after a week with the egg

evil_v

I know, pics or it didnt happen.  the pic are on my phone and cant have my phone at work.

so I got my egg a week ago friday.  that night I had a brined turkey breast, a marinated chicken breast and 2 small marinated tenderloin chunks from wegmans.  set the egg up, and lit it and tried to keep the temp around 300.  the wife left work late and didnt get home anywhere near time she was supposed to be there.  so my fire was getting cool when I put the meat on.  it came out pretty good.  didnt have enough seasoning on it, and it was more baked that grilled.

we were gone all weekend, so monday I had the other half of the chicken and turkey and seasoned it a little more.  When I did my fire, I put on some hickory for a smoke flavor.  well, it turned out a little bit too smokey, but had a pretty good taste with some sauce on it.

Saturday, I thawed out 2 strips from the freezer, and salt and peppered them like I normally do in the oven.  got the egg to 700, seared both sides, took them off and got the grill down to 450 and put them back on with a probe in each one and cooked till 130 and let rest for 10 min.  they came out really good.

so at this point I think im ready to do a pork butt.  Had the wife pick one up friday and did a mustard and jack daniels pork rub with a little rub some butt seasoning.  Sunday, I get the egg going and stable at 230, put the butt on and let it cook.  I had a drip pan in with some water and vinegar in it.  at 8.5 hours, I hit the stall.  I hadnt read enough about it to know what was going on, so like any other n00b, I thought something was wrong.  it sat for over an hour and didnt move.  it was getting late and that was going to be dinner, so I pulled it off at 161 degrees and let it rest for 30 min.  

it was kinda hard to shred with my claws, it had ok flavor.  I made the mistake of cooking it fat cap up, and and didnt let it cook thru the stall.  luckily it was only a 12 dollar butt, and the food wasnt terrible.

I guess I will try another butt this week to see if i can get it better, and make some improvements over the last one.

overall im very pleased with the egg, I enjoy sitting by it and having beers while taking in the aroma of the smoke.

WeberWho

It sounds like you are rocking and rolling with the egg!  The stall can take awhile with pulled pork.  For pulled pork it''s usually somewhere between an 1.5 - 2 hours per pound.  You'll nail it next time around. Nice work so far!

grege345

Welcome. Best of luck to your future cooks. Remember. You can never have too much lump. Load it up. It'll be there for the next cook. 

JethroVA

Welcome @evil_v.  Sounds like you are making solid progress.  This is a learning journey and it sounds like you picked up a couple of tips early on such as hickory can be too strong for chicken.  Regarding the stall, you have two choices, let her ride or cover with foil to expedite.  I like to get mine to 200* and then foil, towel, cooler (FTC) for a while.  Comes out soooo tender.  
Keep up the good work! p.s. put your city in your signature line. 

jak7028

On the butt, you just panicked.  At that temp you can slice it, but not pull it.  It will cook fast until the stall, stay the same temp for a while, then start rising slowly.  It cooks slower even once you get of the stall.  I have been fooled before with a butt that cooked really fast to the stall.  I didnt want it to cook to get done to early, so I slowed it down.  I ended up needing more time than planned to get it finished.  Still came out around 1.5 hours per pound.  I just should of trusted the BGE and not tinkered with it.

johnkitchens

evil_v said:

so at this point I think im ready to do a pork butt.  Had the wife pick one up friday and did a mustard and jack daniels pork rub with a little rub some butt seasoning.  Sunday, I get the egg going and stable at 230, put the butt on and let it cook.  I had a drip pan in with some water and vinegar in it.  at 8.5 hours, I hit the stall.  I hadnt read enough about it to know what was going on, so like any other n00b, I thought something was wrong.  it sat for over an hour and didnt move.  it was getting late and that was going to be dinner, so I pulled it off at 161 degrees and let it rest for 30 min.  

it was kinda hard to shred with my claws, it had ok flavor.  I made the mistake of cooking it fat cap up, and and didnt let it cook thru the stall.  luckily it was only a 12 dollar butt, and the food wasnt terrible.

I guess I will try another butt this week to see if i can get it better, and make some improvements over the last one.

You have learned a valuable lesson here. You will never that mistake again. If you are in a time crunch cook the next butt using the Turbo method. If you have a lot of time go low and slow. 

I prefer the low and slow method. As you now know the butt will be about right at around 200 degrees internal. I pull most of mine right around 203, but each butt is different. 

I am glad you are enjoying your egg. 

lousubcap

Welcome aboard and enjoy the journey.  Sounds like a strong start.
And regarding pork butts, if bone-in then the best finish indicator is when the bones pulls clean-generally in the low 200's*F. 

henapple

Welcome. ...

Jeepster47

Welcome to the mad house. 

Looks like you're well on your way.  Think you've found out why many eggers drink ... when in doubt, go get a drink and the egg will straighten everything out while you contemplate.

evil_v

i just reheated some for lunch and its pretty good.  I added on some of the rub some butt sauce and left it in the ziploc baggie overnight.  has a nice smokey smell, and the taste and tenderness seems better.  only downside is im at work and cant have beer with it....  :(

WeberWho

evil_v said:

i just reheated some for lunch and its pretty good.  I added on some of the rub some butt sauce and left it in the ziploc baggie overnight.  has a nice smokey smell, and the taste and tenderness seems better.  only downside is im at work and cant have beer with it....  :(

Bud Lite might pass for water! 

jtcBoynton

Welcome.  You said "I made the mistake of cooking it fat cap up".  That was not a mistake. It really makes no significant difference - fat cap up or down. Some prefer it up and some prefer it down. Others do not think it matters. Don't worry about it.

johnkitchens

jtcBoynton said:

Welcome.  You said "I made the mistake of cooking it fat cap up".  That was not a mistake. It really makes no significant difference - fat cap up or down. Some prefer it up and some prefer it down. Others do not think it matters. Don't worry about it.

I agree with these comments. I think it is more of a personal preference. I cook mine fat cap down so when I pick the butt up I don't leave any edible protein behind. 

Egghead_Daron

I also prefer low and slow but have found I can accomplish the low and slow taste and flavor at a little higher temps. I do my lows now between 250 and 275. And +1 on fat up or down. It doesn't matter. But I also do mine fat down so what sticks to the grates is just fat.

bboulier

Mastering cooking on the egg takes awhile and (for me) making a lot mistakes.  But, it looks like you are off to a good start.  

Cooking on an Egg is very different from cooking on a kettle grill, for example.  As you have learned, the confined space of an egg means that you will use a lot less wood for smoking.  And, hickory is probably not a good wood for chicken.  In fact, I (almost) never cook chicken with any wood.  The exception might be a very small amount of peach (a very mild wood).

As recommended by others, try the turbo method for cooking pork butts and make sure you bring it up to 200 or so before you pull it.

I have learned a lot from the folks who post on this forum.  It really shortens your learning curve.

Enjoy!

beachsmoke

the stall sucks but patience will go a long way well worth the wait do it overnight and you wont see the stall and have good grub.