Mastering the kamado barbecue (preparations and to light)

Preparing for a Barbecue Session with a Kamado

People often expect you to already have mastered the basic barbecue techniques. This is a bit like expecting someone to know how to drive without ever having had a driving lesson. Yet you probably recognize the feeling of sometimes wondering: what do I actually need, and what should I have thought of beforehand?

Below, I’ll take you through the steps you can take to prepare yourself as well as possible for a barbecue session with a kamado.

1. What are you going to barbecue?

Start by asking yourself: what am I going to barbecue today? Is it a dish that mainly requires grilling, or something that needs to cook slowly over a longer period of time?

Make sure you have a clear recipe and understand the preparation method. This will allow you to answer the following questions for yourself:

1. I’m going to do a short grilling session.
2. I’m going to do a long cooking session.

2. What do you need?

Based on the above, you can determine which ingredients and equipment you need to have at home. Think about:

1. The type of charcoal (hard or soft).
2. The barbecue setup: with or without a heat deflector, or using an indirect cooking zone.
3. How you want to cook the meat: on cast iron, a soapstone, or a regular cooking grate.
4. The meat.
5. The seasonings and any binder, such as mustard or oil.
6. The accessories you need to light and use your barbecue, such as a lighter and firelighters. Also think about tongs for turning the meat, heat-resistant gloves, serving dishes, paper towels, aluminum foil, or butcher paper.

There are countless accessories available that can make your barbecue experience easier and more enjoyable.

3. Preparing the barbecue

Once you know what you are going to make and have all the ingredients and equipment at home, it’s time to prepare the barbecue for your cooking session.

1. First, check whether there is too much ash in the charcoal basket and underneath it. Remove the excess ash to ensure good airflow.
2. Reuse any leftover pieces of charcoal and remove as much dust and small debris as possible.
3. Fill the barbecue with charcoal up to the level of the rim where the loose ring sits.
4. If possible, position the barbecue with the air vents facing into the wind. This helps ensure that enough oxygen can be drawn into the barbecue during cooking.
5. Open both the bottom and top vents fully so that air can flow freely through the barbecue.
6. Are you going to grill over high heat? Distribute the firelighters in a triangle across the charcoal. This helps the barbecue heat up evenly.

Are you preparing for a long cooking session at a low temperature? In that case, light the charcoal in the center. This allows the temperature to rise slowly and gives you more control because fewer coals are burning at the same time. As a result, you can also get more cooking time out of your charcoal.

4. Lighting the barbecue and bringing it up to temperature

At this point, you are ready to start using the barbecue. Temperature control is the most important part of this process.

1. Light the barbecue.
2. Once the charcoal is burning, allow approximately 30 to 60 minutes for the barbecue to reach its operating temperature. During the initial phase, check the temperature approximately every 15 minutes to see how it is developing.
3. Once the barbecue is hot, you can determine which temperature you need. When grilling, the barbecue can get much hotter. In that case, leave the vents fully open.For low-and-slow cooking, place the heat deflector in the barbecue or create an indirect cooking zone. When you install a heat deflector in your kamado, the temperature will drop slightly. Adjust the vents by opening or closing them to reach the desired temperature, and then give the barbecue some time to respond.Due to its insulating properties, a kamado takes a little longer to adjust its temperature compared with, for example, a metal kettle barbecue.
4. This is also a good time to brush your cooking grate clean before using it. Of course, you can also do this once your barbecue session is finished.

At this point, your barbecue is ready to use and you can get started on a successful barbecue session. The steps above provide a useful guide to help you prepare properly for your next barbecue session.

In other articles, I will take a more in-depth look at the topics mentioned above, including the different types of charcoal, different cuts of meat, products and accessories you can use, and temperature control on a kamado.