Help New To Egg Cooking

Unknown

I fired up my new lg. egg and was disappointed. My gasket stuck together, so called my dealer and he is coming out to replace the gasket. What went wrong????? Thanks

Jeffersonian

You probably fried it with a too-hot cook right out of the box. Do a few low-temp cooks with the new gasket first to "cure" it, then crank the Egg up.

Grandpas Grub

Nello Newegg,

It is hard to tell what went wrong other than too hot, or you opened the dome and got a flashback. Unless you give us more details of how things transpired, not much can be said other than guessing.

GG

lowercasebill

more info please ,if you can.
did it melt?
how high a temp did you cook?
where you at??? could it be frozen?
did it peel of one side and stick to the other?
did you preform the initiation ritual? :evil:

don't be bummed you will come to love your egg. it is worth the effort.
if you can post a pic do so. if not come back here let me know i will get you my e-mail address and i will post it for you.

bill

Unknown

I did fire it up to 650 first thing. No one told me not to. All I have heard was how wonderful steaks are when they are seared. I must have missed this part about seasoning the egg when I watched the dvd. Do you think it will be ok after new gasket is put on and a few firings at lower temps? How many times to you cook at lower temps before cooking at 650?
I am going to try hamburgers tonight . what temp is best for them? Thank you for any suggestions

Unknown

650 deg was the temp. Yes the gasket peeled off one side and stuck to the other. I am in Ks. and it was 65 deg outside. No I did not perform the initiation ritual. Please let me know what this is :cheer:

Firetruck

650 really don't sound that bad, although the first time out it could be. Dome could be out of adjustment, or temp probe may need calibrating and you were hotter than you thought. As others have said there are a few things it could be. If your rep knows what he is doing he'll have you cooking in no time. Don't get discouraged, it'll be well worth it. Think of it this way, your learning curve started early and may be shorter than the rest.

stike

sounds like the adhesive pooched it on you. some recommend 'curing' the adhesive by doing a number of 350/400 max temp cooks before going to 650. but many of us never knew about that and just went 700+ on the first cook. i did, and only replaced my gasket after it got obliterated from the high amount of useage.

you dealer is probably aware that a SMALL amount of bad-adhesive gasket went out before it was caught. you might have one of them. the new gasket should be ok, just (for extra security) try the curing-in method, where you do lower temp cooks until you've had maybe 6 or 8 cooks under your belt.

welcome, and feel free to ask anything.

vidalia1

Cook the burgers at 350 -400 and they will be great........welcome aboard

lowercasebill

as it was explained to me... you are supposed to run around the egg, counter clockwise, naked, at midnight, howling at the moon while drinking your favorite adult beverage

[Deleted User]

650 doesn't sound high enough to cause problems unless you left it for a long time (forgot about it while you did something else) and then when you came back it had been cranking away at 650 for 30 minutes or more.

that's how I did mine after 4 days, but I had it up to 750 every day before that. It was the one time I walked away and forgot about it. I probably left it for 30 or so minutes and it was probably past 900 when I opened it to find the gasket sticking together and peeling away.

Unknown

Bill, I ran around CLOCKWISE, do you suppose thats why I can't get registered?

gdenby

If the dealer is coming out, be sure to have them check the dome alignment. If the dome isn't sitting nice and flat, even a fairly low temp cook of 650 will melt new gasket glue.

I toasted a gasket on a first cook, too. Was called away, and spent longer than I thought I would away from the Egg. Came back to a blow-torch flame coming out of the top. Sure enough, half the top stuck to the bottom.

After the repair, I kept it low for a week, its been fine ever since.

Jeffersonian

I cook my burgers at around 400 degrees, 10 minutes a side depending on thickness.

Jeffersonian

You mean you do that just once? No wonder the neighbors don't talk to us anymore... :laugh:

lowercasebill

RVH- wrote:

Bill, I ran around CLOCKWISE, do you suppose thats why I can't get registered?

yes i am sure of it. you must run around counter clockwise and i suggest you take a picture and e-mail it to wmk. i think that will expidite your registration :evil:

Chef in the Making

I would recommend that you go to the www.nakedwhiz.com site and read about flashbacks. The site is great and provides loads of info to include flashbacks and how to prevent it.

Celtic Wolf

Slow down grasshopper. :laugh:

You got a lot of good advice here, but consider this. You can get a good sear on a steak with the dome at 500. Just get the steak closer to the heat. Mr. Alton Brown often sears his steaks right on the coals. Done this once or twice myself. I know the Naked Whiz has too.

I rarely get my eggs (I have 6) above 550 and then it's only long enough to sear (3 minutes) and then I shut it down. 3-5 minutes isn't going to toast the gasket.

Burgers are great roasted at 350 dome.

The gaskets are designed to be replaced. Rest assured you Egg will thrive with a new gasket.

Now grasshopper go cook something.. :woohoo:

Unknown

I have warned my husband if he hears howling tonight, it is me initiating my egg. Gosh I did not know egging would be so much fun. :woohoo: Thanks for all the help

Grandpas Grub

Hello Newegg,

There are a couple of things... Not sure if your gasket melted or the adhesive gave way.

The Naked Whiz (TNW), on his site www.nakedwhiz.com talks about gaskets and flashback. It is a great site and there is a huge amount of info for the new and seasoned egger. Take a look and read some of the hints, articles and recipes.

There is some question to 'seasoning' and and 'curing' the gasket on an egg. I am not all that convinced that 'curing' is much more than a theory. However, I too use the terms and recomend a person do some lower temp cooks at first.

My first cook I ruined my gasket and adhesvie due to flashback see TNW site for more information on flashbacks. The next day I replaced the gasket and had about 40 cooks and again ruined the gasket when seasoning a large cast iron dutch oven. On the second problem I think there was too much hot mass too close to the gasket.

It is probably a good idea to keep the dome temp down below 500° to 550° for about 10 cooks. Yes, you are correct searing steaks are great - many on the forum TRex their steaks. A very high temp sear followed by a lower temp roast of the steak. Again, this is detailed on TNW site.

Keeping the egg at a lower temp at first is something we have learned from experience.

You also may have a miss-aligned dome, if there are any air leaks at the gasket level there is a higher tendency to have problems with gaskets. Check your dome for tightness. Put a dollar bill, or piece of paper about the size of a dollar bill, in between the dome & base. Close the lid and pull. There should be some resistance. Repeat this around the dome. If there is a loose spot then readjust the bands.

If you have further questions, jump in and ask.

This is way long but a final thought. Cook to tempeture and not time. You will find your cooking will imporve and your food will taste much better. I will grill at about 400° to 450° dome temp. The length of time will depend on how far the lump is away from the grid and how thick your food is.

GG

thebtls

Okay...I have to ask...6 eggs? I know this has got to qualify you for cult status but I'm cooking for two...so where do you think I will end up long term? I need to think through what one I would buy next and for what real reason? I start with a Large and then what happens? You're scaring me that I might have to tap into my daughters college fund to fund my egg habit.

Celtic Wolf

My Competition Eggs
(Large) Twiddle Dee = Pork
(Large) Twiddle Dumb = Brisket
(Large) P'Egg = Ribs
(Small) Six = chicken

Humpty (XL) and Miss Penny (small) fill out the rest of the six eggs and see the most service as they are my everyday Eggs.

Yes they all have names.. Humpty and Miss Penny even have stories behind their names..

I believe that Nature Boy, Poppasam and Bobby-Q have more eggs then me. There might be one or two more.

Take a deep breath and relax.. You haven't been exposed to the competition bug --- YET!!!