First use of a new kamado: seasoning, set-up and your first cooks

Three things that forums lump together need to be pulled apart. The ceramic is not cured: it is porous, but no manual in the table asks you to oil it or burn it empty at high heat to break it in, and whatever it soaks up stays there (hence the rule on lighter fluid). The gasket does need a running-in period, because its adhesive must settle before it takes strong heat. And the metal parts may carry a lacquer that burns off the first time.

Big Green Egg is the most explicit: it asks you to keep the first cooks below 177 °C (350 °F) so the gasket adhesive can cure. Kamado Joe says the kamado does not need curing, but recommends a first warm-up with no more than 1.36 kg of charcoal and below 204 °C (400 °F) for the first hour.

Monolith goes further: its manual says you can use it straight after assembly, with no initial burn-off. It only warns that the cast-iron charcoal grate carries an anti-corrosion lacquer that burns off on first use. The Weber Summit Kamado, made of double-walled porcelain-enamelled steel, asks for the opposite: at least 30 minutes with the charcoal glowing red and the lid closed to burn off manufacturing residues. And the German manual of the Aldi Kamado L, a supermarket ceramic, calls its first fire a "pre-treatment" ("Aushärten", hardening, in the original): a little charcoal, lid closed, and let it burn out. The Kamado Bono manual asks for the same and warns that too high a fire can damage the felt gasket.

The practical conclusion does not depend on the brand: moderate first cooks, below roughly 175-200 °C. The "empty burn at 300 °C" from some videos is not a first-use step in any manual in the table. Kamado Joe does describe a 315 °C (600 °F) cleaning burn, but after the initial heating and not as curing; for the first cooks, Big Green Egg asks for exactly the opposite.

Transport damage shows up when you open the pallet, not on the third cook. Before assembling anything, take photos of the base, the dome, the rim of both pieces, the inside and the packaging if it is marked. That is exactly what you will be asked for if you need to claim.

Then look in raking light. Crazing, a network of fine lines in the glaze, is normal: Monolith explains that it comes from the factory firing, and the Aldi manual gives the test, because those lines can only be felt by running a fingernail over them. Big Green Egg and Kamado Joe treat it the same way. A crack that goes through the piece, or a chip on the edge where the gasket sits, is another matter, and you claim for it.

In Spain, the shop is liable for lack of conformity that appears within three years of delivery (article 120 of the TRLGDCU, Spain's consumer law, as worded since 2022), and in the first two the defect is presumed to have existed already (article 121). The brand's own warranty is separate and has small print: Big Green Egg and Kamado Joe require you to register the kamado and to have bought it from an authorised dealer, and the gasket only gets one year. The Big Green Egg terms published online are the US ones, so check the European version when you buy. Register the purchase on day one and keep the invoice; the shop's legal guarantee does not depend on any of that.

Finally, the inside: the fire box and the ring must sit flat, with no packaging debris underneath. The cart or nest should be level with the brakes on, and Big Green Egg reminds you that the kamado must never stand directly on wood or any combustible surface.

Transport and the first heat shift the bands that hold the dome. Kamado Joe asks you to check bands and hinge before lighting and again after the first warm-up, because expansion loosens the hardware. Big Green Egg recommends checking them after the first few uses and then twice a year, and the Aldi manual warns that the band expands and can work loose.

With the kamado cold, close the lid and look along the perimeter at eye level: the gap must be the same all the way round. Then the banknote test: a sheet of paper pushed halfway between the dome and the base should come out with resistance all along the rim. The detail is in the guide to replacing a kamado gasket. Monolith, mind you, does not trust the paper: it suggests settling at about 110 °C indirect, adding smoking chips and closing the top vent fully; if smoke comes out at the rim, the lid is not seating.

If the lid rubs or sits off-centre, you adjust the bands; you do not force the gasket. Monolith gives a reference: tighten until the two screw tabs tilt towards each other, and no further. Over-tightening does not seal better and puts the ceramic under strain.

The first fire must be small: Kamado Joe sets the ceiling at 1.36 kg of charcoal and Aldi talks about two or three handfuls. Lump charcoal, never briquettes or self-lighting charcoal, which Big Green Egg rules out, lit at a single point with wax or wood-wool firelighters or an electric lighter, no gel or fluid. The method is in how to light a kamado.

The target is a dome between 120 and 175 °C for an hour, lid closed: the range that respects both the Big Green Egg limit and the Kamado Joe one. Ceramic reacts late, so start closing the bottom vent and the chimney before you get there, because while it is climbing there are still 30-40 °C on the way. If you overshoot, close up and wait; opening the lid feeds the embers.

You can already cook on that fire: Kamado Joe speaks of the first hour as "warm-up or cooking". When you finish, close the vents and let it go out on its own. The next day, bands, hinge and banknote test again.

Which smell is normal? A slight burning in the first minutes, from lacquer or factory residue, that goes away by itself; Monolith asks you to wait until it disappears before putting food on. Smoke leaking all round the rim, on the other hand, points to a gasket that is not seating.

