The extra “A” stands for the Aldi Kamado BBBQ. The extra “B”? That’s a typo… (Is that an esoteric reference? Real Simpsons fans think otherwise)

Kamado Karl?

Like pretty much everything we use in day to day life (paper, printing, gunpowder…) the kamado ceramic BBQ has its origin in ancient China. That stove eventually made it to Japan, and it’s from “mushikamado” that we get the Big Green Egg and Kamado Joe of today.

If you’re not familiar with the concept, these are massive ceramic eggs, for want of a better word, built to keep in heat and cook food for a long time and using minimal fuel. In the modern use case, lumpwood charcoal is the preferred fuel, and the kamado is as versatile as it is incredibly heavy. You can grill (BBQ), smoke, bake, roast, and even cook pizzas. The basic design includes two half egg shapes connected by a hinge, with a top and bottom air vent. The vents allow precise control of air flow, and as a result, temperature. This allows for stable cooking over a long period of time (for example smoking at 110 degrees Celsius).

Every so often, the Aldi Kamado rears its seasonal head. I stumbled across the design online and was intrigued. My last barbecue cost £40 and arrived in the thick of the Covid-19 pandemic (April 2020). It was a basic kettle design which was functional for the few times I managed to use it. Lighting charcoal was always a pain so I invested in a Weber chimney starter and life got a whole lot easier. Given how little I actually cooked on it, why on earth would I decide to pay £300 for something I knew relatively little about? So I didn’t have to spent £1,000 of course!

What’s the catch, I hear you say? Although the Aldi Kamado (or Kamado Karl as I’m now calling it after Karl Albrecht, one of the founding Aldi brothers) comes with a grill and a heavy duty stand, that’s about it. There are no bells and whistles on this, so some additional purchases are needed. I’ve bought a cheap cover as it is going to spend most of time outdoors, and I also invested in a divide and conquer cooking rack. They’re currently out of stock at Harbour Lifestyle, but I can confirm they fit the Aldi Kamado well. To slow cook or for indirect cooking you need a heat deflector to stop the food being burnt to a crisp by the intense heat of the charcoal. The divide and conquer system allows multiple levels of grilling, and a combination of direct and indirect cooking simultaneously.

Why bother with all the faff? Once I got the hang of it (and after investing in an electric starter), it’s really easy to make great food in. Over the weekend I cooked a whole chicken and smoked a pork shoulder to test it out (recipe here), and both came out really well with minimal effort. The chicken cooked at around 150 degrees for an hour and 15 (it wasn’t a particularly big chicken), and the pork shoulder was cooked at 110 degrees Celsius (although there was some fluctuation up to 125 initially as I got the hang of temperature regulation) for five hours.

I made a quick dry rub for the pork with salt, sugar, and spices, then stuck it on in the morning, ready to check that afternoon. One thing I could benefit from is two half moon shaped drip trays (or perhaps kidney dishes!) to catch drippings.

The only problem with having such a machine is going off the idea of meat entirely. We did hit meat saturation over the weekend after the experimentation period, but I’m looking forward to trying a lot more in future. The fuel efficiency is really impressive thanks to the thick ceramic walls. After five hours of smoking the pork, I closed the vents to stop the charcoal burning. There was still most of the charcoal remaining.

If you’re Kamado curious, the Aldi one does the job. It may not have all the accessories that make the most of it, but there are plenty of options and loads of people testing them out on forums.

Update: The Amazon Basics Kettle Grill cover works pretty well for the 2025 Aldi Midi Kamado if you’re in search of a cover. If you’re willing to spend a bit more, companies will custom make one for you as well (but I’m not that fussed as long as it’s functional.) In an effort to avoid buying off Amazon, I found it cheaper on eBay after a Reddit tip.