Big Green Eggheads

[Bruce]

Searing on the Egg is so much better but happy to hear it was a success!

Why is searing with the egg better? It seems like it would add a lot of time to the process and I am confused as to how it would add to the taste? They were on the sear station of the Webber for perhaps three minutes. This way I did not need to change the Eggs temperature.

 

[JetPowered]

The process was written above, but if you get the egg up HOT, you can sear one minute on one side, one on the other, close her down and let the heat soak in and cook for an additional 3-4 minutes of indirect, the steak is perfectly done and juicy as can be. Searing on another grill then transferring won't hurt it, but I see it as unnecessary. Try it both ways, then decide!

 

[Bruce]

Next up is a large filet of salmon. Anyone have tips?

My current plan is to warm the egg to a low temperature, perhaps 200, then place the salmon onto the egg grill on a fish tray.

 

[Bruce]

The salmon was a hit. It went in around 250 degrees and the egg warmed to 300 while it was in there. I pulled it when the edges were curling and becoming perfectly crispy.

I should have taken a finished picture. This was about 1/3rd cooked.

 

[Bruce]

Ribs on the "Egg". They were soaked in beer for 3 hours, rubbed down and have been in the "Egg" for three hours with a few pieces of hickory added to the lumps of coal. The first two hours temp ranged from 175 to 300. It is back down to 175 now. Hopefully they will be ready to fall apart after another 11 hours.

 

[Bruce]

Either I ran out of coal or the fire burned out. They look and taste great but are not as ready to fall off the bone as I had hoped for. I have sliced them up and will warm them in the oven before lunch. I should have taken the picture before I pulled the end off for testing.

 

[txav8r]

Well, welcome to Eggdomainaia! I can't ever seem to catch it when I let my temp get off from what I want. If I want to cook at 200-225, I have to be happy if it settles at 175-250. Because trying to fine tune it often will cause just what happened to you @Bruce . My guess, is when you closed it down to get it back under control with the temps approaching 300, you smothered the fire. The egg is so thermally efficient, it can take a good bit of time to show a temp loss to indicate that is happening. I have done it. And on the end of a cook too. I had it happen on my rib cook as a matter of fact. I just finished them in the oven as starting over on ribs at the end of the cook seemed too hard to get the lump to settle in to finish and too long resting to do so. I have had long cooks see a temp decline below 200, and it tempted me to open it up to keep the temp...that has set me up for the chase, that results in frustration. I have since adopted that if it is pretty stable and has been for hours, and I haven't changed anything, but it has declined or increased 10-20 degrees, I just leave it instead of chasing. I read the determining factor in Rib done-ness, is if when you pick them up from the end with tongs, the weight of the slab will break them in the middle somewhere. I have tried to temp check them with my thermapen, but they are not thick enough with meat away from the bone, to get a very accurate reading. Anyway, good recovery and glad they were good! Oh, I always start with a completely full fire box, and I generally always remove used lump chunks and clean the egg before any long cook, I just put the used lump back in the mix with the added lump to fill the box. I have gotten 18 hours out of it around 200-250 without adding any lump.

 

[Bruce]

I went back out to clean the egg and found the temperature had risen. It had not burned out earlier but was actually running at 150 degrees and had burned up all the hickory so there was no visible smoke. I put the ribs back in the egg for a final cook instead of the oven.

This is what I found in the fire bowl.



I did not post about them but we had some great burgers and awesome swordfish cooked on the egg last week.

 

[txav8r]

It is common, after a few hours, that added wood has combusted, and smoke is little if any, depending on when your looking. When doing a slow cook, you may only have one or two pieces of lump cooking at any given time, so when you look, you may be on dying lump prior to another piece lighting off. So I have discovered it will smoke a bit when a piece is getting going, but once stable, it burns pretty much smokeless. It is possible on the low temp cooks to have the fire just stop, I suspect the proximity of lump just doesn't get enough heat to light it? I wonder, as a low temp cook progresses, certainly more than a few pieces of lump get ignited and will be burning, from time to time. This has to affect temp. I always light only one spot in the lump when doing a slow cook, and maybe 5 places if grilling. Either way, the damper system needs to supply enough air to keep your temp where you want it, and if your stable at 200, I wonder why it climbs and falls, unless maybe from a change in wind and maybe your getting a vacuum in the vent area or downdraft. Just random thoughts...

