First "Not So Pleasant" Experience

SJ21XDC · October 2014

Well I knew it had to happen eventually - my first bad experience with the BGE.

I decided to leave work early and cook steaks for my wife, son & mom. I've been wanting to try reverse searing, using the SousVide for some time, so I picked up 2 ribeyes and 2 filet's, seasoned them with EVO, salt & pepper and vacuum sealed. Brined some potatos, set the SousVide to 135 degrees and put the steaks in. After an hour, I lit the Egg and set it at 400 indirect for the potato's. Rubbed the potato's with EVO, Weber steak seasoning and put them on the Egg for an hour. About 45 minutes later I put some corn with husks in the microwave for 15 minutes. So far, everthing is going as planned and everything looked to be ready at the same time. But here's where it went off track. With 15 minutes left I put a little EVO in my cast iron skillets and put them on Egg to heat up. I wanted them to be nice and hot and also crisp the potato skin, so I opened the vents and got the temp to around 650. Not a smart move When I opened the lid - I don't know if I didn't burp it properly or it was the flaming EVO but I got nice big fire ball. Fortunately, I just got very warm and didn't get fried. So now I have two flaming skillets to deal with. I put on my welding gloves and attempt to remove them from the Egg. Don't know what kind of heat welding gloves are capable of, but I know it's not 650 Burnt the crap out of my finger tips, but I was able to get the skillets moved to the patio.

I put the steaks on s.s grid for the sear and although they weren't seared the way I hoped, they still tasted good. On a positive note, the filets were so tender, they could be cut with just the fork!!

Sorry no completed pictures, but I kind of got distracted

)

I will try this cook again soon, but want to know what you think caused flame up (improper burp, skillet temp)? What's the recommended temp to sear?

Anyway, I'll take this as part of the learning process and keep moving forward!

Wolfpack · October 2014

High heat will give you a big fireball- good thing is you normally don't make this mistake more than 4 or five times.

JRWhitee · October 2014

It sounds like you shouldn't have put the evo in the skillets until they were hot and you were ready to use them. Evo will only take a couple seconds to heat up in a 500 degree skillet.

johnkitchens · October 2014

Sorry about your hands. Burns hurt!

MeTed · October 2014

I have heard about that happening but never experienced it myself! :^o

dldawes1 · October 2014

+1 @MeTed I've also heard of the fireball catching folks off gaurd...but never experienced it.......very often.

MeTed · October 2014

@dldawes1, Liar!

)

nolaegghead · October 2014

Oil vapor is explosive. Never close the lid on boiling oil unless its to extinguish the fire. Could have been worse.

Tjcoley · October 2014

When I sear steaks in CI, I oil the steak, not the pan.

Spaightlabs · October 2014

Pics of the burned hands or it didn't happen.

Glad it wasn't worse.

SJ21XDC · October 2014

JRWhitee said:

It sounds like you shouldn't have put the evo in the skillets until they were hot and you were ready to use them. Evo will only take a couple seconds to heat up in a 500 degree skillet.

Lesson Learned!

SJ21XDC · October 2014

johnkitchens said:

Sorry about your hands. Burns hurt!

Thanks and yes they do!

SJ21XDC · October 2014

MeTed said:

I have heard about that happening but never experienced it myself! :^o

)

SJ21XDC · October 2014

nolaegghead said:

Oil vapor is explosive. Never close the lid on boiling oil unless its to extinguish the fire. Could have been worse.

Agreed! Won't happen again!

SJ21XDC · October 2014

Tjcoley said:

When I sear steaks in CI, I oil the steak, not the pan.

Thanks, I might try that next time.

SJ21XDC · October 2014

Spaightlabs said:

Pics of the burned hands or it didn't happen.

Glad it wasn't worse.

Thanks

)

HogHeaven · October 2014

The way I do my reverse sear on my LBGE... Before I light the fire I fill the firebox up so the lump is 2" below the top of the firebox. After i light the lump I place the BGE grill extender right on top of the firebox. I place the regular grate on top of the fire ring, no plate setter. I close the lid and get the dome temp to 275 degrees. I put the steaks on the higher grate and bake them until they reach 110 degrees internal temp. I then remove the steaks and put them on a plate. I remove the large 18" grate while I open the bottom vent wide open and leave the dome lid open for the rest of the cook. While I'm waiting for the lump to get red hot I blot the steaks with a paper towel to remove any water that is on the surface and rub them with "beef love". It only takes about 5 minutes for the lump to get really hot when you have every thing wide open. Then I put the steaks on the grill externder grate and sear 1 side for about 2 minutes and turn them over to finish the other side. When the internal temp is 130 degrees i pull them off. Remember to add the pepper after searing them. The pepper will burn off during the searing process under 600 to 700 degree cooking temps. BGE designed the grill extender to fit right on top of your firebox without having to remove your fire ring by making the fire ring slightly wider than the firebox. That leaves about a quarter of an inch shelf for you to mount the grill extender on top of your firebox. The marketing department has done a lousy job of communicating this great little trick to both their sales team and their customers. The grill extender is only about $25 and it is hinged and folds up for easy storage and for when you want to put it in the dishwasher. You can also use the grill extender on top of your 18" grate when you are smoking meats to gain more grate space. It has legs that attaches to the regular grate. I sometimes use too cook vegetables while I'm cooking ribs. It very cheap and very handy. They have various size grill extenders for each size Egg too.

