Kamado recipes: 4 easy dishes

Barbecuing on your Kamado is, of course, great fun and delicious too. But we can quite understand that you might fancy making something a bit more original. To help you get going, we've listed a few suggestions below so you can get started straight away with a delicious new recipe for your Kamado!

4. A tasty piece of picanha

This one is a real favourite with our editorial team. A fantastic barbecue doesn't have to be complicated or fiddly; sometimes it's simply about the right cut of meat, and picanha is the perfect example! (In the UK it is also known as rump cap.) 

Ingredients

This cut of meat is rightly a favourite in Brazil too, one of the biggest barbecue nations in the world. A genuine picanha weighs around 1–1.2 kg and really can't weigh much more. (Although some butchers do cut it a little more generously, because picanha is more expensive than rump steak.)

The great thing about this cut is that there are loads of options when it comes to rubs and marinades, but to keep things traditional and simple we're sticking to the basics today, because a really good piece of meat is delicious on its own! All you need is coarse sea salt, a lemon and, if you like, a sprig or two of rosemary. 

Step 1: Take your picanha and pat it dry with some kitchen roll. Then take a sharp knife and make a few thin diagonal cuts in the fat cap in a criss-cross pattern (don't cut right through the fat cap, otherwise your meat will dry out more quickly!)

Step 2: Cut the lemon in half and squeeze it over the picanha so that it is completely covered in lemon juice. Keep a little back to squeeze over it while grilling. Next, scatter the sea salt generously over the picanha and make sure there's a decent layer on it. 

Step 3: Make sure your barbecue is preheated to around 275°C and sear the meat. (We always start with the fat cap, so that the fat stokes the fire a little more.) Once the meat is seared, make sure the fire is only burning on one side of the barbecue and place the picanha on the side without fire, so it can cook nice and slowly over indirect heat. (The temperature can then drop back to 180–200°C.) Now you can also lay the sprig of rosemary on top.

Step 4: Turn it every 20 minutes, squeeze a little more lemon juice over it and have your meat thermometer at the ready. Picanha is normally eaten rare or medium-rare, so depending on your taste you can take it off the barbecue at a core temperature of 50–55°C.

Step 5: Wrap it in a layer or two of aluminium foil, let it rest for a quarter of an hour and don't forget to slice against the grain; this makes it much more tender!

(Another nice thing about grilling picanha is that you don't have to stand over it constantly: that gives us plenty of time to grab a drink for ourselves and our guests, which is especially easy with our outdoor kitchen with fridge!)

3. Pizza (with a pizza stone)

Making pizza on your kamado is definitely one of the most fun (and sociable) things to do at a barbecue! Of course, you will need a pizza stone for this, otherwise the dough will sag straight through the grill.

Step 1: A good pizza starts with a good base. For an authentic Italian base you will need the following:

• 500 grams of flour
• 300 ml lukewarm water
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 7 grams of yeast
• 1 teaspoon of sugar

Step 2: First, mix the sugar, the yeast and a little of the water together and leave it to stand for a few minutes. Then mix the flour and the salt in a separate bowl. After that, combine the yeast mixture with the flour/salt mixture and the rest of the water.

Step 3: It's important to keep kneading the dough well for several minutes! Once it's well kneaded, put it in a container or bowl and cover it with a damp cloth. Leave it to rest for at least an hour, after which you can divide it into the portions you need for your pizzas.

Step 4: Take a piece of dough and spread it out until you have a nice round shape. Cover the base with a tasty tomato sauce, cheese and toppings of your choice, make sure the pizza stone is already properly heated and bake it at around 230 degrees Celsius for 10–12 minutes. Voilà, you have a completely homemade pizza!

As you can see for yourself, the possibilities with pizza are endless. It's fun, everyone can make their own pizza (so nobody is likely to complain about what's put in front of them) and it gets everyone involved in the cooking: win-win-win!

