"Big Red" Kamado Kooker at Menards

Pictures!!! Pleaseray:

I'm glad this came up. They have them on sale for $280 at the Menard's near me this week and I was tempted, but I think I'll just hold out for a BSK.

Picked one up at Menards last weekend for $280 (on sale this week). It took less than an hour to assemble. It appears to have a good seal, but will see. It uses the same type of braided seal as your typical oven door seal. Because it's not ceramic, no springs are necessary to offset the cover weight. It instead uses a clamp to insure a good seal. Haven't fired it up yet, as it is in the 30's here in Minneapolis!

Check where the ash pan gets strapped to the base for a gap. Mines got a pretty sizeable one.

Get a Weber Kettle!

any updates on this one? heard a lot of the same "air leak" complaints about the bubba keg when it first came out. folks seem to love them now...

Qing said:

any updates on this one? heard a lot of the same "air leak" complaints about the bubba keg when it first came out. folks seem to love them now...

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I have made some great steaks... But I think it was just the charcoal. Im in the process of switching over from propane

Big Red Kamado Kooker

I've had this cooker for about 2 months. Love it. I've cooked ribs, turkeys, pork butts,burgers, steaks and pizza. All good. I also have used the QI 110 pitmaster with it works great. I did do some modifacations to the top vent I put in a stronger spring granted it's not a Big Steel Keg but for the money and if you're a weekend warrior like me it's great.

Any updates on this cooker, looked at one tonight.
Worth while, or just get a BGE, stick with the UDS's?

I looked at one last night and saw that it is much lighter and not near as well built as the BGE. Even so, may be a good deal as it is only a fraction of the price of the BGE. Only time will tell. I do like the lifetime warranty thingie on eggs.

For the price... I like it. Is it as nice as an egg or a primo, no. But for the price I paid for mine Im digging it. I smoked a tip roast on it a few weekends ago. It was o.k. I think I should have let the roast go longer... pulled it at 140. But I was able to keep a temp of 270 for about 3 hours. Its not a set it and forget it type setup. I might just be paranoid, but whenever I see temps climb above 10 degrees Im messing with the vents. The only reason I didnt buy an egg was because there are alot of other things I could buy for 700 dollars (ie more firearms, camera lenses, list goes on) but for the price, Im happy. It works well... If your looking for a grill this will work, but kettles are cheaper

yep, I just saw these today while I was at Menards...definitely not ceramic...kind of a heavily painted steel or aluminum.

Rys06TBSS said:

For the price... I like it. Is it as nice as an egg or a primo, no. But for the price I paid for mine Im digging it. I smoked a tip roast on it a few weekends ago. It was o.k. I think I should have let the roast go longer... pulled it at 140. But I was able to keep a temp of 270 for about 3 hours. Its not a set it and forget it type setup. I might just be paranoid, but whenever I see temps climb above 10 degrees Im messing with the vents. The only reason I didnt buy an egg was because there are alot of other things I could buy for 700 dollars (ie more firearms, camera lenses, list goes on) but for the price, Im happy. It works well... If your looking for a grill this will work, but kettles are cheaper

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...and that is what is important.

Another update to my previous post. Im slowly starting to regret my purchase. I have gone thru almost a whole roll of XL BGE gasket material on the ash pan. I havnt tried to cook really low since the last post. I feel I should have bought a Weber Performer. I might try a Tri Tip on it on Thursday.

I bought the Red Kamado on sale last week and fired it up a couple days ago to grill America cut pork chops, about 1 1/2" thick. I seared the chops for about two minutes, each side, with the top open, then grilled for another ten minutes with the top closed, flipping once at the half-way mark. I have cooked chops before on the Weber, using similar procedure, so I had something for comparison. The result with the Kamado was less than spectacular. Chops were cooked to about 155 on the instant read thermometer and rested for ten minutes. They were white when cut, but less than juicy and a bit tough to the bite. The problem with the Kamado, as I see it, is temperature control. I used about one-pound of lump charcoal. Temperature gauge read 600 degrees at the outset, which I figured was appropriate searing temperature, but too hot for convection cooking with the top closed and the dampers barely open. The Weber by contrast has a larger fire pit enabling a two sided fire, one side hot for searing and the other medium so that meat can be moved from high to lower temperature for indirect grilling. The Kamado, as I see it provides less cooking flexibility and control than the Weber. I intend to try a roasting chicken next. Will see how that works out. I have some modifications in mind.

Big Red Kamado

The roasted bird on the Big Red was OK, but a bit overcooked due to a faulty reading on the digital thermometer. I'm sure it would've been much better if pulled about 30-minutes earlier. So, live and learn. Anyway. I setup the Kamado with an aluminum pan under the grate to catch drippings and keep the bird moist. The pan was supported above the coals with a grate borrowed from my Weber smoker. I set the fire same as I would for slow burning smoking; that is, a small amount of glowing coal on top of 1 1/2 pounds unlit. I was able to keep the roasting temperature between 350 to 400 throughout the grilling period by adjusting the dampers between settings of one to three as needed. My guess is that 1 1/2 hours would be sufficient at that temp to grill the 5 1/2 bird to perfection.

Chops were cooked to about 155 on the instant read thermometer and rested for ten minutes

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Sounds overcooked to me?

Having the ability to do low and slow, then turn around and do a pizza @600-700 sound pretty nice to me. For the price, it seems like a viable alternative to a BGE. Just have to be a tinkerer to fix the nagging flaws I guess.

Quote from Mayo Clinic:

The best defense against trichinosis is proper food preparation. Follow these tips to avoid trichinosis:

• Avoid undercooked pork, walrus, horse, bear or other wild-animal meat. Be sure the meat is cooked to an internal temperature of 170 F (77 C) throughout before eating it. Even though trichinella are less common in pork, it's better not to eat pork if it hasn't been cooked to this temperature.

dahbull said:

Quote from Mayo Clinic:

The best defense against trichinosis is proper food preparation. Follow these tips to avoid trichinosis:

• Avoid undercooked pork, walrus, horse, bear or other wild-animal meat. Be sure the meat is cooked to an internal temperature of 170 F (77 C) throughout before eating it. Even though trichinella are less common in pork, it's better not to eat pork if it hasn't been cooked to this temperature.

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While the Mayo Clinic may sleep well at night recommending temps considerably higher than necessary, since 1980 there have been fewer than 10 cases of Trichinosis annually; "... most of these are not from pork, but from such game meats as bear, boar, and walrus... It's now known that a temperature of 137 deg F/58 deg C is sufficient to kill the parasite in meat; aiming for 150 deg F/65 deg C gives reasonable safety margin. Trichinae can also be eliminated by frozen storage for a period of at least 20 days..." (On Food and Cooking, Harold McGee, 2004)