It is undeniably expensive, especially once you factor in the natural charcoal, accessories and purchasing a stand. But it created delicious results that reflected its high price-tag, and we can’t fault its flawless meat-cooking abilities.

The folks at Kamado Joe certainly don’t rest on their laurels. While the previous Kamado Joe Classic was a high-quality grill that rated well in our tests, the Classic Joe III has reached another level of cooking perfection with the patented SlōRoller insert that creates cyclonic airflow that controls both the heat and smoke for low and slow cooking, all the way up to 500 degrees. When it’s time for higher temperatures, which can reach up to 750 degrees, the SlōRoller can be swapped out for heat deflector plates for the perfect sear on a steak or an amazing restaurant-style pizza. The ceramic body has great insulation properties to hold in the heat. In general, they are great at smoking and roasting, as well as cooking pizzas and also searing meat at high temperatures.We tasked our Lab's Editorial Project Manager John Somerall with putting this new release through its paces. John has more than 10 years of professional culinary experience and is a year-round griller who fires up a grill at least once a week. After using it consistently for over a month, he's a fan: "I'd never used a smart charcoal grill before, but if this is the future of charcoal grilling, then the future is looking very bright!" It can also be used as a low and slow cooker – that means cooking with a low heat over a long period. This method is ideal for cooking BBQ favourites such as pork shoulder, lamb shank and brisket. Picture it – you light and load your Big Green Egg in the morning, leave it to do its thing and 12 hours later you have a showstopping piece of meat for your dinner party. Our GHI expert first assessed how easy the set-up instructions were to follow and then they got grilling.

Very. In fact, the fuss-free clean-up was one of our favourite things about it. For the Big Green Egg to ‘self-clean’, you simply fire it up as normal, close the dome and let it burn at 300C for a solid 20 minutes. Any leftover food scraps will be burnt to ash, ready for you to collect from the fire grate through the draft door at the bottom. Just be sure to leave the vents open while cleaning is in progress.If you are looking for a bigger, higher-end egg-shaped BBQ, then the MiniMax is 'big enough to cook joints of meat and get to grips with this style of cooking for 2-4 people', meaning it might be more of a comfortable fit than this LANDMANN option.

You can read loads more about our Kamado-style BBQs and accessories here. We also do a BIG PIG BLUEY, which boasts a whopping 21" grill. Show-off. I left the LANDMANN GrillChef Mini Kamado BBQ to cool down overnight, as even when it was time to go to bed there was still some heat coming off of the grill - one thing I've learnt when it comes to how to clean a BBQ is that you need to have patience. Lighting a kamado grill is very similar to lighting a charcoal grill. You'll want to open its air vents all the way to ensure oxygen can enter the chamber, then you can use a chimney starter or electric starter to light your lump charcoal. Founded in Atlanta in 1974, Big Green Egg took inspiration from East Asian-style, wood-fired clay ovens – invented more than 3,000 years ago. After a stint of importing kamado-style ovens from China and Japan, creator Ed Fisher eventually developed his own model. These days, Big Green Eggs have gone techy: they’re made using top-quality ceramics, developed in part by Nasa. A handful of Kamado Joe-brand accessories, including the JoeTisserie rotisserie attachment, will fit the Big Green Egg. Many kamado users also love the addition of a ceramic surface to deflect heat. This allows for indirect cooking, and many cooks use it to turn their grill into a smoker or outdoor oven. Both Big Green Egg and Kamado Joe have their own version of this ceramic piece, and you can use them interchangeably between both brands.Kamado grills are popular for smoking for several reasons. First, thanks to their superior heat retention, they're able to smoke for a long time using just a small amount of charcoal. Further, they seal in moisture better than many other smokers, which keeps your meat from drying out. Their round shape also encourages smoke to circulate within the cooking chamber, infusing lots of flavor into your food. This BBQ is a total bargain and for the price, I'd recommend anyone looking for a smaller Kamado-style BBQ on a budget to invest. It is pretty small, with 4 burgers max at a time, but if you only have a few people to cater to then it'll suffice. The setup time is minimal and the cooking on this BBQ is great, with the vents making it really versatile for all different types of foods. Plus, it comes with a lifetime warranty and self-cleaning abilities, both perks that help it stand out from the BBQ crowd. Why is the Big Green Egg so expensive? Our expert found it to be just as good as a quality, traditional smoker. It did take eight hours to smoke our pork, but such is the nature of smoking meat. The reward for their patience? Tender, melt-in-the-mouth pulled pork with a lovely oak flavour. A real BBQ game-changer.

Built in a Kamado style (that's Japanese for stove) you can literally grill, smoke, bake, cook, roast anything you need. Whether you want it raging hot or smokin' low you can adjust the temperature easily. The Pig Bluey is MEGA efficient and needs very little charcoal to get going. Kamado grills do have a bit of a learning curve, especially if you typically cook on a gas or pellet grill. To control the temperature of a kamado grill, you have to adjust the vents at the top and bottom of the cooking chamber. For high temperatures, you'll want to open the vents more to let oxygen into the grill, and for low temperature, keep the vents partially closed. It’s made of shuttle-quality ceramic that’s treated with a protective green glaze, and then baked at 1,300C for several hours. The brand is supremely confident in its craftsmanship, hence the lifetime warranty.

Cooking with a kamado grill can be quite a learning experience, but this one is unlike any other. The Akorn Auto-Kamado has a large cooking area—445 square inches—and is pretty light comparatively speaking. But perhaps the coolest feature is how it's used with an app on your phone! Sure, you can adjust the temperature via the knob on the LCD control screen, but it's arguably more fun to use use the app when the grill is connected via Bluetooth and/or Wi-Fi. This roundup was updated by Arricca SanSone, who has been grilling since she owned her first tiny hibachi in college. She’ll grill anything, but her favorite food to grill is homemade pizza with veggies and herbs from her own garden. She is a health and lifestyle writer for Prevention, Country Living, Veranda, House Beautiful, PureWow, and many others. Next, you need to add a fire starter followed by a few more charcoal pieces on top – a charcoal garnish for your firelighter, if you will. Open the draft door fully for 10 minutes and wait for your charcoal to glow. Then it’s time to open the other vent, aptly named the ‘reggulator’ and – patience please – wait up to five minutes for your Egg to be sufficiently heated. Finally, add your cooking surface and you’re ready to start the art of barbecuing. What can you cook in it? To test performance using the automatic mode, we grilled veggies, a tomahawk steak, and brisket (long smoke). Zucchini, red onions, and corn all came out evenly charred and tender, but there were no defined grill marks. The steak came out with a nice sear and was unbelievably juicy, especially considering it was cooked to medium/medium+ after resting for 10 minutes. The sear was a deep brown with hints of gold around the caramelized fat caps, and the grill marks, while somewhat faint, were lightly charred. The brisket was incredibly juicy and retained its integrity when handled as nothing was falling apart or overly dry. The cubed pieces of brisket were then tossed in bourbon-infused bbq sauce and drizzled with honey before returning to the smoker to prepare the burnt ends. The finished burnt ends came out deeply caramelized—tender and juicy with a somewhat crisp exterior. Once the preheating was done Ibegan cooking with one of the ultimate BBQ foods, beef burgers. I started off with two patties, thinking that the grill could only hold that many. It became clear soon after that I could fit more on (even if they took a little longer to cook), so I squeezed four onto the space.