Damned near everything. I do my Thanksgiving turkey on it. It's amazing for standing rib roast. I can make ribs so good at home, that I don't pay restaurants for them anymore. Killer pizza (although that takes a LOT of practice to get the temp right). Roasted vegetables, grilled vegetables, baked potatoes, acorn squash, cedar planked salmon. My partner even made chocolate chip cookie bars in a cast iron skillet on it.

Get a wireless fan/damper for it, that runs off a temp probe in the unit, and also has probes for the meat. I like the Signals/Billows combination that runs off an app on my phone.

https://www.thermoworks.com/se...search_query=signals

Remember, with these things, you can do a steak at 700 degrees for a sear, with rare interior, or smoke ribs at 225 for a full day, never wrapping them, and never drying them out. I don't use the programmable unit for the hot stuff, it simply wouldn't take it, but it is invaluable for the long smokes.

You will also need a plate deflector, for indirect heat, and as a place to put a pie pan of water if you want to keep things moist.

You can also put your flavor wood chips (hickory, mesquite, apple, etc.) on the plate deflector for long smoke, or right on the charcoal for a quicker smoke.

After you get a controller and plate deflector, do either baby back ribs at 225 for 8 to 9 hours (until they look perfect, you can tell) or a spatchcocked 12-14 pound turkey at 250-275 until it hits 165 internal temp, and get back to us.

Chuck some flavor wood chips in there.

You will be hooked.

Everything.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ArtieS,

quote:

Originally posted by ArtieS:

I do my Thanksgiving turkey on it.

I can personally attest to Artie's Thanksgiving turkey. I had two servings.

Previous posters already mentioned most regular bbq stuff so I'll just mention meatloaf and lasagna.
A little smoke can bring out some extra goodness. Pretend it's an oven but you don't want to heat up the house in summer.

Also, try not to judge a bag of lump coal from just one bag. I heard from somewhere a few yrs back that Cowboy lump had improved. I tried a bag and it wasn't too bad so I mentioned it to my local grocer and they started carrying it. Then I got a few bad bags and was too embarrassed to tell the grocer they should stop carrying it.

On the other hand, aside from the price, I've liked BGE brand lump right after I bought my BGE back in '05. I bought some recently and it was all small pieces. The two bags before that were Kamado Joe and they were great.
One that has always been good for me was Lazzari.
For in-depth reviews and more, the guy at http://www.nakedwhiz.com/nwindex.htm does a good job.

Well your kamado isn't green but I suppose it will work

I will echo pulled pork, it's hard to mess up on a kamado. You can usually find a 2 pack at Sam's or Costco about 8# each. Slather with mustard, sprinkle some rub on it and smoke at 250. I like carolina style sandwiches with coleslaw on them.

Google up spatchcock chicken, basically butterflying the chicken and I love any chicken cooked over pecan wood. One of my favorite quick weeknight cooks is chicken thighs cooked over pecan.

One of my favorites is santa maria style tri-tip. Sometimes hard to find the meat, but worth it to hunt some down.

Don't forget vegetables, asparagus for 5 or 10 minutes on the grill is great. Lately have taken to coating brussel sprouts in olive oil, throwing them in a small cast iron skillet for about 30 minutes on the grill.

This Texan recommends:
* Brisket
* Pork Belly
* Bacon (subset of above)
* Reverse Sear steaks
* Tri Tip
* Beef Ribs
* Pork Ribs (prefer St. Louis cut)

FWIW, I have two BGE's but if I didn't acquire these from a guy who owed me money I would buy the Kamado Joe > much better setup for versatility.
They cook the same but I had to get a bunch of aftermarket parts to get it there.
Congrats!

I bought a metal "Acorn" one some years back because I wasn't sure I'd use it enough to justify the cost of a ceramic one. I guess I did. But stored outside the metal one rusted away and I've yet to replace it.

I used to like to buy a pork butt or shoulder, and some sausage. I'd go out in the morning with a cast iron frying pan, some eggs and the sausage. Make breakfast on it, then cool it down some and slow cook the pork all day. Amazing stuff. Breakfast was key... to get me to go out and start on it early. Otherwise there were far too many times where I started too late and it was 11PM.. 12-1AM before it was done.

