Another "My Very 1st cook" Story

ThunderBunny

My carpenter neighbor put the finishing touches on my Egg table yesterday evening and wheeled that gorgeous long-grain Doug Fir beauty over.
That was my cue to finally assemble my large BGE and get cooking. My sweetie and I had a late dinner after the assembly of the cooker.
Our first dish? Pizza!
Most of you good folks here are probably shrugging your shoulders (and with a fluttering flat hand) saying "pizza, eh? Meh..."
Let me tell you - it may have been a rather humble pie in the eyes of many of you old hands, but to me it was one of the most delicious pizzas I have ever eaten. The thing came out with more flavor and...freshness(?!) than any product in this town. The crust - albeit a premade dough from a wonderful local french-style bakery - was absolutely fabulous. GOD it was good! In fact I almost started to cry in my state of eggstacy. That led to tears from my girlfriend who said she'd never seen me express such emotion for her! I love her to death, but I was... having a moment.
Her tears soon turned to laughter and I quickly poured her another glass of wine.
What a night!
A few quick questions: The hot, 650 degree fire seemed to have scorched the gasket a little. How do you know when the gasket is just trashed and it's time to replace it? Any tips on preventing fire damage in the first place?
Also; even before the hot fire, my cooker passed the dollar-bill resistance test with flying colors. No big gaps, BUT some spots were presenting a little more resistance than others. Is that ok or a sign of trouble?
I CANT WAIT to explore this cooker more! It's just fascinating. I also thought it was simply gorgeous to watch the coals and all the beautiful colors and smells they created.

Bacchus

Congrats on your first cook. Pizza from the Egg is indeed awesome.
I wouldnt worry to much about the gasket at this point unless it is burned really badly. Lower temp cooks when new do help to "season" them but it's a little late now. You can always replace the gasket if problematic.

skihorn

Welcome aboard. You are already hooked! Pizza is exceptional on the Egg. Even just throwing a frozen pizza on will taste great. I almost never have pizza delivered anymore. If convenience is the order of the day, the frozen is just as easy, tastes better, and is less expensive than delivery.

As to the dollar bill test I think you are fine so long as you are getting some resistance in all places. Others may disagree.

Although it is not gospel, most on here will tell you to break in your gasket with several cooks at 400 or below. A lot of Eggheads say it probably doesn't make a difference but out of an abundance of caution...

Freddie
League City, TX

WokOnMedium

Congrats and welcome to the illness. Would love, love love to see pics of that table!

No one here will blah blah your pizza as many of us are on our own personal quests to create the perfect pie (in our own minds).

As to the gasket and seal: the gasket will go at some point. Pizza cooks are not a preventative measure, but it'll happen one day regardless. Many folks here never replace their gasket and operate just fine. Seal? If you have doubts about your seal, just toss a piece of hickory in the next time your cooking something and watch for smoke to sneak out in places you wouldn't want.

Hungry in Lilburn

I burnt up my gasket on my 3rd or 4th cook. Don't feel bad! Welcome to the club!

uglydog

Nuttin wrong with doing a pizza on your first cook. You're a brave man for trying it, and you found out you can make fabulous pizza on the Egg. I cooked a home made pizza many moons past to snare the woman who is now my wife, and that was long before I had any idea what a BGE is! As for the gasket, don't worry about it. You'll know when it's toast, and then you can either replace with a Nomex one or one of the others touted here on the forum, or just cook without the gasket. As for the dollar bill test, it's been rumored that the test works better with larger denominations. Let's see some pictures of that new table and of your cooks. Welcome to the cult.

Uglydog

Desert Oasis Woman

Pizza, wine, tears of joy...
YEP, you will fit right in!!
:woohoo:

Please tell us more about the bread dough from the local french-style bakery

Village Idiot

That's prett gutsy to do a pizza on your first cook. So, congratulations !!! Yep, my wife said our pizzas done on the Egg are the best she's ever eaten.

ThunderBunny

Thanks all, for the advice and kind words of encouragement.
For all those who've requested pictures - I agree, those always make the most interesting posts around here. I've gotta get set up to start doing that with a Photobucket account and all that jazz. It's just a matter of sitting down and doing it.
I wish there was a simpler "attachment" alternative as that would make things far less clunky. I wonder why such a feature isn't here - but then I'm hardly a tech head.
Here's the low-down on the bakery where I got the pizza dough (straight from its own website):
"Le Petit Outre's breads follow the time honored baking traditions of Europe. The breads are handcrafted using traditional methods and four basic ingredients: wheat flour, water, sea salt and yeast. LPO hearth breads are baked free form, directly on stone in a Fringand french deck oven weighing just over six tons."
It's good stuff!
Now I have to find a good roast-chicken recipe, hmmm... :laugh:

Boilermaker Ben

Congrats, ThunderBunny.
My first cook was pizza too. The difference (particularly in the crust) when cooking at those higher temps is phenominal, isn't it?

ThunderBunny

Oh my gosh, it sure is! That crust wasn't gross and wet and half-baked...even the slightly over-cooked spots were delicious and just added to the "home-brewed" feel of that meal.
The funny thing is just how nicely it turned out given we weren't even really prepared for such an adventure. My SuperPeel hasn't even been delivered yet! There we were, hungry and hip-deep in dinner plans, standing there wondering how the heck we were going to get the damn thing on and off off the stone :blink: . We ended up just using a piece of cardboard from the original BGE box - or maybe it was the pizza stone box? Anyway, it was pretty ghetto, but it worked. It worked in no small part to all the stuff I've read here. That thin layer of cornmeal on the stone and cardboard "peel" really saved our butts.

ResQue

You are gonna love that superpeel. I used mine for the first time last week for bread and it is awesome. Congrats on your pizza cook.