I had been using cast iron to sear steaks and veggies for many years and thought it was the best sear I could get without risking flareups burning the food and imparting a bitter taste. I was really surprised at how much better the soapstone turned out to be for searing food. Everything I've tried searing on this has turned out far better than I expected and far better than any cast iron could ever achieve. something about the soapstones' thermal properties makes the sear perfect as if it knows just the right amount of heat to conduct and radiate to the particular food item on it for the perfect Maillard reaction and never simply burns food like cast iron tends to do so often. I've never had anything flare up on it even though I sear with it being directly over ... MoreI had been using cast iron to sear steaks and veggies for many years and thought it was the best sear I could get without risking flareups burning the food and imparting a bitter taste. I was really surprised at how much better the soapstone turned out to be for searing food. Everything I've tried searing on this has turned out far better than I expected and far better than any cast iron could ever achieve. something about the soapstones' thermal properties makes the sear perfect as if it knows just the right amount of heat to conduct and radiate to the particular food item on it for the perfect Maillard reaction and never simply burns food like cast iron tends to do so often. I've never had anything flare up on it even though I sear with it being directly over fully lit coals.People claim it to be non-stick. Don't expect this to behave like a teflon coated pan, but rather like a good stainless steel one where when heated behaves as a non-stick surface for most foods.I do pre-heat it for ~30 minutes prior to using it and sometimes even longer than that and directly over the coals.Yes Kamado Joe had to send me 2 soapstones before they finally sent one that didn't arrived cracked in two, but I can understand this issue as this type of stone is super brittle and has to be handled with great care. When cooking with it, I rest it on one of the half moon grates so it has even support across its span.As a science and physics major, it seems to me that the main differences between a soapstone and cast iron, regarding their searing properties, are that cast iron conducts most of its energy but radiates relatively little of it while soapstone radiates most of its energy in the form of black body radiation but conducts very little of it which would explain the differences in searing qualities and making the soapstone a far superior material for searing food with radiated heat without charring it to death with conductive heat.

Purchased the big Joe soap stone. Arrived cracked as I feared. Submitted a support ticket with photos with proof of purchase, provided followup duplicates of said photos, and now 3 weeks later am being asked to provide proof of purchase before a determination can be considered. Considering the minimal packaging supplied with the heavy porous stone, I’m not shocked this isn’t a common occurrence, but I am shocked how disappointing the customer service response has been. Been waiting to pull the trigger on my BJ 1 for a long time, and sucks that this is the first experience that is delaying my family’s enjoyment of the new grill.

This product cracks! It’s not if it’s when! Read other reviews same problem with them all! I bought my first one and it cracked thinking I didn’t support it right or wash it to hard so bought another one never took the grill grate from under it full support and it still cracked! Great searing but it won’t last long ☹️