SJ21XDC · October 2014

HogHeaven said:

The way I do my reverse sear on my LBGE... Before I light the fire I fill the firebox up so the lump is 2" below the top of the firebox. After i light the lump I place the BGE grill extender right on top of the firebox. I place the regular grate on top of the fire ring, no plate setter. I close the lid and get the dome temp to 275 degrees. I put the steaks on the higher grate and bake them until they reach 110 degrees internal temp. I then remove the steaks and put them on a plate. I remove the large 18" grate while I open the bottom vent wide open and leave the dome lid open for the rest of the cook. While I'm waiting for the lump to get red hot I blot the steaks with a paper towel to remove any water that is on the surface and rub them with "beef love". It only takes about 5 minutes for the lump to get really hot when you have every thing wide open. Then I put the steaks on the grill externder grate and sear 1 side for about 2 minutes and turn them over to finish the other side. When the internal temp is 130 degrees i pull them off. Remember to add the pepper after searing them. The pepper will burn off during the searing process under 600 to 700 degree cooking temps. BGE designed the grill extender to fit right on top of your firebox without having to remove your fire ring by making the fire ring slightly wider than the firebox. That leaves about a quarter of an inch shelf for you to mount the grill extender on top of your firebox. The marketing department has done a lousy job of communicating this great little trick to both their sales team and their customers. The grill extender is only about $25 and it is hinged and folds up for easy storage and for when you want to put it in the dishwasher. You can also use the grill extender on top of your 18" grate when you are smoking meats to gain more grate space. It has legs that attaches to the regular grate. I sometimes use too cook vegetables while I'm cooking ribs. It very cheap and very handy. They have various size grill extenders for each size Egg too.

Thanks for the input!

GATraveller · October 2014

If I remember correctly the smoke point of EVOO is 375 so you were well past the temp it takes to make it ignite........but you didn't need me to tell you that!!!! Glad you made it out with slightly burned digits.

SJ21XDC · October 2014

GATraveller said:

If I remember correctly the smoke point of EVOO is 375 so you were well past the temp it takes to make it ignite........but you didn't need me to tell you that!!!! Glad you made it out with slightly burned digits.

Thanks - hope not to repeat anytime soon

henapple · October 2014

SJ21XDC · October 2014

henapple said:

)

ChicagoEgghead20 · October 2014

first weekend with my egg I charred all the hair off my arm when I forgot to burp the egg at 600 for steaks. I learned my lesson quickly. When I pull CI off the egg I use an "Ove Glove" under a BGE Oven Mit, anything over 20 seconds and i'll be burned.

stemc33 · October 2014

It seems like I hear a lot of stories about people burning themselves or dropping plate setters using leather/welding gloves. When I was 18, I started working in a forge shop. Leather gloves were a no-no working around the furnaces pulling hot steel. A few seconds too long in front of the furnace and your face shield would melt and your gloves would heat up like no other. The reason we didn't use leather gloves was because they hold the heat. The cotton gloves or what ever material they were made of, dissipated the heat quickly when you let go of the part after you held on to it too long. The leather keeps burning the **** out of you even after you drop your hot plate setter, cast iron, steel,or whatever hot thing your handling. We went through gloves like no other, sometimes 3-4 pair a day. Welding gloves work great for keeping slag and sparks from burning you and last a long time, but not so great for holding hot steel. I use plain old cotton potholders and have no problems. I do make sure I have a place to set stuff down if I start feeling the heat. Often times with leather, once you actually feel the heat, it's too late, your burnt.

Maccool · October 2014

Welding gloves are a no-go in my experience. Nomex is the way to go. I've had several pair, starting with the venerable "Ove Glove", and so far the best I've used has been these. For flare-ups and oil fires, I keep a CO2 extinguisher close by. I would never try to remove a burning pan full of oil from the grill.

Maccool · October 2014

GATraveller said:

If I remember correctly the smoke point of EVOO is 375 so you were well past the temp it takes to make it ignite........but you didn't need me to tell you that!!!! Glad you made it out with slightly burned digits.

@GATraveller...the smoke point is where you get degradation and liberation of chemicals that just make the food taste bad (ok...maybe some toxic chemicals too). Indeed, that's about 325 for EVOO (higher for regular olive oil) but smoke point has nothing to do with ignition. In that case, we're talking flash point and for most cooking oils, including olive oil, that's over 600 degrees. Even then, the situation is salvageable because the oil hasn't caught fire yet (as long as you don't spill it into the coals by trying to move it), but once you get to around 700 degrees, the "fire point" of most cooking oils, we're talking a dangerous situation because the oil will actually catch fire if there's enough O2 present (which happens as soon as you open the lid).

Smoke point vs flash point vs fire point

/

First "Not So Pleasant" Experience

Comments

Categories