I have really enjoyed cooking with charcoal for many, many years! I consider myself lucky since I had the privilege of discovering the Kamado style BBQ grill at a trade show back in 2002. Now, years later, I’ve cooked countless meals on three different ceramic Kamado style cookers; the Big Green Egg, the Primo Oval 300 and the Ambiance Kamado 25. Which one do I feel is the best? And what makes me believe that way? Read on if you’re thinking about upgrading or just getting started into a wonderful new world of outdoor cooking.
Stealing the Show
When I first saw the Big Green Egg (BGE) I was immediately intrigued with its concept. It was possible to cook and bake with charcoal while still maintaining perfect control of the temperature. How awesome! It took a couple of years but I purchased a large, Big Green Egg. No one in my social circle had heard of the concept before. However, once they tasted the food and got a better understanding of how it was cooked, many of my friends went out and purchased a BGE or similar product.
Over the next several years and with the help of some YouTube videos, I had loads of fun making all kinds of tasty dishes. It might have been pizza, pulled pork, ham, brisket, smoked salmon, trout, shrimp, or veggies; anything I’d cook on the Big Green Egg seemed to be an instant hit. Truth is, that ceramic cooker made our backyard a celebrated spot for my family and friends to gather and enjoy the best barbecue in town!
A Big Change
In 2018, I met the owner of Primo Grills. He quickly found out that I owned a Big Green Egg and enjoyed the results from it. He mentioned that if I wanted to reach a higher standard with my creations on the grill, I needed to upgrade from the round shape of the BGE to the oval shape of the primo.
It took awhile, but the following year, I made the change. I ended up re-doing my entire outdoor countertop in order to accommodate the difference in shape. Not so simple, since the BGE was built-in! But the Primo Kamado remodel project turned out well.
The style
Here are the before and after pics! The BGE is green of course, their trademark. After 14 years of use, it is still in excellent condition. It’s an undeniable high-quality product.
When installing the Primo Oval, I decided to place it on top of a non-combustible surface and significantly helped the access to the clean-out ash trap. Even if a wayward spark would pop, it didn’t damage whatever was underneath the Kamado.
We’ll talk grill performance in a minute. But now, let’s enter the next generation of quality Kamado ceramic cookers! This is another remarkable Ambiance product, designed in partnership with We Love Fire dealers and Louisiana Grills, an innovative leader in the BBQ market. I was impressed with the BGE, captivated by the Primo Oval, but I have been literally awestruck by the quality, versatility and flexibility of the amazing Ambiance Kamado 25 charcoal smoker grill!
The Performance
My Big Green Egg was the ‘large’ model. My Primo Oval was also the ‘large’ model. Both are appropriate sizes for preparing meals for 3-5 people. The BGE offers 255 square inches of cooking surface, the Primo Oval 300 square inches.
The Ambiance Kamado 25 is also considered a ‘large’ model, but features 570 square inches of cooking area! How so you ask? It’s thanks to the clever adjustable heights and shapes of the cooking grids. What this means is now you have room to handle just about anything that would be on the menu and for more dinner guests at the same time. These multi-level cooking racks increase the usable space and make this grill perfect for family cookouts, dinner parties with friends or even full-blown BBQ cooking competitions at the fair! The adjustable cooking heights and shapes of the grids make the Ambiance Kamado 25 so much more versatile and usable in terms of managing the cooking space.
I like the fact that the oval shaped Primo has the ability to fit two cedar boards for grilling salmon, a personal favorite of mine. However, the Ambiance Kamado 25 allows for two as well. Only one though with the BGE.
Although I have no defined, scientific method of measure, I’ve noticed that the Ambiance 25 seems to smoke less than the Primo or Big Green Egg, especially at lower temperatures. I feel it burns cleaner and uses less lump charcoal, too. I always like it when I can shut the grill down and come back for another meal a day or two later and have the ability to re-use the remaining charcoal from the last cookout.
Indirect Cooking
I like to use the reverse searing method to cook steaks. It allows me to have much better control of the temperature of the meat. Because of this technique, I’m able to offer my guests the degree of doneness they prefer. With the Big Green Egg, indirect cooking can be done with the deflector plate. It’s difficult to remove this plate if you want to ‘sear’ the meat afterwards. Removing a hot deflector and placing it in a safe place can be a challenging and frankly, rather dangerous.
The Primo Oval features a ‘divider’ for the combustion chamber that allows for charcoal on only half of the firebox. In order to warm up meat, steaks are placed on the side of the grill where there is no charcoal underneath. Once the steaks are ready to sear, the grill can be lowered closer to the charcoal and the steaks are ready to be seared.
Now for the Ambiance Kamado 25; included with the grill are two heat deflector/diversion plates. Either one or two of these plates can be used, depending on what the chef is preparing. The heat deflectors can be used for indirect or convective style cooking. They can also be used on the actual grids for cooking, where the grids are placed underneath the heat deflector. This ingenious design feature offers much better flexibility than the other two grills.
Standard Features
Another big advantage the Ambiance Kamado 25 has going for it, is the cart. It might not seem too important, but the composite, thermal formed all weather cart is a big deal. The wooden carts for the other two grills can get kind of gross as they will quickly stain, discolor and actually begin to rot over time. Not so for the cart for the Ambiance 25. The composite shelves are super easy to clean, stay looking great in regardless of the weather and will fold down for convenient storage. The heavy-duty swivel casters, including two that lock, provide for for easy moving and solid stability.
The lids on all three grills are heavy. I found the shock absorbing lid on the Ambiance 25 will protect it from slamming closed. A solid design and a nice touch.
There’s a beautiful cover for storage that’s included with the Kamado 25. The handy tool that’s included for ash removal, I feel makes the job go quicker, cleaner and a little easier than the other two grills.
Air flow on the Ambiance Kamado 25 uses a simple top damper, calibrated for precise, long lasting temperature control and a bottom stainless-steel plate. The dome thermometer has a durable chrome bezel that lets me dial in any specific temperature
Ignition Time
To light the charcoal, I’ve become quite fond of the ‘Looft-lighter’. The Looft Lighter is the pinnacle of lighters. It uses only clean, superheated air to light charcoal, briquettes or wood. No chemicals, no fire-starters and very little waiting, only about 2 minutes to ignite the fuel and you’re ready to cook! It has a heating element combined with a small fan that transfers high heat by pointing the lighter at the charcoal.
Finally
I’m very pleased and extremely happy to have had the opportunity to own three Kamado style grills. It’s almost like I’m reaching a higher level of education, a graduation of sorts! High school, the BGE. My under-graduate 4 year degree, the Primo. And now, a Master’s degree, for a master chef with the Ambiance Kamado 25!
Grilling, baking, searing, smoking or roasting, I am so looking forward to experimenting with different techniques in the coming weeks and months to see the subtleties and the versatility of this impressive ceramic cooker.
For anyone who wants to increase the performance and flexibility of cooking with charcoal, the Ambiance Kamado 25 is the ultimate, high-end option for you! You will not be disappointed
