Exploring Kamado Style Grilling

by | Jul 10, 2017 | ,

lamb-chops

I won’t lie – I’ve looked at people with Big Green Eggs and had a little envy. Every time I’ve eaten food grilled on one – it tasted like grilled magic. My husband and I have been stalking Big Green Eggs and Kamado Joe grills – and we finally came across a deal we couldn’t miss. I admit … I was giddy when we made the purchase a few weeks ago. I feel like he and I had pretty much mastered the gas grill – even producing some epic ribs. So when we unpacked this  bad boy – I was eager to try. This post has a couple pics of different things we’ve tried. I’m on round 6 of my dry rub for my ribs – so of course  we had to try.

Our first Kamado Joe Grill

First let me start with the grill. I won’t go down too far on specs – but there are a few things that make me like this more than the egg. The primary reason I like it is the split sections. We can split the coals in half and have 2 different temperatures and split the heights of our food on either side. That alone gives us a lot of control over our cooking. 

 

So beyond that timy little rant – that’s our Kamado Big Joe. It can fit 3 racks of ribs laying flat – but I’ll show you later – it can fit 6 – probably 8 given the technique we used. We’ve had grilled magic appearing since we bought this thing – and I can’t wait to hone our Kamado style grilling skills.

Grilling Ribs on our Kamado Joe

If you follow me on instagram, you’ll know I’ve been working on a dry rub recipe. This is round 6 of our dry rub – and I have several BBQ sauces I like to baste with at the end. Since the grill only fits 3 racks laying side by side, instead of committing to buying the extension rack, we were able to use a bamboo skewer and shape each rack into a U. That way 6 racks fit evenly on the grill with plenty of room to spare. The picture below to the right shows the racks laid out.

Grilled Chicken on the Kamado Joe

There’s nothing too special here. I’ve been growing my own herbs this season – so I’ve been making lots of herb based marinades for our chicken.  There’s bronzed fennel, parsley, tarragon, and sage mixed in here. This was our first attempt at drumsticks.

Surf and Turf

My friends know we’re all about lamb chops in our house – and I almost never pass up an opportunity to grill some. We tried a different spin on surf and turf – lamb chops and crab cakes. This time we tried the cast iron skillet. I’ll add – that while I love the flavors that came out from this – I think the crabcakes are best done under a broiler. I’m still going to have to work on how to get a smoked crabcake to work on this! The lamb however was awesome.
Ultimately – this grill is awesome to cook on. You’d think it takes a lot to light – but it lights very quickly. We’re able to get to very high temperatures easily and grilling has been ridiculously easy. I can’t wait to share some recipes of what we’re creating with it.