The most famous of these is the Big Green Egg, which bills itself as the "World's Best Smoker and Grill". The basic idea is a thick ceramic container to contain and control the fire, smoothing out the temperature and moisture, resulting in amazing food.
The thing about them is that, no matter the brand, they're expensive. Sure, all of the information points to how great they are, that they last a long time, that they're versatile, give you charcoal/wood flavor in the same kind of time as gas, etc.
I just couldn't bring myself to pay for one. Until a few weeks ago.
I went out to the big, 3 burner gas grill on the deck to give it a quick once-over, clean it up and fire it up for the spring. I opened it up, pulled out the grates, and looked at the burners. Apparently, in the 4 years we've owned it, it's completely fallen apart.
The burners were corroded to the point I wouldn't feel safe lighting them, the grates themselves are falling apart, etc. Sure, the exterior is still shiny stainless steel, but if the insides rot out from within, what good is it?
This isn't the first grill I've had to dump. Plus, unless it's augmented, gas grilling doesn't really make me as happy as real BBQ and charcoal grilling. That's when I started thinking about the Kamado cookers and everything lined up: long-lasting, convenient, amazing food, etc.
Combine that with tons of overtime pay from the last few months and I decided it was time to give them a shot. I bought one from GrillDome. So far, we've had chicken and brats on it, and it's living up to expectations. And, today, I've got 12 pounds of pork shoulder that's been in there since 8 this morning, meaning my favorite food is on its way to my plate.
Pulled pork sandwiches are as good as it gets as far as I'm concerned.