When baking pizza (and especially kneading dough), it's always handy to be able to wash your hands regularly, so this is absolutely perfect with our outdoor kitchen with sink!

2. Sticky honey ginger garlic chicken drumsticks

An absolute barbecue classic: grilled chicken drumsticks! Of course these can't be left out, but let's give them a slightly special twist! With this treat, people will be talking about your barbecue skills for weeks!

What do we need for this?

• 6 large chicken drumsticks
• 1 lemon
• 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil

And of course for the marinade:

• a piece of ginger of approx. 5 cm (peeled)
• 3 tablespoons of clear honey
• 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons of tomato sauce (or ketchup)
• 2 tablespoons of tomato purée
• 3 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
• 4 tablespoons of dark soy sauce
• 5 cloves of garlic (crushed or chopped)

Step 1: Start by heating the kamado to approx. 200°C. Take an oven dish and place the chicken in it. Squeeze some lemon juice over it and sprinkle it with the cayenne pepper and the salt. Do this on both sides, of course, then cover the oven dish and set it aside to rest for a while.

Step 2: Meanwhile, pour all the marinade ingredients together (chop the ginger nice and finely!) and mix until well combined. Pour the excess lemon juice out of the dish the chicken is in and coat the chicken with the olive oil.

Step 3: Place the chicken on your kamado and brush the marinade over the chicken, turning the chicken regularly and brushing the marinade on both sides. Keep doing this every 5 minutes until the chicken is cooked through, and you're done! A fantastically flavourful chicken drumstick that goes perfectly with some tasty pilaf, potatoes, grilled vegetables or a healthy salad!

1. Grilled salmon (with a delicious BBQ rub!)

For the pescatarians and fish lovers among us, we of course have a recipe in our arsenal too. A delicious piece of salmon grilled on the barbecue is finger-licking good, provided it's done the right way!

To make sure you don't make a fool of yourself, we have a foolproof way to prepare a fantastic piece of salmon! 

This dish is all about a delicious rub. Below is a list of ingredients to make a batch of this rub:

• 2 tablespoons of celery salt
• 5 tablespoons of kosher salt
• 7 tablespoons of brown sugar (coconut blossom sugar)
• 4 tablespoons of ancho chilli powder (if you don't have this, you can use ordinary chilli powder)
• 1 tablespoon of black pepper
• 2 tablespoons of paprika
• 1/2 tablespoon of onion powder
• 1/2 tablespoon of garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper

These are the proportions for this rub; if you don't need that much, you can always halve the quantities. (Although we always keep a jar in the cupboard, as it also goes fantastically with chicken, pork or beef!)

Step 1: Start this dish by cleaning the salmon and patting it dry so it's completely ready for our rub. Rub it lightly over the skin side and generously over the flesh side. You don't want it to form a full crust, but it can be rubbed in fairly well. Coat the salmon with olive oil (or an oil of your choice) and leave it to stand for 20–60 minutes. 

Step 2: Make sure your grill is properly clean and heat it to a good 180°C. We don't want the barbecue too hot; that way we prevent the proteins in the salmon from coagulating (which is what gives you that white residue).

Step 3: Once it's up to temperature, place the salmon on the grill flesh side down and grill it for 3 minutes. Then turn the salmon over and grill it over indirect heat for another 10–12 minutes. Serve it with a slice of lemon and some grilled vegetables and you've got another delicious meal on the table! The salmon is easy to prepare with a made-to-measure outdoor kitchen fitted with a Kamado.

As you can see, there are plenty of options when it comes to everything we can prepare on a kamado. That's why it's also one of the most popular options in our outdoor kitchens!

To make the whole cooking process even easier, we offer many other options for the outdoor kitchen, such as a sink, fridges or gas burners!

We also keep the pizza stone mentioned earlier in stock and can deliver it along with your order, so you can make anything you like this summer!

Interested in one of our outdoor kitchens, or would you like to know all the possibilities? Contact us or take a look at our website!