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Egg Rookie

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edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
I picked up a large egg last night with the help of The Big Greek. There's nothing lightweight about these eggs. I have ducks, deer, fish, pork loin, chicken, and steaks in the freezer. Any ideas for my maiden voyage with the egg? Thanks.
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  • Eggecutioner
    Eggecutioner Posts: 628
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    MinnowBucket,[p]Steak. TREX style. [p]E
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  • Trouble
    Trouble Posts: 276
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    MinnowBucket,
    Steak or chicken. If you do chicken, get a nice, clean fire going first. Get to your target temp, and let the egg coast there for another 15-20 minutes. Mmmm...chicken!
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
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    MinnowBucket,
    i bought the egg to be able to do lo-and-slo barbecue, mainly. i mean, that was the tipping point in my decision making,[p]...but i think the biggest immediate return on your investment, the thing that will scrath your itch to 'get going' would be a nice pair of seared ribeyes, nice and thick (inch-and-a-half minimum).[p]for one thing, there's a slight learning curve with lo-and-slo, so leave that for a little later maybe.[p]but almost anyone can load her up with lump, open the bottom vent wide and take the daisy completely off. then light it, give it 15 minutes to hit 600-700 (maybe 800) degrees.[p]toss them on, check them in a couple minutes, flip once, and yank them off. you can try the Trex method, or you can just (for now) treat it like a grill. ...meaning pull them off when they look/feel done to you.[p]later on you'll get into a groove, and be in tune to 'how long', 'what temp', etc. ...but it's hard to pooch it on a steak.[p]the bonus here, and why i'm suggesting it, is that you have probably cooked a billion steaks on your gasser (or other), and the comparison of those to this very simple cook will blow the top of your head straight up. salt/pepper/olive oil/BGE will produce a steak that tastes so much better than you likely ever had, and that's a kinda cool thing to do first time, right out of the box.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • Spin
    Spin Posts: 1,375
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    MinnowBucket,[p]Congratulations.[p]Your egg controls temperature by varying the amount of oxygen available to the fire (not fuel). The egg is ceramic and thus tends to hold heat very well. It is easy to raise the temperature (open the vents to supply more oxygen), but considerably harder to lower the temperature.[p]As you approach your cooking temperature close the vents early and fairly aggressively to stop the temperature rise. It is easier to tweak the temperature up a tad than too bring it down.[p]The bottom vent is the bigger control on cooking temperature. Both vents can be just a crack at cooking temps.[p]Spin
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  • Buzz
    Buzz Posts: 63
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    MinnowBucket,[p]I'd pass on the same advice someone gave me on my first cook.[p]A pork tenderloin is very easy to do, tastes great, and very forgiving on the egg. You've got a pretty wide window of time between the time it is done and before it is overdone.[p]Rub the tenderloin down with whatever BBQ rub you've got on hand. There are a lot of great choices, so don't get too caught up on what to use first.[p]Load up the egg with plenty of lump. Halfway up the firebox is plenty. Get the fire going with the top cap off and bottom vent wide open. The temp will run up 500+ but don't worry about that. After the first is going well, put in the platesetter and grid, close the bottom vent down to about 1/8 inch, and set the top vent with the daisy wheel open halfway. Try to stabilize the temp around 325-350 degrees. Let it sit at that temp for 15-20 minutes. [p]Again, remember that if you stabilize at a temperature that is lower than your target, opening a vent a bit will raise the temp quickly. If you stabilize too high, bringing the temp down takes longer. Wait a few minutes after each upward adjustment to see the effect. Once you get pretty close, don't keep trying to adjust tiny amounts. Close enough is fine. [p]My first pork tenderloin took about an hour to reach an internal temp of 179. It was great.

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  • Dos Huevos
    Dos Huevos Posts: 368
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    Buzz,[p]My only advice on top of what you've gotten is to pull pork tenderloins and loins earlier than 180 or 170. I pull mine around 148, rest them 10 minutes, and serve perfect.[p]Oh, it'll be worthwhile to get yourself a good instaread thermometer and do a little research to know what temps matter. You'll be surprised if you go by temp and not touch or appearance.

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  • GrillMan
    GrillMan Posts: 50
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    MinnowBucket,
    While several posters have recommended T-Rexing a steak for your first cook, I would caution against that. When I got my egg I did a high temp(700 degree) shrimp stir fry for my first cook and proceeded to fuse my egg together. After 10 minutes of careful prying with a butter knife I was able to get the egg openned and actually had an excellent meal. When I reported this to my dealer, a long time egg user who sells lots of eggs, he told me he should have warned me to do a few lower temp (350 degree) cooks first to cure the glue and season the gasket. He said the glue sometimes sticks to the gasket and fuses together on first time high temp cooks. Having added my two cents, welcome to the club and in a little while you'll be an eggspurt.
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  • Eggecutioner
    Eggecutioner Posts: 628
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    Spin,[p]I like your definition. Controlling Oxygen, not fuel. Good job![p]E
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  • Unknown
    Unknown
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    I'm torn on what to cook tonight, but I've got plenty of good ideas thanks to you all. I'll try and post a report tomorrow.
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  • tach18k
    tach18k Posts: 1,607
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    MinnowBucket, do some looking around, and by all means dont read the manual or build a fire using it's directions.

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  • edbro
    edbro Posts: 300
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    tach18k,
    You CAN build a fire with the directions. You just have to wad up the pages individually!
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  • AZRP
    AZRP Posts: 10,116
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    Dos Huevos,
    I would tend to agree, I pull tenderloins at 145. -RP
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  • Buzz
    Buzz Posts: 63
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    You are absolutely right. As I've later learned, it would have been better to check it earlier and take it off sooner.[p]My point was that I screwed up the first time by leaving it on too long, but it still tasted okay. [p][p]
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  • Dos Huevos
    Dos Huevos Posts: 368
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    Buzz,[p]I remember I did the same thing with my first pork loin. I was reminded by my brother in law / neighbor / egg owner to ignore the moisture issue and focus on the taste. The "ruined" one from the egg was STILL better than anything off the gasser.[p]welcome and happy egging!![p]Todd
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  • Unknown
    Unknown
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    I'm a rookie myself. Got my BGE for X-mas and cooked X-mas dinner for the family on it. I did a wild goose, stuffed with onion, carrots, and celerey in a V-rack with wine and spices in a drip pan. Cooked at about 200-225 until the I.T. read 180. Took about 2hrs. Moistest wild goose we've ever had.
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