New Kamado Joe advice

[ikilby]

Hi all,
I have just taken delivery of a new Kamado Joe.

I want to do my first cook on Sunday, and unfortunately my Heat deflector has still not turned up yet.
I seem to remember reading that my first cooks should be at low temps to help bed the gasket in, however there is noting in the manual about this.

So in your experience do I need to bed the gasket in, and if so what can I cook on the grill?

I was thinking about a couple of whole chickens on low, and throwing some wood chips on to create some smoke.

I have a grill extender, so i could put the chicken on that and put a drip tray under the extender on the main grill to avoid grease drips and flare ups.

Any advise welcome

[KamadoSimon]

Yep - I would do a couple of lower cooks (say under 400F) - but have to say, the KJ gaskets seem to have less problems than the BGE non-high-heat ones anyway. Still, it's a pain to change - I did mine after 100 / 150 cooks - so it pays to be a little cautious I reckon.

I would do, and in fact did, the chickens as you mention. No need for the grill extender - with the vents set to keep a lower temperature you get very little flare up.

Hope that helps - and enjoy the chicken !

[ikilby]

Thanks mate

I will let you know how it goes.

[JEC]

I did beer can chicken on my Egg first. Simon is correct the joe gasket is better than the standard one on the Egg but all ceramic cookers benefit from giving the glue time to properly set with low temperatures and time improving the life of the gasket.

[ikilby]

I made my own rub and applied it to the chickens and roasted them at 350F with some Jack Daniel barrel chips.

My god they were wonderful,

I also threw in some plain Richmond sausages and smoked them they were totally different, full of flavour and smoke!

So how many low cooks do I need to do before I can crank the temp up.

I have made some hamburger mixture for tomorrow and have a couple of steaks.

I think I'm hooked !

Cheers all

[KamadoSimon]

Personally, I'd do two or three 400f or lower cooks before doing a higher temp cook.
Glad it came out well - quite a bit different from cooking on a normal BBQ eh?!

[JEC]

As per Simon, most recommend 10 to 12 hours at lower temperatures, you'll be amazed what you can cook at low temperatures, burgers work well as do sausages but you've found that out already. Enjoy it.