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Somerset Grill and Kamado Joe: Which Suits How You Cook?

A Kamado Joe is a ceramic egg. A Somerset Grill is an open fire with a moving grate. People often shop for both at the same time. We sell one of them, and we build a unit for the other, so read with that in mind.

If you're weighing up a Big Green Egg instead, we've written that one too: Somerset Grill and Big Green Egg: Which Suits How You Cook?

How a Kamado Cooks

A kamado holds charcoal in a thick ceramic body with a lid. You set the temperature with the dampers, close the lid, and the ceramic holds the heat for hours.

It's very good at long, steady, indirect cooking. A brisket, or a low overnight smoke. It bakes well too, because the lid turns it into an oven.

How an Argentinian Grill Cooks

It's playing with fire, and you're part of it. Logs burn in the Ember Maker at the back and drop embers under the grate. You're not cooking over fire, you're cooking over embers. Turn the handle to raise or lower the grill, anywhere from 40–400°C.

You see and smell everything, and you never close a lid and wait. Sear a steak low over the embers while a joint hangs on the Meat Hooks and a curry bubbles in a pot at the back.

As Ben puts it: "It rewards you while you're cooking it, and it rewards you while you eat it."

Where Each Wins

Kamado:

Set the dampers and leave it for 12 hours
Charcoal rather than logs
A compact footprint

Argentinian grill:

Wood-fired flavour and live flame
Cooking for a crowd
Theatre. Guests gather round an open fire with a drink in hand.

Capacity

A Kamado Joe cooks on a round grate under the lid, with up to 3 levels to stack food on. An Asado gives you the open grill, with space to hang, roast and warm above it.

If you cook for two, a kamado may be all you need. If you host, you'll use every inch of the open grill.

Fuel

Kamados run on lumpwood charcoal. Argentinian grills run on hardwood logs, and take charcoal happily too. Logs give you wood smoke and live flame.

Can You Have Both?

Yes, and many of our owners do. The Classic Kamado Joe Unit holds your Joe at counter height in the Outdoor Kitchen range, beside the grill. Low and slow in the egg, everything else over the fire.