My first weekend with my Egg

Thatgrimguy · June 2013

And it was the beginning of a lifelong relationship. OMG.. I have cooked on an egg, many times in fact. But never have I cooked on my own egg, with all the tools to do different cooks and with the power of research on my side.

I did some steaks first while trying to learn my Adjustable Rig. I don't think I set it up right, I'll do a few things different next time.

The steaks came out great! Not perfect, still need to work on my reverse sear method. Mostly I need to slow down the indirect part and speed up the sear. But the steaks were still better than any filets I have ever made. I would have DESTROYED steaks that thick on my old char-griller. (sorry, no pics.)

Then on Saturday we did some ABTs. I have done this in the past, but always in my oven. SMOKED>>>>>>>>>>>OVEN. Wow. So darn good!

And finally on Sunday, we smoked a turkey. This was purely experimental. We plan to do a bunch before Thanksgiving. We started by following the exact recipe we use for an oven cook, but replaced the oven with the egg and added some smoke. It had a wonderful taste, but it was dry. We cooked at 330 and let it stay in for too long. By the time we checked temp, we were pushing 200 in the dark meat and 185 in the breast. Next time I'll lower the temp to 250-275 and go for probably about the same amount of time

We ate all the bacon off during the cook.

And that's my first weekend with my XL BGE!

Thatgrimguy · June 2013

Thursday night was Spatchcock chicken,

http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1152792/0/#Form_Comment

TexanOfTheNorth · June 2013

Looks good @Thatgrimguy. Did you brine your bird?

Also, it looks like the clip for your dome thermometer is on the outside. If so, was that intentional?

WalrusBBQ · June 2013

Those ABTs look solid and a nice backyard to enjoy it in.

grege345 · June 2013

You really came out swinging. I might do some turkeys over the summer so I can have an epic thanksgiving (favorite day of the year). I'm going to try a spatchcock. Btw I'm jealous

Thatgrimguy · June 2013

TexanOfTheNorth said:

Looks good @Thatgrimguy. Did you brine your bird?

Also, it looks like the clip for your dome thermometer is on the outside. If so, was that intentional?

It was intentional. I was trying to shorten it a little but still keep it totally inside the dome. ( I poked my turkey the first time I put it in there. (trying to use the AR to do the bird and some sausage at the same time. I finally decided to do the bird alone)

I did not brine the turkey or the chicken. I'm going to brine both next time to see if there is a difference.

Thatgrimguy · June 2013

WalrusBBQ said:

Those ABTs look solid and a nice backyard to enjoy it in.

The ABTs were amazing. That and the spatch chicken was the winner of the weekend.

The backyard... pretty fun place to be!

BrotherEgg · June 2013

Wow... what a first cook. I did 2 chicken breasts for mine. Great job. everything looks delicious. I like your table. Is that Trex?

caliking · June 2013

Man, you had a productive weekend!! Smoked turkey is awesome. I would lose the popup button in the turkey, and aim to cook at about 350ish if you like cripsy skin. Pull when the breast reads about 155, foil and rest. The temp will rise a bit more during the rest. I think you said in another thread that you had the Maverick ET-732, so this is a great thing to use it for.

You're more likely to get goofed cooking to time - cooking to temp will yield better results.

Thatgrimguy · June 2013

caliking said:

Man, you had a productive weekend!! Smoked turkey is awesome. I would lose the popup button in the turkey, and aim to cook at about 350ish if you like cripsy skin. Pull when the breast reads about 155, foil and rest. The temp will rise a bit more during the rest. I think you said in another thread that you had the Maverick ET-732, so this is a great thing to use it for.

You're more likely to get goofed cooking to time - cooking to temp will yield better results.

Hmm.. Well, based on that advice. The only thing we did wrong was letting it go too long.

At this time all I have is a thermapen. But I did order a cyber Q wifi last week. So by my next cook I will be able to monitor a breast a thigh and a leg!

Streetglider · June 2013

Love your backyard, yeah, I'm jealous.

