The Grill & Smoke
Honest note: no ads, no Amazon affiliate. Affiliate and referral links are always marked. Full disclosure.
The Kamado is the love of my cooking life, and this is the gear that makes it sing: the grill, the fuel, the fire tricks, and a couple of five-dollar hacks I’d fight you for. Some of this is a splurge; some of it is a leather glove from the hardware store. All of it earns its place out by the fire.
The Grill — Kamado Joe
The heart of everything I cook outside, and the thing I’ll evangelize at you completely unprompted. Ceramic holds heat like nothing else: it’ll run low-and-slow for a brisket all day, then scream up past 600°F for a steak or a pizza. Mine has paid for itself a thousand times over. If you’re buying one, buy it from a local dealer if you possibly can.
Where to buy: Atlanta Grill Company (my local shop in Roswell, and the flagship Kamado Joe dealer) · Kamado Joe, direct · BBQGuys (good for older models and sales KJ doesn’t run)
Charcoal — Fogo (the big lump)
Lump charcoal, never briquettes, and Fogo is my go-to, especially the big-piece bags. Bigger lump burns longer, hotter, and cleaner, with far less fiddling. I buy mine locally at Ace.
Where to buy: Fogo, at Ace Hardware (where I actually get it) · Fogo, direct
Chimney starter
Skip the lighter fluid forever, and with a Kamado I mean that as an absolute, non-negotiable rule: never, ever use it. Ceramic is porous, so the fluid soaks in and stays, and every single thing you cook after that will taste faintly of it, with no getting it back out. Natural fire starters, a chimney, or one of the blowtorch-style lighters; those are your only three options. A chimney starter gets your charcoal glowing evenly in about fifteen minutes with nothing but a match and some paper. One hard rule: get one with a wooden handle, not plastic, because plastic handles melt and wooden ones don’t. I have the Weber, but any of the big ones do the job.
Where to buy: BBQGuys Signature chimney starter · Weber (widely available)
Fire starters — BBQ Dragon “Dragon Egg”
My little cheat for a fast start: tuck a Dragon Egg into some wadded-up newspaper or a paper bag in the bottom of the chimney, light it, and walk away. It gets everything going quickly, no fluid, no fuss, no chemical taste.
Where to buy: BBQ Dragon Egg fire starters (pack of 50)
Instant-read thermometer — ThermoWorks Thermapen
The single tool that will save more meat than any technique you’ll ever learn. The big Thermapen (the ~$100 one) is my go-to; it was a gift, and if you want the same accuracy in a cheaper package, ThermoWorks’ Thermapop instant-reads are genuinely great. (Full honesty: this one lives in the regular kitchen just as much as the grill.)
Where to buy: ThermoWorks (the Thermapen, or the cheaper Thermapop)
Cutting & serving — Epicurean BBQ boards + pizza peel
The same Epicurean boards I love in the kitchen, but the BBQ line: I use the biggest board they make for resting and carving right off the grill, and their pizza peel (I have the middle 17.5×10) for launching pizzas onto the stone.
Where to buy: Epicurean BBQ boards (get the biggest) · Epicurean pizza peel
Hand protection — leather welding gloves
Not gonna lie to you: my grill gloves are leather welding gloves. When you’re searing at 600°F, you need real protection just to reach in and flip a steak, and I have genuinely picked up a screaming-hot grill grate with a gloved hand using these. I got mine at Home Depot; any leather welding glove works.
Where to buy: RIDGID leather welding gloves at Home Depot · or any leather welding gloves
Grill cleaning — pumice, not a wire brush
I clean my grates with a pumice stone, never a wire brush, because wire bristles can snap off and end up in your food (that’s a real, genuinely dangerous thing). Full honesty: I buy these on Amazon, because it’s the only place I’ve found a pack of 8 for under $15, and I go through them fast.
Where to buy: Grill pumice stones, 8-pack, on Amazon (plain link, earns me nothing, and the only place I’ve found them this cheap)
The one I want (not a have) — Ooni pizza oven
Full disclosure: I don’t own this one yet. But I’ve used an Ooni at friends’ houses and I want one badly, possibly even in place of my Kamado’s DoJoe pizza attachment. It rips up to true pizza temperatures fast, and the results are honestly restaurant-level. I’m listing it as an honest want, not a have — and if that ever changes, you’ll be the first to know.
Where to buy: Ooni
The meat to cook on it — Snake River Farms
The special-occasion steaks, roasts, and chops that deserve the Kamado live over in The Pantry → Snake River Farms. (Same great source; no need to list it twice.)
Where I shop for grill gear
Atlanta Grill Company — my local Roswell shop, the flagship Kamado Joe dealer, staff who actually know their stuff. Buy the big-ticket stuff local when you can.
Ace Hardware — where I grab charcoal. It’s a dealer-owned co-op, so your local Ace is a locally-owned small business.
BBQGuys — online; good for older models and the sales the manufacturers don’t run.