Char-Griller Kamado Kooker Charcoal Barbecue Grill and Smoker
By : Char-Griller
Price : $429.99
Product Description
Color: Black
Kamado style cooking comes from ancient cooking methods that used large clay ovens for insulation. Kamados of recent years are made of heavy ceramics. King-Griller by Char-Griller has developed this product for Kamado style cooking using innovative technology to make it more durable, convenient, affordable and lighter weight than traditional ceramic Kamados. This Kamado Kooker can cook anything from burgers to fish to ribs to pizza. Truly the best food you will ever cook on a grill.
Product Details
- Product Dimensions: 43.3 x 28.7 x 47.2 inches ; 90 pounds
- Shipping Weight: 100 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
- Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
- Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
- ASIN: B005ELWI7S
- Item model number: 16619
Product Features
- Cooking space is 306-inch and a warm rack of 165-inch
- Insulated design means more heat uses less charcoal and less airflow means insulated heat for juicy meat
- Cooking surface is cast iron and will hold up to 23 burgers; body is constructed of 22 gauge steel; exterior finish is powder coated steel; interior finish is porcelain coated steel; easy to assemble
- Cart is constructed of tubular steel with rubber wheels, locking caster on front; indexed damper is numbered so you can note the position of the damper when you cook your favorite meals - this adds to the consistence of your cooking experience
- Features locking lid, 2 folding wood shelves; easy dump ash pan; double wall insulation, heat gauge
Customer Reviews
We compared the Big Red with Big Green Egg, Primo, Kamado Joe, and the Big Keg. The price differential was substantial and we doubted whether it could perform up to the competition. However, for $300 vs $1,000 how could we go wrong?
Since our recent purchase, we have smoked pork back ribs twice, pot roast, smoked salmon, and a pork roast (we only missed one weekend for grilling). The results have been wonderful. There is a learning curve in shifting from a traditional gas grill. We had to gain experience utilizing the right proportion of fuel and the proper air flow on the Big Red through the vents at top and bottom. But we are having great success and learning quickly. Now, we really crave the slow cooking/smoking of the ribs (210 degrees for 6 to 7 hours with a Kansas City style rub and the last hour with Sweet Baby Rays.)
The slow cooking is a very easy and low-attention cooking process. This is in sharp contrast to the higher temp cooking on a gas grill coupled with the very irregular hot spots. The cooking on the Kamado is warm, moist (less air), and uniform heat.
The quality of the Big Red unit is high, it is easy to assemble, easy to clean, easy to start with electric starter ($8 at Menards). Big Red will get up to temp in a about 10-15 minute for low-temp cooking. For low temperature cooking, we do not ignite all the fuel at once and keep the temperature low. Creating a high temperature and scaling back can take 45 minutes. The unit is incredibly well insulated and the only way to reduce the temperature is to suffocate the embers.
High temperatures can be obtained in about 10 minutes. This is quicker than the low temp. cooking since there is no concern for slow steady heat. Just open the air supply vent at the bottom and the vent at the top, and you have an intense cooker of 600 degrees. This is great for cleaning the grill and searing.
Back to slow cooking/smoking: We use a mix of large Mesquite lump coal from Sam's and smaller lump coal of various blends of wood from Menards (we use smoking pellets for flavor). Once temperature is obtained, we can maintain the constant 200-220 for 7-plus hours. We really like the practicality and durability of the steel structure versus the ceramic. We live in Chicago and we don't worry about cracking a ceramic egg by the radical heat change. The lid on the BGE is extremely heavy to lift whereas the Big Red (BR) is light weight. The Big Red has stove gaskets that are held with clips. We liked the ease with which these can be replaced vs the scape-off/glue-on with BGE. It is simple and easy to remove the ashes from BR: release 2 levers, slide forward, and remove the bottom section and dump. With the BGE, you crouch down and scrape out the ashes through a vent.
The cast iron grate has a practical feature for bearing the overhead rack for extra capacity. We use this for smoking potatoes. We grill 3 full slabs of ribs using a inverted wire rack resting on the main grate (cut ribs in 2 equal sections and stacked upright in 6 slots).
Customer service is responsive and pleasant. I was not careful and dropped the cast-iron grate and cracked it in half. The replacement grate was shipped the same day and we received it in 2 days.
We used an Oneida large pizza stone and rack from Bed Bath and Beyond. The rack was a perfect fit for straddling the inside tabs and suspending the pizza stone to deflect the heat for indirect cooking. I learned that spilling cold water on a hot stone causes them to crack (my wife has great patience with my experiential learning.)
I was a committed gas griller for the practicality and convenience (we use natural gas rather than a refillable propane tank). However, the ease of use and wonderful smoked-cooking of the Kamado have shifted the gas-grill to the back burner (pun intended).
We follow a number of the recipes from Hi-tech barbecue on You Tube and BGE forums.
We use the Kansas City rub from Cabelas for the ribs and marinate over night.
This an absolutely great value and has dramatically changed our attitude toward grilling. Our whole family looks forward to the weekend meal from our smoker. At $300, this is a steal.
There are no draw backs on this one.
I just bought one of these few days ago after shopping around for a kamado a long time.
Reason why i bought it was my old weber needed replacement and my neighbor recommended me a kamado type grill.They have the advanage to keep the temperature better than gas and weber grills. This one was far cheaper than the famous bands therefore I decided to give it a try, paid 299 USD.Assembly was pretty easy, it took approx one hour plus one hour 'burn in time'. I made sure to tighten all the screws well, construction actually seems pretty sturdy . So far I cooked with it two times , here is my comments:
Pros:
Price is very competitive, 299 USD vs 800+ USD for a 'famous brand' kamado .
Size, it is actually bigger than the competing "L size" kamados. Its 19 inch grid can fit three whole chickens easily.
Performance, seems to be good,for me it held low temperature 250F very well,I cooked ribs for 5 hours at 250F stable, impressing because it was cold,windy and rainy outside that day.I used hickory wood to smoke and saw no leaks in the construction.Controling temperature is very easy and the grill stays cool on the outside.After 5 hours of grillingi found it had used up surprisingly little coal
Note:I have not tried high temperature cooking yet,this bbq can be heated up to 700F to make pizza etc.
Construction, very impressive considering the price.It is made out of metal with ceramic interior, well insulated.This grill much lighter than he ceramic kamados.
I can recommend to buy few extras to set it up for smoking, I invested in a 17 inch weber grid plus a cast iron dripping pan , set me back additionally 30USD. The cover costs 24 USD.
Cons:
I found the thermometer is not accurate, way off actually.. It shows 250F when actual temp was 280F. But it is not a big issue in practice.
This is a steel construction and it will probably not last forever,The more expensive ceramic kamados probably will last longer, if not forever.
![Where There's Smoke, There's Flavor : Real Barbecue--The Tastier Alternative to Grilling [Paperback]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sNOEmdF010G9eVcohnXgCNw-bXQVVC2qBKM1q08tve8Rq2S5Pr0P5-mDYD1phSBiXIFDIjjRzZBjiABQcuzYX0n384D5PDn3PNpZ9VQBv4FvtsOfJRqKVpr66LR4VhPa_t1Ifw8kLZhQdyr56BYQcB3AMVE0fBZfeoueb_IEuuFCMaMrh14kTK2cUBxc2xBhzTs8llxUZt5P2qGMYGPZdzxCegjjeJ=s0-d "Where There's Smoke, There's Flavor : Real Barbecue--The Tastier Alternative to Grilling [Paperback]")
