New Egg Break-In

Dagman · December 2012

Are there a list of best practices for breaking in a new egg? I have seen some things mentioned within various posts, but have not seen a specific post on the topic.

travisstrick · December 2012

There are none. You may fry your gasket but it will happen at some point no matter what you do or dont do.

Cook away and your egg will be fine.

Little Steven · December 2012

In my experience Travis is right on. I've purchased and used 13 eggs out of the box. That said there may be some cooling or cutting fluid on the grid and the grate. Half an hour at a warm temp would deal with that.

Greeno55 · December 2012

I agree with both. I got mine in the spring and got right at it. I started with simple my first few cooks, chicken breasts, burgers, steak, just to get the hang of temperature control. The learning curve is not very steep and you'll be rocking overnighters in no time. I was up to 700° by my third cook and have a bit of a gasket left. Thankfully the mother ship is in the process of replacing it for me.

nolaegghead · December 2012

1. Throw all the included documentation away.
2. Read this forum on how to light and get good smoke.
3. Marinate by drinking a few adult beverages while playing with the damper and DW.
4. Let it get a little hotter than you plan on cooking just to burn off any crap.
5. Keep an eye on the color of the smoke - if it looks dark (not white) and smells pleasant, start cooking.

JohnInCarolina · December 2012

How exactly does the gasket get fried? Does it melt?

Eggcelsior · December 2012

JohnInCarolina said:
How exactly does the gasket get fried? Does it melt?

It sort of burns up and gets crispy. You'll notice after 5 or so cooks, the inside edge darkens and looks sort of slick. Over time, this happens to the whole thing and it begins to disintegrate... Or, it happens with 1 pizza cook. Unless you have a high-heat gasket, like a Nomex. Newer eggs have these out of the box.

Smokin_Trout · December 2012

The best thing for a new egg is to light it. Take it up to about 500* for about 40 minutes. Put a nice steak on and call me. Remove steak and lower temp. Put steak back on, remove at 130*, plate it and wait for me to arrive to taste test it.

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New Egg Break-In

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