Jose Andres Zapata

I have made it a few times on my Kamado. I like scoring the fat cap and salting it with kosher salt and some pepper all around. I prepare the grill with a two zone setup. I place the picanha away from the coals to sear it and let the internal temp come up to about 95deg. Then I take it out... cut into steaks and finish them to desired doneness. I like the flavor better than TriTip.

If it were similarly priced yes. It does have more room and the fuel compartment is substantially larger.

bel, I recently bought the Karu, and posted a video here: https://www.kamadoguru.com/topic/44352-ooni-karu/ I am pretty happy with it so far. It is portable... and smallish so there is no expectation of a full blown WFO. If you understand the limitations, it is still possible to make great pizzas. 1) Does it get Neapolitan pizza hot? It does, but you have to keep feeding the fire constantly. 1B) It comes to temp in 15 mins or less. The first time I fired it up and went to take a shower... expecting to find a raging fire and temp to be close to 900deg. When I came back (and was a relatively quick shower) almost all the fuel had been consumed!! Hahahha. Added more kindling and it recovered rather quickly. FEED THE FIRE 2) Wood vs Charcoal? BOTH! Wood consumes super fast... I use charcoal to keep it going between pizzas so I can eat with guests But Wood raises the temperature quite a bit more. 3) Raise the temp to heat the stone. I think probably the weak point of the Karu... raising the temp enough to get the stone hot. (feed the fire!) 4) I can brown the toppings like I have never been able to on the Kamado. 5) Kamado = hotter stone, Karu = hotter dome... Bottom line: For $329 + shipping I think it is quite a good buy. I was one of the Kickstarter backers at $239 plus shipping so even a better deal. The Ooni Pro seems a bit overpriced to me. I think this one is in a nice pricing sweetspot. It is not a real WFO, but for the price I think it is hard to go wrong. You can make some delicious pizzas, fast. My wife said they were the best I've made.... Cheers!

Thanks Prowe, Chris and Scott. This pizza thing is fun and very satisfying when you nail it!

So at $239 plus shipping, I thought that backing Ooni's new project was a fairly low risk gamble. The original pellet fueled version did not tempt me. The Pro model looked more interesting but overpriced. This new model, the Karu looked a lot more interesting to me. Wood, charcoal and an option for gas fuels and a tighter design looked interesting to me. They delivered a bit ahead of schedule and so far I have a couple of cooks on it and I am happy to report pretty happy with it so far. It is not a full WFO, but if you are flexible enough to understand what it is doing... you can make some pretty good pizzas. Here is a video of my first cook. The second batch came out better, but we had company so I was not filming. I will shoot future cooks and report back.

That looks delicious!

Crimini Mushrooms Chantarelle Mushrooms Fontina Cheese Goat Cheese Garlic Confit Truffle salt

Antonio, At first glance the differences are hard to distinguish, unless you look at the Komodo Kamado which is in a class by itself. Amongst the others, I discounted the BGE because I dislike the color (shallow ) and they have not innovated at all in a while. I almost decided on a KJ until I found the Saffire. The two features that sold me on the Saffire were the Crucible Firebox, which is made of firebricks vs ceramic. The Ash basket which other brands are now adopting. And finally the all polished stainless steel hardware on the Platinum series. The one thing I gave up vs the KJ was the airlift hinge. A year later I am still very happy with the purchase. The blue color with the stainless steel looks great too!

I do take the top completely off, and control with just the bottom door. About one third to one half open dials me in for the temps I am looking for. With the cap off I can peak at my pizza and you can take a quick IR measurement of the stone. If your cheese is getting soupy, consider squeezing some moisture out of fresh mozzarella. The nice golden tips on the first photo are on a feta... so dryer to begin with and that is why it has color. (Spinach, garlic confit, feta on that pie.). Dry shredded mozzarella releases less moisture when melting, sometimes I combine the two. The insulating bricks can be found at Ceramics/Potters suppliers. I bought mine from a local Ceramics store for around $5 ea. Fitted them to the stone and cut the outer edges to maintain airflow. A handsaw worked fine. I have estimated the max time I have at 650deg is about an hour. If I cook and eat with guests I have been able to make between 4 and 6 pizzas in that time. 4 is more the average and 6 a lucky max . Also the charcoal is important, medium to larger pieces will give you more temp and last longer. I have not been able to cook more than 4 pizzas with Royal Oak. Cowboy has had a better average of medium pizzas and will give me temp and last a bit longer. Locally I can get Mexican mesquite and those bags usually come with some huge pieces ( but a lot of dust too :( ). Those larger mesquite pieces produce a lot of heat!

Hi Struja, Here are a couple of thoughts based on my experience. 1) Your first pizza was ok because the stone had not come up to temperature. It takes longer than 10 mins once you reach your dome temp for the stone to catch up. 2) Real Neapolitan pizzas are 180g to 250g balls. So a 375g is going to take longer to cook inside while potentially burning the outside. 3) The big difference conceptually between Kamado's and Wood Fired Ovens is that the heat source is below in the Kamados and above in a wood fired oven. Increasing the potential for crust burning. 4) All purpose flour usually has some type of Malt added. Increasing the potential for burning because of the sugar content. 00 has not added malt. --------------------------------------------------------- At my home we have come to the consensus that we like NEO-politan type pizzas . More dough for the crust.... 350 to 400g dough balls. Lately I have really like Tony G's recipe from his book Pizza Bible, Master Dough with Poolish. Although his recipe makes a 820g single ball, it is for a larger NY style pizza. I just divide and make the smaller balls for a 12" pizza. I have been using Red Mill Artisan all purpose flour. It already contains some malt so I skip adding more malt. Here are my suggestions: 1) In the Kamado my target temperature is 650deg to 700deg for 350 to 400g dough balls. 2) Use an IR thermometer for the stone. My target temp for the stone is 550 to 600 deg. ( I use insulating bricks). 3) Let it reach those temp and allow them to hold a few minutes before launching your first pizza. 4) Build your pizza on the counter and then move to the peel. Move quickly and use as little flour as you can. Give it a wiggle for a small slide to keep it from sticking on the peel. Wood peels are easiest to launch with. Or the metal with holes. 5) DON'T overload with toppings. Keep a nice balance dough/toppings. It can make your dough stick to your counter and or peel. They will take longer to cook. Welcome to the Rabbit Hole!!! Let me know if you have other questions.

Grilled Fennel + Orange Salad and Picaña I love grilling Picaña on my Kamado. I setup a two zone fire and crisp up the whole exterior and develop an internal temp of 95deg approx. Then cut into steaks and finish cooking for different done temps. 125 to 145deg. Even at 145deg and above it's still very juicy and flavorful.

Thank you Keeper!

8-10 would be a push but possible. 1) Full firebox 2) Correct fuel. Larger chunks burn hotter and longer. Cowboy worked very well for me for 6 and holding the temp for longer time. RO has much smaller pieces and could not hold higher temps for long. 3) Make them back to back. Not much time here to bake and eat. 4) This would be for 650 to 700deg temps and 3 to 4 minutes / pizza. Good luck!

A beatiful SoCal sunset with my Saffire and pizza. Diavola - Pepperoni + Calabrese Peppers + Mozarella

These are my latest. One thing learned on this round. I used RO and it did not last as long as my previous cook in which I used Cowboy charcoal. I think I get higher temperatures and longer lasting with the Cowboy. I have had good results w temps at 700deg. Cook times of 3-4 minutes.