Recipes from real cooks on real kit. Every recipe here is sourced from a Tested-by-Ben cook log — what worked, what didn’t, what I’d change next time. The cook protocols are kit-specific, the temperatures are measured rather than estimated, and every recipe links back to the review of the kit it was cooked on. If a cook ran longer than I expected or finished short of probe-tender, you’ll find that in the body of the piece. Honest framing is the point.
Latest recipes
Beef short ribs on a kamado — what a cheaper butcher taught me about the cook
115°C indirect for five and a half hours, foil-wrapped with self-rendered tallow from the drip tray. The technique nailed; the meat is what I’d change next time.
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BGE Large pork loin — brined, dry-finished, kamado-roasted
Twenty-four-hour equal-parts brine, overnight dry-finish, then 140°C indirect on the BGE Large to a perfect medium pink centre.
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Pork crackling on the kamado — the bar-snack bite-size method
Bite-size crackling rendered slowly in its own fat at 140°C. What to do with the skin you knife-dice off the loin.
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Vertical-roaster chicken on the kamado — brined, reverse-finished
A whole brined bird on a Broil King vertical roaster, aromatics dropped in the cylinder, then a 220°C reverse-finish for crispy skin.
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Smoky-mayo potato salad on the kamado — semi-sealed foil, two-yolk mayo
New potatoes confit in their own foil packet under the deflector, deliberately semi-sealed so the smoke gets in while the oil stays in.
Read the full recipe →Coming soon
More Tested-by-Ben recipes will land here as the cook log grows. Pieces in the pipeline include pulled pork on the kamado (the 21 May cook is documented, including where the cook ran longer than expected and the honest faux-cambro call I made at bedtime), reverse-seared bone-in ribeye on the BGE Large, and slow-smoked brisket once the wireless-thermometer kit gap is closed. Each one ships only after the cook is done and the lessons are in.
If there’s a specific cook you’d like a recipe for, drop me a note via the About page.