Best Cookers Ever!

[kamadodon]

This is my first post although I have been lurking for a long time. I have owned kamados for about 30 years, starting with the clay ones from the old Pacinko House, now BGE, which I regularly had to glue back together, 2 different ones from Richard, one made in California and one made in Indonesia (I gave one to my son when I bought the second one) and I have loved them all. I have now been cooking on my new Komodo Kamado for 2-3 months and I can say it is by far the best of the bunch.

Our BBQ team, the Kamado Dragons, competed in our first contest at the Big Pig Jig in Vienna, GA in October. Although we did not place, several judges told us our pork shoulder was as good as they had tasted but, being inexperienced, we lacked in presentation and in some other technical areas. We expect to kick butt next year.

The fun part was that our booth was the most popular one there. We were next to booths with$10,000-$100,000 metal smokers but we got 3-4 times more traffic than did any of them. Everyone wanted to look at and hear about our KK's! Many had their pictures made standing next to them they were so impressed. We took some great pictures which I sent to Dennis so maybe he can attach them to this post. I'm afraid they may be too big for me to attach but I'm sure Dennis knows how to downsize them.

The KK's, of which we had 2, both equipped with BBQ Guru's, cooked great and held their temps perfectly. We have the OTB's and they have a huge cooking area.

The stainless steel is beautiful and the accessories, racks, grills and everything else are all awesome.

I cooked 22 filet mignons at one time for my wife's office Christmas party last Friday and was able to serve them just as ordered, 2 rare, 18 medium rare and 2 medium well. I could not have gotten that many on any of my old kamados.

Dennis was great to work with and helped sponsor us by letting us borrow 1 of the 2 KK's, which my brother then bought anyway after the event. Hundreds of BBQ lovers saw the cookers at the BPJ and I hope Dennis sold a few from some who saw them there.

I can't wait to get the gas lighter I have ordered as I was spoiled by having one to help light and heat up my old K's. I am also excited about the rotisserie brackets so I can try out my ezque, something not possible with other kamados.

Atlanta is the home to several kamado manufacturers, including the BGE, Primo Kamdo and a couple of others. I have seen and compared them all.

I loved my old K but the Komodo Kamado is hands down the best cooker I have ever used.

[Magnificent_Fubar]

It's always interesting to hear from people who have owned other "ceramics" and hear that they think that the KK's are superior products.

[tcoliver]

Hey Don, next time you do an event let me know. I live in Snellville and would love to come by and check out your booth and your KK's in action.

[sumrtym]

I'd be interested in seeing these pictures (and especially, if one or several aren't in there, how you transport the KK's for competitions).

[jdbower]

Re: Best Cookers Ever!

Always nice to see another happy camper here!

I cooked 22 filet mignons at one time for my wife's office Christmas party last Friday and was able to serve them just as ordered' date=' 2 rare, 18 medium rare and [b']2 medium well.

I hope you beat those last two people soundly!

[LeadDog]

Don what a great post. Now I feel the need to go cook something.

Welcome to the forum, too.

[ChefJeff]

Wow, what a post!

Hi Don,

Reading your post has definitely amped my already "over the top" excitement about the Komodo that I will be ordering from Dennis. I too know from "other" Ceramic cookers. I owned a Primo for one year. It served me very well, as from it, I learned about juicy and flavorful cooking in ceramic. That being said, there were some issues about this cooker which became problematic in time, such as cracked fireboxes, eventual loss of temperature control, etc. When I stumbled upon Dennis's site, my guts immediately told me that his product had indeed taken ceramic cooking to a completely different and consistently fine level. I am grateful for having the Primo, but so happy about the next chapter that ceramic cooking will be taking me. As soon as I discovered Dennis's site, I sold my Primo.

Happy holidays,

Jeff

[tkline01]

Can't wait to see how you travel with your KK's! Welcome.

[Sonofdon]

Some keys to the kooker

As you may have figured from the user name I have chosen kamadodon is my father. I am the big (and most often poorly dressed) guy in most of the pictures. I would like to add my own thanks to Dennis for providing such a great product for all of us to use. I would also like like to thank Dad and Charlie for the taking the pictures. Somehow we managed to get very few shots of them and none I see here. Dad gave me the bug for ceramic cooking when I was a kid and the first house warming present he gave me in 2003 was his old Kamado. My wife would like to thank him for the many times we have had pork since then as well as the eau de pecanwood I seem to constantly wear.

I would like to mention that the Pork shoulder you see on the Komodo is 23.7 lbs. I have figured I could easily cook 100 lbs. of meat using the upper grill. If anyone has tried that let me know how it came out as I may try to cook several per kooker next year.

As for the transportation it was actually quite easy. 800lbs of man can lift the 450+ lbs of kamado into a 14 x 7 work trailer where they were securely strapped with a 1000 lb. ratchet strap to the wall. We were extremely nervous and covered them with moving blankets just in case anything else we brought down rubbed up against them. The Komodos were fine when we got there and hadn't budged. We were a little worried about the bumpiness of the trailer, but these things fit so tightly together there was obviously little, if any, vibration as they rode. I think every Komodo owner should lift them up just once to "feel the quality in engineering". They are so much more sturdy and solid than the kamado I now have as a hand-me-down.

I am sure there are a hundred things I have failed to mention about the advantage the Komodos gave us but I will certainly begin at least a semi-consistent posting as I have passed that first kamado onto my cousin and once again received dad's hand-me-down with his upgrade to a Komodo Kamado. I will have one of the Komodos soon. I really think my upgrading is coming to a pinnacle with the look and performance these "machines" have reached.

[Sonofdon]

I forgot my maybe not so clever saying on my signature.

[trish]

Welcome Sonofdon....great post and we will enjoy hearing of the competitions. What a great father/son activity.

I might point out that I read on one of these forums about someone that forgot to screw down the damper top and several tiles broke when they transported it.