Anyone use BGE at high temp to broil steaks?

westernbbq

I will be experimenting with this in the coming weeks.   Major steakhouses broil steaks at 1200F and im thinking why not do that with the reflective properties on a BGE dome?  Plus, doing it with natural lump would hive some nice charcoal flavor.  If anyone out there has done this with you BGE, it would be helpful to learn of any dos and dont dos.  The major drawback i see right now is the dome loosening up inside the upper band at the high heat.  

Any insight would be appreciated!

westernbbq

Have not hive!   Fat fingers!

theyolksonyou

I have seared on cast iron that was in excess of 900*. The fire will jump into the pan so you may wind up with Pittsburgh style. 

Also, burp early and often if you value your eyebrows. 

hapster

Do it caveman style or semi caveman (CI grate right on coals) and save going to such high temps

hapster

Here's one of my more recent caveman style steak cooks...

http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1185587/saturday-caveman-party/p2

Ladeback69

I have cooked mine direct at 750 in 8 minutes.  Always comes out great.  I've done them in a CI skillet direct at 700 after bringing steak to 110 at 350 indirect first. Careful if you are going to cook over 800, not much arm hair will be left.  Can also damage factory gasket if done a lot.

Carolina Q

Ladeback69 said:

I have cooked mine direct at 750 in 8 minutes.  Always comes out great.  I've done them in a CI skillet direct at 700 after bringing steak to 110 at 350 indirect first. Careful if you are going to cook over 800, not much arm hair will be left.  Can also damage factory gasket if done a lot.

Did a few pizzas at 900, until I realized that the egg wasn't and never could be a wood fired oven. Didn't lose Any arm hair or my Rutland, but it's an adventure opening that dome!  I wouldn't bother with anything at those temps now. No need. Just throw it on the coals or put a small grid down low.  

dstearn

I broil 1.5 inch rib eyes at 650 degrees. 

smbishop

Are you talking about indirect with a platesetter?  I have grilled direct at hight temps including caveman, but not indirect.

Darby_Crenshaw

Broiling is radiant heat from above

your grill uses radiant heat from below. And far hotter than 1200

when your thermometer says 250, your charcoal is 1000 or so in reality. But If your platesetter is in of course , you are cooking by dome temp

likewise, when you are grilling direct, and the dome says 750, you are really searing at 1200, or higher. The closer you are the hotter the radiant temp

ignore the hype of the "our steaks are cooked at 1200 degrees". So are yours, or higher. Doesn't matter whther it is from above or below

as for 1200 radiant heat from the dome, i know fishless had a set up for ridiculous temps in order to do neapolitan pizza

if you had a fire going that got your dome to 1200, indirect, your fire would be unholy hot. 

Just grill close to the lump. You'll be way over the measly 1200.  your fire is already way beyond that when grilling. Dome temp means nothing when you grill, other than an indication of how big your 1000, 1200 )or more) fire is

westernbbq

Yes broiling using indirect heat platesetter and dome reflection heat.  Reverse sear has served me welll though.  Thnaks for feedback!

Carolina Q

Fish's 1200...

Darby_Crenshaw

It will take more work to achieve something you are already doing

grilling is broiling upside down. And you are already hotter than the restaurant broiler

not sure what the point is

westernbbq

1. Darby_Crenshaw said:

   It will take more work to achieve something you are already doing
   
   grilling is broiling upside down. And you are already hotter than the restaurant broiler
   
   not sure what the point is.

   Nope.   Cooking from above results in a juicier, more tender steak.  When you're cooking from below, you're maximizing  heat underneath the steak if it's directly above the flames and it'll result in more significant moisture loss than cooking from above.  Cooking from above involves a high heat, but not as much moisture loss.  In a former life, I'd broil steaks in an infrared broiler that was given to me by a friend who was in the bankrupt restaurant liquidation business.  If done  properly, the results are incredible.  What I am looking at doing is using the heat-retention and heat-reflection properties of the ceramic dome (much like how I cook the toppings of a pizza) to cook a steak from above,  If the grid is raised high enough, and the heat deflector is in, I would think similar results would occur. 
   

THEBuckeye

hapster said:

Do it caveman style or semi caveman (CI grate right on coals) and save going to such high temps

Love the term "semi-caveman".

I have a CI grate, an Egg and can buy a steak. 

Have never gone Caveman yet admired those that have and do. 

Going "semi" is a way to dip the toes. 

THEBuckeye

Carolina Q said:

Fish's 1200...

Carolina Q said:

Fish's 1200...

It that the Navy missle launch on the West Coast?

NPHuskerFL

A CI pan at 500℉-650℉ or Caveman works and gives consistent results. The BGE is a versatile cooker but, each vessel has a purpose. A salamander that uses 1,200+℉ radiant heat is going to give a different result. That said I stand by my first statement. 

Darby_Crenshaw

i'm just confused as to how people don't understand how hot their charcoal is.

a 250 degree fire doesn't mean the lump is 250.  and an 800 dome temp doesn't mean the charcoal is at 800.

you can sear well over 1200 by just searing near the lump on a nice bed of coals.  dome temp would probably be around 750, by the fire is much much hotter.

shrug

tarheelmatt

I'm with Darby on this one. 

gdenby

I'm dubious about benefits from heat from above vs. heat from below as far as moisture loss goes. Any rate...

Most of the heat from burning lump comes out as IR. The intensity of that drops of by the inverse square. Lump that is is glowing orange is giving off enough heat to produce 2000F at its surface. Up towards the dome bottom edge, the heat is still around 1000F, far hotter than what the dome therm will register.

Cook on a grate down on the fire bowl, and turn fast. You will be heating far faster than under a 1200F IR broiler.

And if you are getting blue flame, that's CO burning around 2200F. If you can manage the cook, welding gloves and goggles, etc, the meat will sort of explode. Big thick steak, maybe a minute w. 1 turn.

bigalsworth

westernbbq said:

1. Darby_Crenshaw said:

   It will take more work to achieve something you are already doing
   
   grilling is broiling upside down. And you are already hotter than the restaurant broiler
   
   not sure what the point is.

   Nope.   Cooking from above results in a juicier, more tender steak.  When you're cooking from below, you're maximizing  heat underneath the steak if it's directly above the flames and it'll result in more significant moisture loss than cooking from above.  Cooking from above involves a high heat, but not as much moisture loss.  In a former life, I'd broil steaks in an infrared broiler that was given to me by a friend who was in the bankrupt restaurant liquidation business.  If done  properly, the results are incredible.  What I am looking at doing is using the heat-retention and heat-reflection properties of the ceramic dome (much like how I cook the toppings of a pizza) to cook a steak from above,  If the grid is raised high enough, and the heat deflector is in, I would think similar results would occur. 
   

Broiling is defined as using intense direct radiant heat.  With an egg you can only do that from below where the coals.  What you are talking about is hot reflective heat. If you want to broil from above than you need to get a heat source above which of course will do the exact same thing as the heat source below just at the top instead of the bottom.  You probably see lower moisture lose with reflective heat because the temperature is lower and it does not boil as much the moisture out.

bigalsworth

I should point out that reflective heat is not very correct either, ceramic has a fairly high emissivity (around .95 depending on the wavelength and what the ceramic is made of) so it absorbs heat and then re-radiates it.

Darby_Crenshaw

Heat from above or below makes no difference

gdenby knows what i'm saying

OP is welcome to chase a fantasy

jtcBoynton

@westernbbq   You can try to get the dome hot enough so that it will emit enough IR to cook the steak. It is however much easier to just use the IR coming from the burning charcoal. Just put a grate down close to the coals and you will be broiling away.