First Cook!

Jersey Doug

It's all true! Everything we were told about the egg is true.

The first job was to calibrate the dome thermometer. A boiling a pot of water on the kitchen range read 210º - dead accurate for all practical purposes. Just for fun I stuck the new Thermapen (Thanks Mollyshark!) in the water too. It read 212º.

I poured what seemed like a reasonable amount of BGE lump from the 20 lb. bag into the egg. But when I looked more closely it was up over the top of the fire box and halfway up the fire ring. I removed enough lump to get it back down to the top of the firebox. It doesn’t take much lump to “fill” a small. I opened the draft door and daisy wheel wide open for starting.

Following the instructions on the box, I nestled two pieces of BGE fire starter down into the lump and lighted them. As soon as they started burning well I closed the egg and watched the temperature quickly climb past 350º and keep going. I closed the draft door down a lot, and the fire starters went out. Lesson learned.

I opened the draft door again and relit the fire starters. I closed the top as soon as they were burning well but I left the draft door and the daisy wheel wide open as the thermometer climbed to almost 500º and then started down as the flames from the starters diminished. Next time I'll cut one starter in two.

It took about half an hour of tweaking the draft door and the daisy wheel to get the temperature stabilized at 400º - this was my first cook after all.

I went back in the house to prep the four chicken thighs - two with salt and pepper, two with Dizzy Dust. I put them on the porcelain grate - skin side up ...



... and shut the egg. Elapsed time to this point: about 45 minutes.

The dome temperature took about five minutes to come back up to 350º but it stopped there. (I was careful not to disturb the setting of the draft door or the daisy wheel.) I assume that the cold chicken and the blocking of the convection by the chicken were responsible for the 50º drop in the dome.

After about 25 minutes at an indicated 350º I lifted the top...



... flipped the thighs ...



... and closed the egg.

After another 20 minutes I opened the egg ...



... and plated the thighs ...



I've been cooking chicken thighs on gas or briquettes for decades. We both agreed that these were the best I've ever done - and on the first cook!

Thanks to all for the support and encouragement. We're off and EGGing!

Jeffersonian

Nice job, Doug. Cooking chicken direct isn't the easiest cook around, but it looks like you nailed this one. It only gets better, man.

usc1321

Nice looking chicken We all look forward to seeing more

AZRP

The heat generated from just one starter cube will get the dome temp to 350 and since you had two in there probably higher. Since the starters hadn't burned all the way you would have seen the temp drop down when they burned out. Nice job on the chix! -RP

NJ-GrEGG

Jersey Doug,

Nice to see that true BBQ has finally arrived in the Garden State! Those are great looking "gas free" thighs!!

I followed the recipe for Wings on the Dizzy Pig Website and received rave reviews here in South Jersey.
Give that a try some time!

FlaPoolman

Way to pay attention to whats going on. Think you just took a big chunk out of the learning curve. Nice looking cook & sure they tasted at least as good as they look.

Pat

BamaFan

Good job Sir ! The gals and guys here will help you in anyway they can. All you have to do it ask.

TomM24

Welcome to another Joisey Boy. Chicken thighs are one of my favs nice job.

Eggtucky

Good looking cook Jersey! I never close the dome before the firestarters are burned out.. with the dome open..you are getting max oxygen to the lump...sometimes I even leave the dome open for 5 mins after lighting the lump just to make sure I have some good hot embers in the firebox....I adjust this timing based on my 'end in mind' temp..less time for low n slow..more time for higher temps..

EmandM'sDad

Doug,
It was great to meet you this weekend! Hope we broke that small in for you. Enjoy it !

The Thai marinade is:

1 cup dark soy sauce
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
3-- 2" pieces lemon grass, crushed
2-3 cloves garlic crushed and minced
juice of 1 lime
1" piece of fresh ginger, grated about 3TBL

mix everything together until the sugar dissolves. Allow to sit for a 1/2 hour to infuse. I also add up to 3-4 dried thai chilis, but left them out for Eggfest. Start with one if you like things hot.

Marinate steak for no more than 3 hours. It absorbs pretty quickly. I do chicken and pork loin with this marinade for about an hour.
Hope you enjoy it,
Mike

Cecil

Great job! Keep it up, you will be amazed at the wonderful delights that you will cook.

Jersey Doug

EmandM'sDad wrote:

Doug,
It was great to meet you this weekend! Hope we broke that small in for you. Enjoy it ! Hope you enjoy it,
Mike

Hi Mike,

You did a great job of breaking in the egg. And thank you for the recipe. I've already put it in my file of "keepers."

--Doug

For those who missed the Thai beef skewers here's a photo. They were REALLY good!

Beanie-Bean

Welcome to the EggNation! My first cook comprised of thighs and some strip steaks, just so that I could get a feel for the cooker. I also cooked on numerous gassers and chacoal grills/smokers before converting over to BGE.

Seems like you've got the picture thing down, too--folks really enjoy the pics of each other's handiwork.

Congratulations again on the successful first cook!

Little Steven

Jersey Doug,

Congrats on a great first cook. You're gonna like it here.

Steve

Broc

Welcome -- and Congrats on a successful first cook!

~ B

Frank from Houma

First cook came out mightyfine and I assume the first posting of photos. Nice, and welcome to the cult.

Lit my small for the first time last night. Twisted up a paper towel and drizzled with some olive oil (not soaked but just wet here and there - maybe two tablespoons). Set it on the top of the lump and with a couple pieces on top of the paper towel but both ends sticking out. Lit both ends and left the dome open for about 5 minutes.