Primo 778+370 Ceramic Charcoal Smoker Kamado Grill Review
Kamado style grills are very popular due in large part to their efficiency and interesting appearance. One of the knocks on this style of grill is the lack of an easy to move cart and side shelves. Primo does their best to answer this by providing their 778+370 with a stainless steel and powder coated cart.
It has the typical Kamado style ceramic construction. This helps the fire chamber to absorb heat efficiently, while also be able to generate low heat when you want it, and high heat when you don’t.
The 778+370 is oval shaped, whereas most kamado grills are round. This minor change in design is to accommodate an optional fire chamber divider. When its inserted into place it allows you to create two different heat zones. There is also an accessory pizza stone that is sold separately. It allows you to make your own perfectly grilled and smoky fresh dough pizzas.
It comes with a 400 square inch primary grill grate. There is also an optional grate that can provide you with up to 680 square inches of grilling or smoking space.
Construction & Ease of Assembly
All quality kamado-style grills are made with a primary ceramic base. It’s designed to absorb heat and emit it back into the cooking space. This allows you to generate a significant amount of heat from a rather modest amount of charcoal. If you dial down the airflow, the grill can transform into a very efficient smoker.
For the most part, the Primo 778+370 is built with quality materials throughout. The one knock on its quality is the cart base. In places, the stainless steel is a little on the thin side. If you leave it out in the rain without a cover, you will inevitably end up with corrosion issues on the cart base.
The Primo 778+370 grill body itself is relatively simple to put together. The first time you insert the additional grill may take a little longer. Once you get the hang of it though, it’s easy enough to use.
The cart base itself can be a little tedious to put together. You’d be amazed at how hard it is to get all the structural rails to fit together at the same time. Having a second pair of hands to help will certainly speed things up.
With a friend nearby and some basic tools, you should be able to fully assemble it in around an hour.
Grilling Performance
There is a little bit of art in the science of dialing the airflow just right to feed the fire to the temperature you want. Once you get the hang of it, the Primo can be used to slow cook some near competition level barbecue on its low heat setting. If you prefer you can also dial up the heat to a full roar to sear and even bake.
Primo offers a special pizza stone meant to go with this Kamado grill. To use it you fire up the grill with a charcoal fire. A mixture of half briquettes and the half jumbo lump will give you might heat with the maximum smoky flavor. Then carefully insert the pizza stone and give it a solid 20 minutes to heat up with the lid closed.
This isn’t the kind of thing where you want to pull out a frozen pizza or one of those with its own magically rising crust. What you really want is to use a fresh dough just like any standard bread dough. Just add a little extra water and olive oil to the recipe. You want it a little wet and soft so it will quickly puff to give you a crispy crust that’s stiff puffy in the middle.
If you want to smoke some meat you can dial it down low and set it directly on the grates. One special trick you might want to try is to smoke some pork ribs with just some basic rub. An hour or so later set some ring or link sausages on the accessory rack. Prick each one two or three times with a toothpick. As they go the flavorful fat will drip down onto the ribs to punch up the flavor.
Grilling Areas
In its standard setup, the Primo Kamado grill provides 400 square inches of cooking space. The pizza stone is a little bit smaller than that. There is also a 280 square inch additional grill rack that sits over the primary that brings the total up to 680 square inches.
Special Features
The firebox divider allows you to create two separate heat zones for things like hybrid grilling cuts of meat that benefit from low heat cooking to make them tender. Then you move it over to the high heat side of the grill to mark it off.
The pizza stone doesn’t technically come with it, but if you even have the slightest inkling to try your hand at it, you should spring the extra money for it.
Ease to Clean
For the most part, the Primo is relatively easy to clean. The grates need a gentle scrape down. Ash and caramelized drippings can be scooped out through the access door at the bottom.
Warranty
The Primo Kamado comes with a Limited Lifetime Warranty Backed by a twenty-year guarantee on all ceramic parts. It has a five warranty on all metal parts, excluding cast-iron parts, which have a 1-year warranty. The thermometer and felt gaskets come with 30-days of coverage.
The high-end aspects of this warranty coverage are a little better than most of the competition. The lesser aspects of the warranty are less than the competition.
Conclusion
The Primo Kamado is a little bit more versatile than most of its immediate competitors. Especially if you buy the pizza stone accessory. The cart base is a little on the weak side, and you will get more out of it if you buy a cover for it, or simply keep it somewhere out of the elements.
Give yourself a little while to get the hang of dialing in the airflow and heat. Once you do, you will be able to make the most out of its diverse temperature range and heat efficiency.