The gasket works first in the low temperature range and goes up in steps, with a real recipe on each one. No manufacturer fixes how many cooks are needed; Big Green Egg says "the first ones", with no number. Three steps is a prudent guideline, not a rule.

First: gentle indirect, 160-175 °C. A pork loin with mustard and honey: the recipe calls for 180 °C indirect to 63 °C internal, the USDA FSIS figure for whole cuts of pork, with a 3-minute rest, and at 170 °C it simply takes a little longer. With the deflector in (the guide to direct and indirect cooking explains what it is for), the dome climbs slowly, and you learn how long your kamado takes to respond to a quarter turn of the vent.

Second: medium indirect, around 180 °C. The spatchcocked whole chicken roasts flat at 180 °C with the deflector, for 55 to 65 minutes, under the Kamado Joe ceiling. On an EGG, to respect the 177 °C to the letter, stay at 170-175 °C and roast for longer.

Third: direct, 220-250 °C. An escalivada (Catalan roasted peppers and aubergine) at 230 °C over the embers, or smash burgers on a griddle at 250 °C. It is the first time the gasket spends a good while above 200 °C. If afterwards no smoke escapes at the rim in the Monolith test and the banknote drags all the way round, there is no sign of trouble, although no manufacturer gives a criterion for the end of running-in. With a Big Green Egg, which does not say how many "the first" cooks are, you can stretch the low end of the ladder.

The fourth, pizza. A Neapolitan pizza needs the stone loaded at 350 °C or more, which punishes the adhesive hardest; that is why it comes after the ladder, and the full method is in how to make pizza in a kamado. And the climb is gradual, lid closed, never ten minutes from cold.

Burping. With the kamado hot and the vents closed, there are embers inside with little oxygen; if you open suddenly, a fireball can come out towards you, the flashback. Lift the lid a few centimetres (Big Green Egg says 5-10 cm, Kamado Joe 5-8 cm and Monolith 4-5 cm), wait a few seconds (Kamado Joe says about 5) and then open fully. Big Green Egg suggests repeating the move two or three times. The why is in temperature problems.

Gloves. Ceramic, grates and hinge stay burning hot long after you put it out. Long aramid gloves are the first safety purchase.

Never indoors. Charcoal produces carbon monoxide, a gas that has no smell and can kill, as the Kamado Joe manual reminds you. A prevention bulletin published by Spain's Ministry of Health puts it in one line: "Do not use charcoal barbecues… inside the home". A garage or a glazed, closed terrace counts as indoors.

Cold ash and clearances. Empty the ash only when the kamado is completely cold. Clearance to walls, awnings and vegetation is set by your manual, and they do not all agree: the Kamado Joe Joe Jr manual asks for 3 metres from any combustible material and from roofs, walls and railings; the Kamado Bono TQ0015 manual gives 3 metres on the cover and 2 inside; and Aldi's, 2 metres all round and above, and never under a roof, a parasol or a gazebo. When in doubt, go with the larger figure. For a flat's terrace, the guide to a kamado on a terrace goes over community rules and neighbourly relations.

- Lighter fluid or additive-laden briquettes. Ceramic is porous and absorbs it; Big Green Egg speaks of permanent contamination. - From cold to over 300 °C in minutes. All the charcoal lit, vents open and lid open in wind: the recipe for thermal shock, for the ceramic and for the gasket. - Water on hot ceramic. Big Green Egg forbids putting out the charcoal with water; you put it out by closing the vents. - Soap or degreaser inside. The inside is not washed; it is cleaned with heat. - Lighting it when it is wet. Big Green Egg warns that water that gets into the ceramic can crack it if it freezes, and after a spell unused it recommends heating slowly to about 177 °C to dry it out. - Letting the lid drop. Letting the dome fall flattens the new gasket; Monolith asks you to close it gently.

A fine crack in the fire box or the ring is no drama: Monolith explains that they cannot be entirely avoided, which is why those parts have expansion slots. What must not crack is the base or the dome.

On day one you need very little:

- A digital probe, because the dome thermometer measures the air and not the food: a Bluetooth model such as the Inkbird IBT-4XS, calibrated when new with the ice test from the guide to thermometers and probes. - Heat-resistant gloves. - A chemical-free light: a Weber Rapidfire chimney or an electric lighter. - A cover, such as the Onlyfire universal, waterproof and 76 cm across, which covers most 18-22 inch kamados on a stand. On the coast it matters from the first day; the guide to salt air and damp describes the routine. - Lump charcoal, in large pieces: the guide to which charcoal to use explains how to choose it.

The first month you can do without twenty-accessory kits, because you do not yet know what you will cook, and without briquettes and paraffin firelighters. The reasoned list is in essential kamado accessories. A gasket damaged at the factory is claimed from the shop; if it ever needs replacing, the gasket guide compares the options.