Egg Stuck Shut!!!

Unknown

Oh lord, I am so dumb! I was trying a pulled pork receipe and it was doing beautifully, had cooked overnight and I got up (still 1/2 asleep) and checked the temperature (it was about 170) so I opened the vents to get it hot again and went back to sleep. About 45 minutes later I checked the temperature thinking is should be getting up there and it was over 800!! When I opened it up, thank god I had on those welders gloves, the thing nearly blew me over, anyway, the gasket was sort of hanging down but I got the meat out and shut everything up. Later when I went out to check it out, I couldn't open it. I think the adhesive on the gasket has stuck. Any ideas on how to open it? Good news-Once I pealed the charred meat off, the inside was moist and delicious.

The Naked Whiz

Greymom,
Hmmm, 800 degrees shouldn't be a problem. However, if you did manage to get the gasket nice and hot and then you shut it, the gasket material will get soft and bond to itself. In that case, there is nothing you can do but either pull it apart and rip the gasket off, or barring that, use a razor/utility knife and cut through the gasket to open the lid. Then remove and replace the gasket. The only time I ever did that was on my first cook when I made the mistake of opening the egg after a hot dwell and got a tremendous flashback. The flame softened the gasket and when I dropped the lid shut, the two gaskets then bonded.[p]TNW

WessB

Greymom,
Allowing that there is still lummp left in it you could try opening the lower vent a throwing a fire starter in there..remove the rain cap and let it heat up maybe softening the gasket enough to get it open and save the gasket..[p]Wess