Comparisons · Two kinds of barbecue
Ceramic kamado or Pellet grill
Both hold a temperature for a long time. One does it with ceramic mass and your attention, the other with an auger and a controller.
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.
Pellet grill
The cooker that proves why energy and smoke are separate fields. It needs mains electricity to run its auger, fan and controller, and it burns wood pellets for heat and smoke — so it is simultaneously an electrical appliance and a solid-fuel fire, and both facts have safety consequences.
Where they overlap
- Both do low and slow — designed for this.
What actually differs
| Aspect | Ceramic kamado | Pellet grill |
|---|---|---|
| Shape and how it works | Kamado | Pellet grill |
| What heats it The energy source sets the ceiling temperature and how quickly the cooker answers a change. | Lump charcoal | Wood pellets, Electricity |
| 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 | Pellet combustion |
| Cooking surface | 45–60 cm | 50–90 cm |
| Direct heat | Designed for this | Not suitable — Most pellet grills cook by convection with a diffuser over the burn pot, so there is no direct radiant heat at the grate. |
| Indirect heat | Needs an accessory — A ceramic deflector plate between fire and food is what makes it indirect. | Designed for this |
| Smoking | Not modelled for this cooker | Designed for this |
| 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, sirloin 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, halloumi, sausage, whole sweet pepper, corn on the cob, aubergine slices, courgette slices, asparagus spears, onion slices, whole onion, spring onions, button mushrooms, portobello mushroom, new potatoes, halved, sweet potato slices, cabbage wedges, cauliflower florets, halved tomatoes, green beans, halved romaine lettuce, whole trout, tuna steak, whole mackerel, whole sardines, 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 direct heat, which the other cannot do.
Pellet grill, if:
- You want to cook with smoking, which the other cannot do.