Kamado Grills

Thick ceramic walls, usually an inch or more, define a kamado, an egg shaped charcoal cooker built on a form used in Japan for centuries. Mass is the mechanism: the ceramic soaks up heat and refuses to let it back out.

That insulation buys an enormous working range from one small load of lump charcoal. Hold 225 to 250 degrees for 12 to 18 hours without adding fuel, or open the vents and pass 700 degrees for pizza in four minutes. Air enters through a sliding bottom vent, rises through the fire, and leaves through a cast top cap, and because the walls store so much heat a small vent change takes twenty minutes to appear and an overshoot takes far longer to walk back. Slide a ceramic deflector plate between fire and food and the whole thing becomes an oven.

A charcoal kettle burns identical fuel through thin steel, so it heats and cools in minutes and cannot hold temperature overnight. Pellet grills match the steadiness electronically and never reach searing heat. Offset smokers beat a kamado on smoke volume and lose badly on fuel, since a kamado burns a few pounds of charcoal where an offset burns an armful of wood.

Choose this cooker if you want one unit that grills, smokes, roasts and bakes pizza. It works well on a small patio with room for only one cooker. Insulated walls also hold heat in cold weather. Weight is the drawback: 150 to 250 pounds needs a level base and two people for moving. Cooking space stays modest, with an 18 inch model giving around 250 square inches.

Inspect the gasket around the rim, the metal band hardware carrying the lid, and whether the ceramic is warranted for life. Raise temperature gradually and keep cold water off hot ceramic, since thermal shock cracks it. Burp the lid on any hot cook by cracking it an inch, counting to five, then opening fully, because rushing air into a starved fire produces a flashback that takes your eyebrows with it.