Other suggestion for doing that is a wireless thermometer so you can monitor it while doing other things. Many of those late night cooks were because the temp drop too low or the fired gone out and many hours were wasted before I knew and could correct.

Just typing this made me want to hit up craigslist and market place looking for used ones.

Smoked lobster tails are also delicious.

quote:

Originally posted by dsiets:
Previous posters already mentioned most regular bbq stuff so I'll just mention meatloaf...

If you want to take your smoked meatloaf to the next level then increase the surface area. I accomplish this by splitting it into 6 portions instead of putting a single loaf in the smoker. Now, more surface area is soaking up the smokey goodness and developing a little BBQ crust.

Gentlemen....I cant thank you enough for the great ideas and recipes. We can finally say that we got around to firing her up this weekend. Started with the traditional rib-eyes with a good sear and then cooked indirect on the ceramic stone.

Sidebar...I may never order steak out again except for Kayne Prime Waygu in Nashville.

Dude!!!.....it was well worth waiting for bringing it up to temp and get the dome good and warm.

Hoping to throw some fish on it this upcoming weekend.

Don’t forget leftovers! Brisket chili on the smoker is delicious! Baked beans with leftover pulled pork! Of course flavored with Bourbon….

Thin crust pizza is outstanding! Give the pizza stone time to pre heat. 400-500 degrees stone temp, 500-600 on the Joe. 4-7 minutes and done! As mentioned before, it takes a little practice. I drop the prepped doe on the stone for a minute to stiffen it up and then build the pizza and cook.

I made some chicken satay. This stuff is great. Follow this recipe if your interested.


https://www.delish.com/cooking...hicken-satay-recipe/


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Hoping these photos work. I like Costco’s pre seasoned ribs. I add a little seasoning and smoke 250-260 degrees until the thickest part is around 185 degrees. That is almost fall off the bone done, just a little bite. I add a little bbq sauce 1/2 hour- 45 minutes before done. Best ribs I’ve ever had.

Check out “Smoking dad” YT videos. He does a lot of experimenting and explaining. Been helpful. Couple of tips I learned from him.

Remove the tapered ash plate from the bottom. Leave the removable ash pan in there. It allows more air flow, so faster startups, and hotter fires if needed.

Add a second deflector plate with a small air gap. I use a lava stone from Lowe’s. This ensures you don’t get that crispy hard layer on the bottom of the meat during long smokes. More forgiving if the temp spikes up a little.


https://ibb.co/Js8rCXb
https://ibb.co/QpHPJsj

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
Pizza!!!

And bread.

It's the reason I've kept my BGE. I will have an oven should the power go out.

This! Homemade pizza on the BGE (or equivalent) on a hot stone or pizza steel is the best.

quote:

Originally posted by bordeth:
Gentlemen....I cant thank you enough for the great ideas and recipes. We can finally say that we got around to firing her up this weekend. Started with the traditional rib-eyes with a good sear and then cooked indirect on the ceramic stone.

Sidebar...I may never order steak out again except for Kayne Prime Waygu in Nashville.

Dude!!!.....it was well worth waiting for bringing it up to temp and get the dome good and warm.

Kamodo's turn out some delicious steak, and I have to pay at least 5x the money at a restaurant to get something comparable. Therefore, I rarely order steak out.

Last night, I reverse seared (225 on BGE & then sear indoors in a scorching hot preheated fry pan w/ high smoke point oil) 1 lb NY strips that were from grass fed, pasture raised cattle. Absolutely amazing and all I put on them was salt and pepper. GF added a little garlic to hers, and it'll end up being 3 meals for her.

I buy Costco whole denuded beef tenderloin. Trim it to uniform the width and tie it up to hold a cylindrical shape.
Add a little salt then smoke it until about 125 internal (about 2 hours). Remove then sear the outside evenly.
Let is set and serve.
This provides great smoke flavour and the meat is very tender. Great for parties because it usually provides about 8 big steaks.