Mickey · June 2013

Welcome to the cult, see what we all like about it. Now you must go back and re-read the rule book. Number 34-7b clearly says you must pull the "red popup" from your turkey. I am sorry, but a rule is a rule.

Thatgrimguy · June 2013

But without the popup... how will I ever know if it's really done... I just don't trust these thermapen things...

Pop-ups on the other hand. Been around for YEARS... obviously reliable.

caliking · June 2013

Thatgrimguy said:

Hmm.. Well, based on that advice. The only thing we did wrong was letting it go too long.
At this time all I have is a thermapen. But I did order a cyber Q wifi last week. So by my next cook I will be able to monitor a breast a thigh and a leg!

For crispier skin (depends on what you like) you may have to go a little hotter. I think you left it in too long, but that should be easy to correct next time. There are some tricks for cooking the breast and thighs to different IT e.g. ice the breast with ice in a ziploc for 45mins prior to putting it in the egg, placing a heat deflector like a small water pan under the breast, position the thighs over a known hot spot in the egg so it cooks faster than the breast etc.

You've got time until T-day to practice. Best part is that you get to eat your practice runs!

Thatgrimguy · June 2013

@caliking That's the idea, to test and eat till the big day! Probably do a couple a month till we feel like we have a winner. (the "we" is my brother-in-law and I)

We left the turkey sitting in the drip pan this time. In the drip pan we put a bottle of chicken stock. I think I'm going to spatchcock one very soon. After how wonderful that chicken was on Thursday night. I feel that's going to be the business.

How do you do yours?

caliking · June 2013

@Thatgrimguy: the last one I did was smoked on my drum smoker last T-day. Havenot egged one yet. It was a 12# bird, brined for a day, left to dry in the fridge for a day, smoked with pecan @ 350-375. It was done way sooner than I thought it would be (Maverick was monitoring temps), and I would have for sure p!ssed some people off if I had screwed up the turkey. Guests said they liked the smoked bird the best, compared to fried and oven turkeys I've done in years past.

Charlie tuna · June 2013

That "thermapen thing" is a hundred times more accurate than the pop up gizmo!! I have a large egg and cooked a 26 pound turkey -- indirect -- grid at gasket level. Turkey, injected and sitting in an aluminum pan, pound of butter inside and some apples and orange slices inside the bird. Bird sitting upright and wrapped in foil. Cooked at 350 degrees. Had to rig a small "come along" to pull the egg closed the last inch, during the first hour, then the bird shrunk down and closing was not a problem -- 26 pounds is a little too big for a large--- maybe a 23 or 22 would fit better? Cooked until THERMAPEN reached 160 in the breast and 185 in the thighs, then removed the foil and let it brown up to a golden color. Basted every half hour using the melted butter and juices insdie the bird. I used a bitter orange marinate injection. Very good meal!!

Thatgrimguy · June 2013

Charlie tuna said:

That "thermapen thing" is a hundred times more accurate than the pop up gizmo!! I have a large egg and cooked a 26 pound turkey -- indirect -- grid at gasket level. Turkey, injected and sitting in an aluminum pan, pound of butter inside and some apples and orange slices inside the bird. Bird sitting upright and wrapped in foil. Cooked at 350 degrees. Had to rig a small "come along" to pull the egg closed the last inch, during the first hour, then the bird shrunk down and closing was not a problem -- 26 pounds is a little too big for a large--- maybe a 23 or 22 would fit better? Cooked until THERMAPEN reached 160 in the breast and 185 in the thighs, then removed the foil and let it brown up to a golden color. Basted every half hour using the melted butter and juices insdie the bird. I used a bitter orange marinate injection. Very good meal!!

I was just joking at my own expense for leaving the popper in. I used my thermapen. I just used it too late and the bird had already over shot my goal temp.

You bring up another point. Basting. I stopped my brother-in-law from opening the egg and basting under the assumption that opening the egg would do more harm than basting would do good. Any opinions on this?

Acorn · June 2013

Kickin' setup..............nice work!!!

My first weekend with my Egg

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