Recipes from cooks I’ve done on kit I own. 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 methods 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. When a cook ran long or came off short of probe-tender, the recipe says so.
Latest recipes
Barbecued peaches on a kamado
Four peaches halved over coals that had already burned down, three or four minutes a side, with a mascarpone cream and crushed amaretti. They looked ripe in the shop and weren’t quite.
S’mores on a kamado
Four s’mores on the grid at the end of an evening, deflector out, two and a half minutes. Homemade blackberry marshmallow between two chocolate digestives, built by the children.
Burnt ends recipe — beef chuck on a kamado
Two kilos of diced beef chuck, a whole bottle of hoppy IPA, four and a half hours at 130°C indirect. At this cube size 94–95°C is not done — they want another hour and a quarter.
Duck legs on a kamado
Four Aldi legs, sunflower oil, salt and pepper, an hour at 200°C dome indirect. Cover them completely — the part standing above the oil gets neither crisp nor soft.
Pork belly burnt ends with mango chutney glaze — inspired by Easy E’s London
Eleven hours, mostly hands-off — cubes on the BGE Large at half-eight, adults sitting down at eight. Ras el Hanout rub, Sharwood’s mango chutney glaze, a British-Indian take on burnt ends.
Smoked sausages on the back of the pork loin cook
Smoked alongside the pork loin at 140°C indirect — twenty-four sausages from Sedum Butchers and Heck, smoke-only, no fresh wood added, lid down for thirty minutes.
Whole rainbow trout on a kamado — caught with my son on Friday, cooked on Sunday
Caught with my son at Tillingbourne Farm in Surrey on Friday, gutted and cleaned the same evening, frozen overnight, then cooked direct on the BGE Large at 200°C on Sunday.
Apple and summer berry crumble on a kamado — the dessert that goes on after every protein has come off
Cooking apples, frozen summer berries, and a rubbed-butter crumble topping baked on the BGE Large at 220°C dome, deflector in. The dessert that rides on the back of every protein cook.
Lamb rump on the BGE Large — the quick second protein after the kamado’s already running
A 400g rump direct-grilled over the lit lump that just finished smoking the pork loin. 18 minutes from grate-on to probe-off, 30-minute rest, sliced cherry-pink medium-rare.
Bone-in pork loin on the BGE Large — the centrepiece version of my brined-loin cook
A 2.2 kg chined rack brined for twenty-four hours, smoked at 140°C indirect over two oak chunks, then carved off the bone like a roast. Two cooks eight days apart, same juicy medium-pink slice both times.
Pulled pork on the kamado — what two cooks taught me
115°C dome indirect on a bone-in butcher’s joint for twelve and a half hours, pulled at 93°C with the probe sliding through like warm butter. Cook time mattered more than the thermometer.
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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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.
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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.
Read the full recipe →If there’s a specific cook you’d like a recipe for, drop me a note via the About page.