Comparisons · Two kinds of barbecue
Ceramic kamado or Three-burner hooded gas grill
Convenience against range. The gas grill starts faster; the kamado goes places the gas grill cannot follow, in both directions.
What each one is
Ceramic kamado
Thick ceramic walls give it the steadiest temperature of any cooker here and the slowest response. It will hold 110 °C overnight in the cold; it will also sit at 300 °C for an hour after you wanted it at 150 °C.
Three-burner hooded gas grill
Individually controllable burners make two-zone cooking a matter of turning one off, which is the thing gas does better than anything else. It contributes no smoke of its own, so any smoke has to be added deliberately.
Where they overlap
- Both do direct heat — designed for this.
What actually differs
| Aspect | Ceramic kamado | Three-burner hooded gas grill |
|---|---|---|
| Shape and how it works | Kamado | Hooded gas grill |
| What heats it The energy source sets the ceiling temperature and how quickly the cooker answers a change. | Lump charcoal | LPG (bottled gas) |
| What smokes it Separate from the heat, and deliberately so: one cooker in this catalogue draws its heat from the mains and its smoke from wood pellets. | Oak chunks, Charcoal combustion | Wood chips |
| Cooking surface | 45–60 cm | 60–75 cm |
| Indirect heat | Needs an accessory — A ceramic deflector plate between fire and food is what makes it indirect. | Possible with the right setup — Light the outer burners only and place the food over the unlit one, hood down. |
| Two-zone fire | Not modelled for this cooker | Designed for this |
| Smoking | Not modelled for this cooker | Needs an accessory — Gas produces no smoke of its own; a smoker box supplies it. |
| Low and slow | Designed for this | Not modelled for this cooker |
| Foods the difference reaches These are the foods whose cooking profiles call for a heat configuration these two cookers support differently. For anything not on the list, the choice between them does not change how it is cooked. | whole chicken, chicken thigh, bone-in, chicken thigh, boneless, chicken breast, boneless, chicken breast, bone-in, chicken wings, chicken drumsticks, beef burger, rib eye steak, picanha, whole, pork chop, pork shoulder, pork spareribs, baby back ribs, pork tenderloin, brisket, lamb leg steak, lamb loin chop, lamb burger, salmon fillet, sausage, whole trout, whole mackerel, whole sea bass, cod fillet, pizza, whole side of salmon | |
Which one, for what
Conditions rather than a verdict. Each line below is a thing one of them can do that the other cannot, or does without arrangement where the other needs it — taken from the what each cooker is documented as doing, rather than from a preference.
Ceramic kamado, if:
- You want to cook with low and slow, which the other cannot do.
Three-burner hooded gas grill, if:
- You want to cook with two-zone fire, which the other cannot do.
- You want to cook with smoking, which the other cannot do.