made in China
Grill Dome is made in India
Primo is made in the USA

Just to add more confusion.
http://www.rjaystore.com/Remington-Big-Shot-Ceram ... -17962.htm

The Remington looks suspiciously like the Saffire.

I second the webber PERFORMER....have it in green and have every accessory they make for it. the wok,griddle,pizza stone...

the ease of the propane ignition andtaste of cowboy charcoal is priceless. it moves easy and don't weigh 2ooo lbs. for real deal brick lined stuff, iv'e been building http://www.fornobravo.com/ ... the real deal

Or you could use the Alton Brown "Good Eats" method.

Skip to 9:45 for the important part but I enjoy the whole episode.

Primo Oval ! nuf said

Great video Jeff!

dcrane wrote:Primo Oval ! nuf said

Doug, do you have one?

I am going to purchase flower pot. We have looked at these eggs and other brands, just can't see spending the $ for that. I built a smoker for my brother from an old fridge.

Kevin

KLook wrote:I am going to purchase flower pot. We have looked at these eggs and other brands, just can't see spending the $ for that. I built a smoker for my brother from an old fridge.

Kevin

yea... we used to sliced up oil drums into what we called "texas BBQ's" I think the theory with these is consistant heat but im kinda with Klook on this... If you checking the meal how consistant is the heat going to be and is it really that big a diff. if you simply use a Weber or make your own? $1,200 buys alot of Coal!

But if I was going to give someone $1200 I would make damb sure I gave it to Americans!

I'll put in another plug for the Weber Performer. With the propane start and lump charcoal, I can get it hot as fast as a gas grill. I usually keep the charcoal baskets in it because I can grill direct or indirect easily and for the amount I usually grill at one time, I don't need to fill up the whole grill with coals. I just shut off the air when I'm done and the fire goes out. Next time I want to grill, I just shake down the ashes, add more coal, and light up! A bag of lump lasts a LONG time.

There was a product called the BBQBaffle that basically was a divider/charcoal basket that converted the kettle into a smoker. It worked really well as long as you didn't need to smoke a lot at one time. I've since "graduated" to a Weber Smoky Mountain cooker and it's just "da bomb". They aren't cheap, but they are built SOLID. I looked seriously at the BGE and other ceramic cookers but the cost/size ratio just doesn't do it for me.

Chris

lsayer,
What do you want to do most with the unit you're looking to by?

• Do you want to grill?
• Do you want to barbeque?

My opinion is to go with member watkinsdr's recommendation. I have a passion for barbeque and have settled on a Weber Smokey Mountain cooker. Here's my reasoning.

• Metal "bullet" cookers have built-in versatility.
• They hold a charcoal fire for a long time. I've gone 18-20 hours at 230* on one load, just stir it occasionally to knock ash off the remaining charcoal when it slows. Sound familiar fellow coal-burners?
• They're less prone to allowing creosote formation, something you don't want to happen on the meat They allow for jsut the correct amount of air flow that minimizes the chance of creosote formation.
• A Smokey Mountain comes with a water pan that sits directly above the charcoal. The pan can be filled with water to keep the area above where the meat cooks moist and smokey at the same time. If you don't need to cook with water, fill it with sand and you have a heat diffuser.
• Need a grill? Follow the directions to rearrange the charcoal pit and use a single grate and you have a charcoal grill with a dome cover.
• Lastly, they're about a third of the price of a ceramic cooker. You can buy a lot of lump charcoal for years on the money you save. I looked on craigslist and found my uint for $150, new/never used and assembled. Been using it for the last three years, occasionally in the dead of winter too