Anyone else here cook on a Kamado?

[AKSteve]

I've been reading for a while, today is my first day of posting messages. I have a ceramic Kamado bbq grill that I pretty much only use to cook pizza's on lately. I load it up pretty full with the Kamado brand coconut charcoal and get the dome temperature up anywhere from 650-800 degrees. I have one pizza stone directly above the charcoal as a heat deflector. Then on the grill surface, I have 2 more pizza stones stacked one on top of the other. I place a grill-surface thermometer on the top pizza stone and I wait until it reads 600+ degrees before I start cooking. I've had really excellent results lately, unfortunately I don't have any pics to post.

I don't have a pic of my own grill, but it looks basically just like the one on the Kamado website (except my tiles need some repair):

[Aaron]

I know that myself and qfan both cook on big green eggs.
Aaron

[AKSteve]

Close enough. I'm not so much of a snob as to call a BGE a rip-off of a Kamado. 

Anyway, what type of charcoal are you using and what temperature do you usually cook at? I have no trouble achieving really high temps with the Kamado coconut charcoal, but if I could achieve the same temp with an easier to get charcoal I'd like to give it a try. I used some Real Flavor stuff and I couldn't get over 600 degrees and it burned out quickly. I like to preheat my grill to around 750 degrees for about an hour before I start cooking.

Steve

[Aaron]

I live in Canada so I use Maple Leaf brand charcoal(stuff went up fifty % in price this year on a skid).I use a plate setter and pizza stone combo,preheat for an hour then cook away(550 degrees works best for me).I tend to make pizzas with a lot of toppings hence the lower cook temperature.
Aaron
Dizzy pig North team member.

[katman]

I've been using my egg with a platesetter.  Tried using  a stone on top of the platesetter but I like a crispy crust so I prefer just the platesetter.  I usually use royal oak and sometimes mix in some of the kamado extruded coconut.  I haven't found any benefit to cooking at temps higher than 500 when using just the platesetter.  The platesetter/stone combo seems to demand a higher temp for the crispy crust I prefer.  Looks like we'll have to do some pulled pork pizza for members of this group!

[Aaron]

Funny you should mention PP pizza,that was one of the sides we turned in at the Canadian BBQ championships in Barrie this year.
Myself,my wife Qfan(Mike) and bbbrown along with Chris(natureboy) and Kenny(hatch),managed to win the comp,now we are off to the Jack Daniels invitational as the Canadian champs.Dizzy Pig South also will be there for therealso,They were chosen because of there 2 Grand championships in Maryland.They also got grand in N.J and at Snowshoe.5GC in one year,we are all pretty stoked.
I will be cooking some pizza in the holler for sure.If any one from the board is at the Jack visiting ,be sure and stop by the Dizzy Pig North encampment.
Aaron

[katman]

Yup, I remember mention of the pp pie.  Don't know if Woo is going to be with natureboy and hatch, but if he is he should take some pictures of the pie to show this group what an egg can do.  Many here are interested in wood-fired ovens and the eggs or a K or any type of ceramic will do a nice job on bread and pizza!  give my best to chris and best of luck to all of you!

[Aaron]

Katman,Woo will be with natureboy and hatch and John as dizzy pig south and the rest of us are dizzy pig north(canada).I will get woo and myself to take some pics.We wont be allowed to cook together at the Jack,new rules about international teams.
I am trying to figure out a pizza sauce with some Jack as an ingredient for fun.If it works out maybe an off the wall dish.
Aaron (Hound)

[giotto]

AKSteve:

I have a friend who has the exact same one as you.  I went over his house some time back and he used the Kamado brand coconut charcoal and I had him set it to 550F with the plate that he had inside. 

If one of Hugh Hefner's girls would have walked by, my friend would have told her that he was busy eating pizza... It was that good (although, he just might have invited her for a slice).  I did put the crust in first for 1 minute, no toppings, to obtain the airyness of the medium NY pizza style.  I then ran it for about 6.5 minutes with a cream of mushroom topping.  It was a beauty... we added no sugar in the crust's dough, so you may want to check after a shorter time if you are using sugar in your dough.

[pizzageek]

I've had a Kamado for about 5 years and love it. (I'm not too happy with Kamado the company, their customer service sucks!) I could never make a pizza that I was happy with on it, no matter how many pizza stones and high temperatures I tried... I could have flames shooting out of the top and the toppings would never be cooked right and the bottom would be burned. I would stack my pizza stones... I would seperate them... I tried everything. Now I just do BBQ on it...

[AKSteve]

Weird. I've had really good luck making great pizza on my kamado. Do you put a pizza stone on the lower bracket as well? I have on of the thick Kamado stones on the lower bracket to block the direct heat. Then 2 stones stacked on the main grill.

I just received a 19inch Fibrament D pizza stone that I'm going to try to cook an 18inch pizza on soon. Hopefully I'll get it done this weekend before I head out of town. If I do, I'll try to snap some pics.


Steve