Cookaholics Bulletin Board

cmintzd, let me apologize for my poor summation of your post. It was not critical of the unit per se at all. And that you have mastered a technique to produce a good pizza on a grill with only a stone is a testament to your skill. What you describe about the bottom cooking while the top still needs more time is the problem many grillers face and what the unit purportedly was designed to solve.

They talk about building a "two zone" fire with the coals (and hardwood if used) in the rear. The heat, along with bringing the stone up to a good cooking temperature which cooks the bottom of the crust, comes up the back, across the top, and exits out the front of the unit. That keeps a current of 600F to 700F or higher air cooking the toppings at the same pace as the bottom. The improvement is primarily due to convection cooking.

The first review at Serious Eats used a D shaped stone that almost filled the 22.5 inch grill space. The heat had to come out the back where the flat side of the D was situated. I asked the manufacturer if this was a good stone, but they said no, it did not allow enough air movement. On the other hand they sell a different stone. Hard to be sure what the best approach is, so I will probably err on the side of the manufacturer and get the larger D size later if I need something "more bigger".

A couple of pizza peels, so we can build a pizza on one and pull it out with a second will keep production going smoothly. Pus I'll fabricate some sort of "poker/turner" device. One of the things that impressed me with these unit was the necessity to keep turning the pizza. Which is exactly how it works with a real wood-fired pizza oven. The cooks are turning those to ensure they cook evenly. When I saw that was necessary with this unit, I found it reassuring.

Darcie, I think you have it pretty well scoped out. The refractory cement provides the same benefit a ceramic cooker offers, thermal stability. For a restaurant, that means a more consistent cooking environment and lower fuel costs. If they made these pizza adapters for a big green egg, and I was starting a restaurant, I'd be really really tempted. But the higher cost of the Kamado style grill and the serious challenge of shipping it across the Pacific Ocean is a bit much for me.

Slightly off topic, but figured this is a good spot to announce that Costco in Canada is carrying the Big Green Egg.