Compare smokers & kamado grills

When smoking, you cook meat for many hours at around 100 to 130 °C. The food doesn't sit over the embers but is surrounded by hot smoke. This makes connective tissue tender, and the wood releases its flavour. A stable temperature over a long period is what matters.

An offset smoker has a firebox at the side, from which heat and smoke pass through the cooking chamber and escape through a chimney. Vertical smoking ovens stack the embers, water pan and grates on top of each other. A kamado is a thick-walled ceramic grill that stores heat extremely well and is very economical with charcoal.

Material thickness is everything with a smoker: thin sheet metal loses heat quickly, the temperature fluctuates and you're constantly adding fuel. Thick steel keeps the heat stable. Tight-fitting doors and lids are important so that stray air doesn't upset the control.

Many inexpensive trolley grills combine a charcoal grill with an attached firebox. They're a good way to try smoking, but rarely achieve the temperature stability of heavy smokers. Low & slow also works on a kettle using the snake method – briquettes arranged in a semicircle that ignite one after another.

Kamados are heavy and sensitive to knocks. Plan a fixed spot or a stand with castors.

When smoking, the core temperature determines the result, not the clock. A wireless thermometer with at least two probes measures the cooking chamber and the meat at the same time and warns you if the temperature gets out of hand. The lid thermometer on many smokers often sits well above the grate and therefore doesn't show the temperature that actually reaches the food. An additional chamber probe at grate level gives you clarity and helps you adjust the vents precisely.