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First long cook...pics and questions..

First, thanks to everyone who posts on here, as there's bundles of useful information and tips. I have had my XL Egg for about two weeks now, and have cooked chicken, steaks, pizza, pork loin, etc. I started my first long cook yesterday afternoon with a 9lbs butt. I used a mustard rub with swamp venom, due to seeing some pics that looked really good! Wrapped, sat overnight. Started the egg around 4pm, to leave some time to make sure it stabalized. I got it set, and threw my platesetter, drip pan, probe, etc on...made sure it settled again...I noticed the grid temp was the same as the dome temp. Approx 225-230. That was fine with me, as I knew the pork would cook fine at that temp either way. I threw the meat on around 6pm, and as predicted, the temp dropped for a little while to 200-210. Meat was approx 40-45deg going on. I planned to pull off today around noon. Everything went good....even through the storm...and it was a good one. I had a tent up covering the egg, so it had minimal effect on it. The egg was going, and I left for dinner. I came back to the temp in the same range, holding near 215-225. I wasn't getting a lot of smoke during the time that I was able to watch, but that's ok. Before I went to sleep (around 11pm) the temp was closer to 200 on the grid, and 175 or so on the dome...not sure why that is, usually it's opposite for people. That's my first question. I had the probe right next to the meat, above the drip pan. Around 4am my BGE Maverick temp thingy alarm went off...the grid temp was below 200. I went outside to find my dome temp very low, 100-125ish, can't remember as I was sleep walking. Anyways, I opened up the vents, in fear that the fire had gone out, to hopefully save it. Well, about 10 minutes, I had smoke, heat and rising temps. So I set the daisy wheel and bottom vent to allow a little more air than before. Once I got it back to 225 on the grid and stabilized, I went back to bed. I'll also add, that I tried to make sure the vent holes underneath were cleat, and most were, at this time. I woke back up around 6 and checked, everything was still ok. Grid temp 225, dome temp 200. Still wondering why those two are backwards, but whatever, the pork is cooking. I went to the store this morning and had to run a few errands, and came back to a alarm on the BGE probe. It was slightly over 300....Not sure what sparked this, but it was COOKING...that's ok, I settled it back down, and continued the cook! Pulled the pork off @ IT 205, Foiled, Toweled, and coolered. It's still in there now, and the IT is 163. Once the meat gets to 145-150 I am going to pull it, or closer to dinner time, whichever comes first. I have attached some pictures to hopefully see if anyone can figure out why my temp dropped during the night, and why my dome and grid temp were opposite of what I expected. Either way, pork cooked, it looks great, and the egg has my neighbors wondering around looking for food!! I just took a picture of the lump remaining, and there was quite a bit. Mostly around the outside edges. Along with come chips and chunks. Thanks again for everyone's help. I don't usually post on forums, but wanted to see if anyone had some answers. imageimageimageimageimageimageimage

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