Egging in 25 kts winds -- FUN

Tim M

I was doing pork chops (boneless style - 1.5") yesterday in N.C. along the east coast of the Atlantic. A "Nor`easter" was blow'n at 20-25 kts right on my Egg. This posed a problem of liting the Webber firecube. With difficulty I did get it going and placed it under my grate. I had to close the bottom vent to less than 1/4" open (less than for 225 deg cooking) or the wind would blow the cube flame out. Finally a tiny red spot on the lump was burning. I opened the vent about 1/2" and I had 500 deg in 5 min. 700 deg was reached by opening the vent a tiny bit more (still less than 3/4" open) and no chimney. The chops came out GREAT. [p]The next day - yes, wind still howling at 20-25 kts - I was going to clean the Egg out and add more lump for the steaks we were cooking later that night. I removed the rain cap, opened the bottom vent and whooooosshhhh - a steady steam of ash was now blowing out the top like a steam locomotive chugging up the tracks. In less than 5 min it stopped. While there was a lot of ash under the dome and dust everywhere in there, there was no ash left in the ash pit. [p]Tim