 

[veedubtek]

 

[Bruce]

@txav8r, I find the temperature of mine to be pretty stable. It has two sets of vents on the top and bottom. Large vents for grilling and a small set for smoking.

The reason it got up to 300 soon after starting was that the trap door for the electric igniter had remained slightly open. After I pushed it closed the temp dropped down to around 175 and was still there when I checked two hours later. The brief rise in temperature likely added aestheticly to the meat.

I am using the electric igniter. I use it until the coal starts smoking if I want a low temperature or for a longer period of time if I want to grill. It is working well so far.

 

[MattFX4]

Hi guys, I am new here, and currently searching for a Yamaha jet boat. I figured I would chime in since I love cooking on my egg. I use a bbq guru wifi to control the temp on long smokes. It's pretty awesome because it connects to my home wifi network and I can control the temp from anywhere with my smart phone. Anyways, I just recently had my backyard redone and had an outdoor area built for egg, along with a Bull BBQ gas grill (we really love to entertain and hang out outside). I look forward to getting some ideas from this thread.

 

[Bruce]

@MattFX4, very nice!

 

[Bruce]

I have had a few issues with my Vision Kamado Pro C Series and found their customer service and warranty to be lacking. The first issue to arise was that when I placed the fairly light puma cooking stone on one of the side tables the plywood table broke in half allowing the cooking stone to fall to the deck and break into a number of pieces. I emailed customer service who informed me that my 6 month old grill was out of warranty but they would replace them if I paid shipping. I decided that I would prefer to seek better components elsewhere. I used pieces of the stone to smoke meat a few more times before the flimsy supports for the stone failed as well.

I am getting ready to smoke some ham and turkey for the holidays.

So I would like to replace the indirect heat stone support and the stone. I am new at this so I would appreciate your advice.

Here are a couple of stone support options that I am considering;

$27 Grill Dome ICR - I like that this one can be used as an upper grill level as well.

$25 Ceramic Grill Store Spider - This one is built from stainless.

Moving on from how to support the stone, for smoking should I use a stone at all or would a similar sized water bowl / drip pan be just as effective at converting the heat to indirect?

Thanks for your advice!

 

[txav8r]

@Bruce , I have an adjustable rig from the ceramic grill store, located in Denton Tx ironically. Call Tom and have a conversation with him about what you have and what you want. He's a good guy and can custom make anything if he doesn't have something that will work. Be prepared to give him measurements. My adjustable rig, has two sliding grids and a stone under it. On my large green egg, I can do 4 full slabs of baby backs. He is going to have good answers.

Mel

 

[txav8r]

Here is his number...
940.387.0100

 

[4x15mph]

Ribs on the "Egg". They were soaked in beer for 3 hours, rubbed down and have been in the "Egg" for three hours with a few pieces of hickory added to the lumps of coal. The first two hours temp ranged from 175 to 300. It is back down to 175 now. Hopefully they will be ready to fall apart after another 11 hours.

View attachment 32342

Bruce - try the 3-2-1 method. 3 hours on the grill/egg, 2 hours wrapped in foil (with small amount of apple cider or other/i.e. beer), 1 hour back on grill uncovered. They will fall off the bone because of the 2 hours wrapped tightly in foil ("texas crutch")

 

[txav8r]

I bought the cast iron grill grate for the egg. MUCH better sear than the stainless grid. But I have order and should receive in the next day or so, a sous vide circulator! It should make perfect steaks and many other things and it is affordable. Thought you eggheads might enjoy adding it to your arsenal.
https://www.amazon.com/Anova-Culina...HWSV1S?th=1#va-lightbox-popover_1499782167904

 

[leeatmg]

I bought the cast iron grill grate for the egg. MUCH better sear than the stainless grid. But I have order and should receive in the next day or so, a sous vide circulator! It should make perfect steaks and many other things and it is affordable. Thought you eggheads might enjoy adding it to your arsenal.
https://www.amazon.com/Anova-Culina...HWSV1S?th=1#va-lightbox-popover_1499782167904

I have the earlier model of that Anova circulator and it makes an amazing difference in certain foods, beyond just steaks. I found that pork chops and chicken breasts (when done properly) are leaps and bounds better than any other cooking method. Enjoy!

 

[McMark]

3 racks of ribs on a large egg. I use those drumstick holders to increase the capacity. I usually swap the ribs around halfway through or so.