Matador Radiant Range

Not fit for purpose BBQ kettle cooker – Bought this Mini Kettle cooker from Bunnings a few years ago. Works fine for cooking a few steaks, chops ...as long as you DO NOT PUT THE LID OVER...it absolutely kills the briquettes... With the round lid which has a generous vent covering your food...the briquettes are starved of oxygen and basically go out! Ruined a lamb roast, finding after an… Read more

hour's cooking time, there was no heat coming from the vent apertures... Despite drilling some extra holes...still no joy. Hopeless piece of design for a promising mini version of a Weber type kettle.

Leave your oven on…you’ll probably need it – Only used three times. Waste of money. Despite a good build quality and compact packing up…its main purpose to cook small roasts is a dismal failure, lacking sufficient air circulation to keep the briquettes burning until powder. First time, I wound up removing a leg of pork after an hour’s cooking (lid on) when I noticed zip smoke, zip… Read more

heat…briquettes had simply extinguished themselves…(both vents fully open) I initially thought my fault for not having left briquettes to get white hot, but…I am an experienced kettle cook…so that’s unlikely. Second time, a similar result but with less briquettes direct heat cooking a few chicken wings, lid on. Took 30 minutes, uncooked wings and little heat left in briquettes… Last night cooked up a Scotch Fillet steak …using nearly a whole bag of briquettes, because I had difficulty lighting them. Over a searing hot grill placed my steak, and covered with lid… 10 minutes later turned the steak for 5 minutes…heat had subsided substantially. Still, was a BLOODY GREAT STEAK…medium well, tender. I shut vents for safety. This morning 95% of briquettes were still “whole”. Expensive home cooked steak…$ 8.95 briquettes $ 17.50 for steak.

Half price of equivalent weber with most of the performance – Works well. Cooked/smoked a 2kg Lamb. Slightly different thermodynamics to Weber variant so need to adjust style but this is splitting hairs. Performs well. For the price $300, i think charcoal trays should be included but can be purchased separately for $20. The double sided hinged tray and ambient temp gauge separate this from the econokettles. Show details

Good, but has airflow issues – The vents are tiny. Once the ash covers them over, the charcoal just goes out and the food ends up in the oven. I'm considering drilling through additional holes. If I can get it to go the distance, the food has been pretty tasty. I recommend a charcoal chimney, to help get things started. Show details