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First time cooking on BGE

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txbbq
txbbq Posts: 16
edited February 2012 in EggHead Forum
We are building a pool in our backyard and saturday night I was browsing around for ideas on how to build a modern style outdoor kitchen. I found this picture 

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I thought wow that is really nice, clean and modern. Just the look I was looking for. I wondered what kind of grill it was, started to do some research and discovered it was something called a big green egg. I started reading about it and other kamado grills, and decided to get a big green egg because of the enthusiastic cult community. Since the next day was superbowl sunday I wanted to bbq a brisket (never done it before), unfortunately the grill store didnt open until noon on sunday which meant I wouldnt have much time to cook it. So, sunday morning I bought the smallest brisket I could find (8lbs at costco) and had my wife cut it in half.  I arrived at the store at noon, tried to haggle a bit on the price - which they wouldnt (could they sense my desperation?). I did get a free bag of charcoal, electric starter and firestarters. I also bought a placesetter and an ash tool. I originally didnt plan on getting a nest because I want the outdoor kitchen, but the backyard is a mud pit right now so I got the nest- the sales guy suggested I buy it and then just sell it on craigslist.

I finished making the purchase of a large at 1:15, got home by 1:45. My wife came out - she had thought it was the size of a casserole dish so she was surprised at the size. She asked me how much it cost - offering up $500, when I told her $1100 all in she said that meat better give her an org*sm and went inside. I got the egg out of my truck into the nest by myself, but I had oriented the air vent behind one of the 4 arms that make up the stand.  Even after taking out all the insides, it was too heavy for me to lift it out of the nest and turn at the same time so I had to go over to my neighbors house to get help to lift it and reorient. Oddly enough he was naked and so took about 15 minutes to put on some clothes. 

Since the backyard is all torn up because of the pool build, in true redneck texas style, I lit the egg up in the driveway. I added charcoal to just above the air vents (guy at the store said it would burn for 7 hours) and 4 large pieces of white oak. I got the meat on by around 2:30. I was surprised at how easy it was to maintain a steady temp of 250. Although the temperature slowly crept up to 330 after about 1 hour. I brought it back down to 250 by closing all the vents (the guy at the store assured me it would relight if I did this then opened the vents again).  The temp seemed to hold at 250 so I went inside the house, it was about 4:30 and the internal temp was now around 165. I came out about 5:30 as the superbowl was just getting started to find that the temp had dopped to about 210 the internal temp was 165. I tried opening all the vents, but I guess the fire was out. At around 6:00 I brought the brisket inside, wrapped it in foil and heated in the oven for 300. I did this for an hour until the temp hit 186, I tried the probe test like I read about here and it seemed to go in ok although I could feel some resistance. surely they didnt really mean butter.. I took it out and cut a few slices and proudly served it to my wife. The meat looked really moist and it had an awesome smoky flavor. But my 4yo daughter summed it up nice- "papa it is like gum". Yes the meat was chewy. So chewy you couldnt eat it.  My wife said "the BGE doesnt seem to be cutting it" in that voice that wives use..

She suggested I put it back in the oven, I didnt think it would work, but I tried it anyway, since my wife suggested it. I dropped it into her beloved le creuset and cooked at 300. I checked it in an hour and did the probe test and it definitely was much softer, so I decided to leave it in for another hour. I did the probe test again and the probe slid in like butter.

At 9:00pm I took it out (the superbowl was over at this point)  and let it rest for about 45 minutes. At 9:45pm my wife didnt want any, but I made her try it. It still wasnt the best brisket  I have ever had (we live in austin, home of some really awesome bbq). but it was very very good.

Cons
1) I think the brisket was actually too smoky. A lot of bbq joints, you cant even taste the smoke, you really could here. I could possibly learn to like it being this smoky. But next time Ill probably use a little less wood. I still amazed at how smoky it was.
2) Too much rub, we used salt lick rub and it made an awesome black crust, but it was too salty, just a bit too much seasoning
3) took 7 hours (not sure of the weight, maybe 4-5 pounds) obviously I started late, but Ithought it I cut the brisket small enough I would be ok. Also running out of heat Im sure set me back a few hours.

Pros
1) very moist and juicy, possibly more juicy than any bbq I have eaten at a restaurant, including blacks, coopers, kreutz, franklins, salt lick and rudys
2) very tender. It probably could have used another hour to be fall apart tender, but it was very close to being perfect. It was more like filet mignon tender vs fall apart brisket tender.
3) 5 lbs of brisket @ salt lick would run  $70, so Im that much closer to breakeven on the BGE
4) I wont have to run a gas line to the outdoor kitchen so that saved probably abou $500

I think this was a great first attempt and am really excited about the BGE. We are going to try pizza tonight.





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