Cooking Instructions
Lighting
1.
Build a mound of natural lump charcoal. Use a full fire box of charcoal
for smoking and searing temperatures (Figure 1), or half a fire box of
charcoal for two-zone cooking (Figure 2).
2.
Light the charcoal with a fire starter cube or two. You can also use a
chimney starter or electric starter. Leave the dome open.
3.
Wait 5-10 minutes for the charcoal to build a small bed of embers.
4.
Close the dome, then fully open the draft door (Figure 3) and the top
vent (Figure 4) by sliding the top disk all the way to the right.
Adjust the air flow as needed as the temperature rises to reach your
target temperature. For grilling, you can set the draft door to fully open
and regulate the temperature with the top vent. For roasting set the
draft to one-third open.
Tip: Charcoal can be relit 2-3 times for multiple cookings. Use the ash tool
to stir the used charcoal, so the ashes will drop through the fire grate.
Add 30% new charcoal to the existing charcoal and build a new mound.
This works well for roasting and grilling temperatures.
Tip: You can’t have too much charcoal, but you can have too little.
NEVER
use lighter fluid or any other combustible liquid to light the
charcoal. It will be absorbed by the ceramics and impart a “fuel” taste
to your food.
Controlling the Temperature
1.
Follow the “Lighting” section above.
2.
When you are 25°F (4°C) from your target temperature, close the top
vent down to one-third open.
3.
Wait 1-2 minutes then increase or decrease the air flow of the top vent
in 1/4” increments to regulate the temperature. A 1/4” can change the
temperature up or down by as much as 25°F (4°C).
Low Temperature Cooking (Smoking)
1.
For low” temperature cooking like 225°F (107°C), start with a very small
fire in one area of the charcoal (Figure 5).
2.
Close the dome after 5 minutes with the draft door and top vent fully
open. Allow the temperature to come up slowly and when it reaches
200°F (93°C), set the draft door to a 1” opening (Figure 6). Set the top
vent with just the daisy wheel holes fully open. Adjust the top vent disk
and daisy wheel as needed to maintain the target temperature.
Tip: It is easy to raise the temperature, but very difficult to lower it.
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 6
Figure 5
Figure 1
