GrillChef Mini Kamado, Black

Product Information

This BBQ is a total bargain and for the price, I'd recommend anyone looking for a smaller Kamado-style BBQ on a budget to invest. It is pretty small, with 4 burgers max at a time, but if you only have a few people to cater to then it'll suffice. The setup time is minimal and the cooking on this BBQ is great, with the vents making it really versatile for all different types of foods. Most kamado grills need to be pieced together before use. The instructions that come with your grill should be followed exactly. The ceramic versions are very heavy, so you will probably need more than one person to get the shell into the stand. Once you’ve followed the assembly instructions, don’t forget to register your grill. Not all companies require this, but many do. It should say clearly in the warranty section of your owner’s manual whether you’re required to register it. We suggest that you start with low temperatures for an hour or so and then gradually increase them by opening the dampers slightly. It’s fun to end the break-in session by opening the dampers completely and seeing how hot it gets inside. You’ll probably be looking at a thermometer reading 700+ degrees! Setting Your Adhesive If you’re used to using starters with chemicals in them, you can easily make the switch to natural fire starters for your kamado grill. They won’t leave a funny taste on your food and they work just as well as the artificial ones. We recommend these Grill Trade Tumbleweeds Starters. Starting Vent Positions

Now that we have the safety stuff covered, let’s talk about the first time you use your kamado. First Use and Breaking-In Your Kamado Make sure your kids know to stay away from the grill. Or, if they’re helping you cook, that they know to burp the grill every time they open it. You’ll want to get a smoking stone that you can place over your coals to deflect heat. And don’t forget to put wood chips in with your coals to get that nice smoky flavor. The nice thing about kamados is that, if you do it right, you can cook low and slow for a long time— over 12 hours in some cases— without adding more charcoal. High Temp Cooking When you think of a kamado grill, what immediately comes to mind might be the well-known Big Green Egg—an ovular, insulated grill with dimples like a golf ball. The brand, which launched 50 years ago in the U.S., helped popularize these ceramic grills which have become known for retaining heat. If you are looking for a bigger, higher-end egg-shaped BBQ, then the MiniMax is 'big enough to cook joints of meat and get to grips with this style of cooking for 2-4 people', meaning it might be more of a comfortable fit than this LANDMANN option.At high temperatures, you can cook pizza (you may need to buy a pizza stone), use it as a dutch oven, and bake bread. Each of these methods requires different techniques and sometimes accessories that may or may not come with your grill. For high-temperature cooking you’ll usually want to use lots of charcoal, leave the vents wide open, and wait 60 to 90 minutes for the grill to heat up. How to Use a Kamado Grill: A Simple Guide for Beginners 3 Putting Out The Coals Kamado grills range widely in size, so it might be simpler to think of what you need in terms of how many burgers a given grill can hold. A Kamado Joe Junior (148-square-inches) can fit a half-dozen burgers. The Kamado Joe Kettle Joe (363-square-inches) has room for roughly twice as many burgers, and the Kamado Joe Big Joe II (604-square-inches) is able to handle four times as many as the Joe Junior. Think about how often you’re cooking for a crowd when you’re trying to decide which grill to get. Shape This one’s pretty straightforward when it comes to kamados. How much and how long you plan to cook will determine how much charcoal you put in the grill. Just keep in mind that there’s a wide temperature range on kamados. Wide-open vents will allow the inside to climb toward the 700-degree mark. Half-open vents should get your grill around the 300 to 350-degree range. Two-Zone Grilling As with all charcoal barbecues, there wasn't too much maintenance to be done with this grill, but the next time it's in use you should rake over the coals so that they fall into the lower part of the Kamado, and you can remove them and start afresh. How does it compare to similar BBQs?

Once the preheating was done Ibegan cooking with one of the ultimate BBQ foods, beef burgers. I started off with two patties, thinking that the grill could only hold that many. It became clear soon after that I could fit more on (even if they took a little longer to cook), so I squeezed four onto the space.Don’t try to move your kamado while it’s in-use or cooling down. And remember that kamados take a long time to cool down since they’re so well insulated. I left the LANDMANN GrillChef Mini Kamado BBQ to cool down overnight, as even when it was time to go to bed there was still some heat coming off of the grill - one thing I've learnt when it comes to how to clean a BBQ is that you need to have patience. For each of these methods you’ll want to close both your vents almost all the way. The first few times you try for low temperatures, keep an eye on your thermometer, and make adjustments as necessary. Pretty soon you’ll know the sweet spots on your kamado.