First Big Green Egg-perience

Unknown · November 2005

Okay, after months of talking I finally purchased a medium size BGE last week and had a chance to try it out tonight. I cooked about 8 hamburgers, 6-8 bratwurst, and 2 pork steaks. The starting temp was ~400 and fairly easy to maintain. I cooked all of these together for about 6 minutes, flipped them all, and cooked for another 6 minutes. Huge temperature loss while the top was open and took a while to come back to 400. The pork steaks were great, the brats were a little charred but very juicy, and the burgers were overcooked and charred. Where did I go wrong? Too high a cooking temp? Too long in the BGE? Should I avoid flipping the meats to limit the temperature loss? There was also a fair amount of flame when I opened the top, and I wonder if I should add more charcoal next time. Your help is appreciated.

wingfoot · November 2005

USAFA90,[p]Did you cook everything at the same time?

Unknown · November 2005

wingfoot,[p]Yep, everything I listed. Pretty tight fit, but I got it all on.

wingfoot · November 2005

Well, therein may lie your problem. I like searing my burgers really hot for a couple of minutes a side and then shutting down the vents to finish them. I wouldn't do the pork steaks or the brats that way, though. For those, I'd probably go about 350 until they're done. When I do burgers and dogs or brats, I always do the burgers first and then throw the dogs on afterwards. Congrats on your new egg. Don't be afraid to experiment. I'm doing an allnighter tonight......... pulled pork.[p]Mike

BrianP · November 2005

USAFA90,
One of the first things I did with my egg was a mess of hamburgers for an office party. We bought some frozen commercial pre-formed burgers at Sam's Club as they were already formed and cheaper than a meat market. I cooked them at about 325-350 and they did turn out just fine. I did experience an amazing amount of flame-up during he cooking process and the vent on top was shooting smoke like a steam engine locomotive. Thinking about it for awhile, I concluded that one of the main reasons the burgers tasted as good as they did was their high fat content - probably greater than 20%. This gives the meat lots of flavor but the fat dripping onto the hot charcoal causes much smoke and flames. When I opened the egg to flip them, the flames licked up so high I had some real difficulty getting the interior ones flipped over. The next time I did this, I went to a meat market and bought some lower fat-content meat (around 15%) and these behaved much better for me. I'm thinking you cooked yous at too high a temperature and perhaps the fat drippings caused your flame ups. [p]BrianP

locolongball · November 2005

USAFA90,[p]Sounds like the Indian, not the arrow. LOL! [p]I've over cooked many of pork items my self. I'm guessing you left them on too long. 145-150 internal for pork and pull'em. As for the burgers and brats, USE THE EGG MY SON! No need to turn up the fire on them. I cook both my burgers and brats around 300-325. Add in some wood chips and cook them slow. I turn my burgers once or twice and that's it. Leave the alone, and let the egg do it's magic.

This won't be the only time your food will come out not as you intended. You have to talk to egg, make her feel welcome in her new home! Then after you both get to know each other a little better...well, my son, that's when the magic will happen!

tach18k · November 2005

USAFA90, here is a tip, Everyone is saying 300-350, well you gots to know where your Egg needs to be to get that result. On my large for me to hold 350 I need the bottom vent wide open and the daisey wheel on top, the little vents open all the way. On the medium it may be different. Now to get there you need both top cap removed and the bottom vent wide open when you light the Egg up. It will climb to 300-325, then put the daisey cap on. And it should idle there for a long time. Let it hold at 350 for about 20 minutes to make sure it stable. Now you can cook, grill or what ever. If you plan on having the lid open for a while, then close down the bottom vent to keep from going into lava mode.

drbbq · November 2005

USAFA90,[p]When you cover up the complete grate with food like that, the fire underneath needs to be extra hot to get the dome thermometer up to 400! You need to let it breathe a little.
It also sounds like you may have cooked the burgs and brats too long. How did you determine that they were done? Good things are ahead for you. Just keep asking.

Dimple's Mom · November 2005

wingfoot,[p]I have a tendency to read too fast and will often read words wrong so that I get a pretty funny sentence! I read your "I'm cooking an allnighter" as "I'm cooking an alligator." LOL I totally thought you were and I'm thinking, "Wow, I haven't read *that* on here before!" I was picturing in my mind a little alligator sitting on the egg grill and decided I better go back and reread.[p]Gwen

First Big Green Egg-perience

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