Smoker?

Unknown · May 2006

how well does the Egg work as a smoker? I am very much a newbie at this grilling thing. My Girlfriend got me a gas grill for christmas and since then i cant get enough. Making my own rubs, sauces etc. But everyone I talk to and anything I read about BBQ says the way to get the best flavor is thru smoking your food. I really want to try this out. How well does this cooker smoke food? Can it act alone as a smoker?

hayhonker · May 2006

toomsdpt,
The homepage says "World's Best Smoker and Grill" which should give you some idea....However, it sure isn't the best for smoking a whole hog thus it's an arguable statement.
That being said, the egg is a wonderful smoker. The properties of ceramic allow it to hold a low temperature for hours upon hours without the moisture loss associated with a gasser or oven.
You can cold smoke cheese, make beef jerky, bbq a pork shoulder with hickory for 23 hours until it falls apart when you drop it on the plate.
You can also bake bread, make a pizza on a 650 degree stone (ie brick oven) and turn out some of the best steaks you'll ever eat.
Many people - myself included - rarely if ever touch their gas grill again unless it's rolling it to the curb.
You'll probably get a lot of convincing responses. The trick will be convincing your girlfriend that you need another cooking device
Have fun!

thirdeye · May 2006

toomsdpt,[p]I have both small & large Eggs. Cold smoking (below(90°) can be done, but it is tough. Cheeses and some salmon is cold smoked. Hot smoking (150°-190°) is a little easier to control. This range is used for jerky, salmon etc. Barbecuing (190°-270°) using some wood added to the coals for smoky flavor is very easy and produces wonderful results. Most folks use this temperature range for ribs, butts, brisket, some chicken.[p]~thirdeye~

Unknown · May 2006

hayhonker,[p]Have you heard anything or could u compare the egg to this:
http://www.bbqgalore.com/store/item.bbq?invky=4089929[p]or this:[p]http://www.weber.com/bbq/pub/grill/2005/charcoal/cg_sg_smk.aspx[p]

stike · May 2006

toomsdpt,
well, you are gonna get your fair share of replies to THAT question.[p]i personally bought it to smoke, and made my decision when i learned how ridiculously easy it is to set the thing up and let it run overnight at 250, rock-solid temps, very efficient, etc.[p]

stike · May 2006

toomsdpt,
you can only smoke on the offset... try a ribeye at 800 degrees on that![p]it probably does a great job. but metal is inherently inefficient and if you already own an egg, you'll find the egg is the better of the two at smoking.

Unknown · May 2006

stike,[p]I guess i should of revised the orginal question but it seems to me the Egg is a hybrid of sorts. Not exactly a smoker not exactly a grill, but maybe somewhere int he middle

fishlessman · May 2006

toomsdpt,
there are people winning contests with eggs and are competing at the national level against the best. its a great smoker

Pick · May 2006

toomsdpt,
Weber makes some nice products and grills I have 3 webers and since I got my Egg I have not used one of them, I have a feeling they will be put on a yard sale except for smokey joe for camping and that's just becasue I don't have a mini yet. Later Jason

Unknown · May 2006

Pick,[p]
I think that is all I needed to hear. I just had to convince myself to spend another $200 to get the Egg over the Weber.

EddieMac · May 2006

Sounds like you and your gas grill are a match made in heaven.....Probably better to stick with that....Then again...The BGE did just pop up Food & Wine / BBQ Guru Steve Raichlan's (sp?) Top 10 cooking devices in this month's issue.....[p]I've been convinced to do many things in my life..but ultimately it's been me that's convinced me.....That's just me though.....Stil remember that visit to BGE store in Atlanta.....[p]Ed McLean....eddiemac
Ft. Pierce, FL

stike · May 2006

toomsdpt,
nope. it's a smoker. it smokes better than anything out there, unless you want to fire up a bog offset or pit and tend it all night as you do 40 butts...[p]you can do Q on other 'home' smokers. but not as easily or as good as on the egg. and i don't think i'm exaggerating.[p]as for grilling. well, no gasser can hit 900 that i know of (or more). and even if gas cooks a steak, it doesn't add flavor. the charcoal does (any charcoal grill would).[p]the ceramic, though, is the big kicker.
makes it a nice even effiecient smoker; allows it to reach nuke temps to sear, and holds heat perfectly for baking or roasting.[p]honestly, it is a better grill than any grill (excepting other ceramics of course), and if you never cooked a steak on it, it'd be a better smoker than any other smoker you could buy for your day to day use.[p]you might think this is hooey, but if you get an egg, i can guarantee that you'll never cook a steak on that gasser again. the chief value of a gasser is always "it's fast". that's not the measure of a good cooker. otherwise you'd microwave your steaks.[p]

Unknown · May 2006

toomsdpt,
It is a Hybrid but here is the thing. Usually when you have one thing that does many things it’s not the best at anything. Huh? This is though. This is the best grill you will ever own. I cooked on webers for years and will match my skills against anyone in that arena. But you can not control a weber the way you can a BGE. First you can’t reach the high temps when searing. I have personally had mine up to 1000 degrees. Depending on conditions this isn’t always possible but 700 is a slam dunk. You can’t do that on a weber. Second the ceramic mass holds in both moisture and heat in a way that metal can not do. Once you have the egg stabilized if you lift the cover to flip say chicken breasts when you put the cover back down you will back to your cooking temp in no time. [p]For smoking nothing else holds in the moisture the way ceramic can. I am unaware of anything else that can consistently go 20+ hours on one load of lump. The precise air control allows uncanny long-term temperature control with little or no adjustments. I used a water smoker for years. Loved it. No comparison here. Could not do overnights, or even more than 4 hours with out reloading briquettes. Could not maintain the exact temps the egg can do.[p]My water smoker is history. I still use my webers for two things.1) kabobs. The weber has a bigger cooking surface than the large BGE and with the top completely off it’s just easier to work with. 2) When I cook a large amount of ribs currently my finishing stage is direct. I don’t have enough grid space on the large to finish all my racks at once. So I fire up the weber and finish some on the Egg and some on the weber. I already have the webers so no big deal. If I didn’t have them I could work around these 2 things. I sure won’t get replacements when these wear out. [p]Get the Egg…you will love it.

ronbeaux · May 2006

stike,
It's good to slow down a little now days. The egg is "fast" enough for me to have time to cook on it 4 to 5 nights a week, unless of course I'm cranking out a weekend butt or brisket.

Unknown · May 2006

Whitetail,[p]How does wood do on this in terms of smoking. I read this somewhere and it seems to be hesitant to use wood:[p]You don't want to simply burn wood in a ceramic cooker. You are asking for creosote deposits on the inside of the cooker. Also, you may find it very hard to regulate the temperature because the wood may choose to ignite and burn with a flame, sending the temperature sky high. If you cut down on the airflow, the flames may go out and the wood will smolder producing clouds of smoke. If you want to try using wood in a ceramic cooker, you should probably do it the way that folks do in normal BBQ pits: burn the wood down to coals in another container, and then add the coals to the cooker as needed to keep your temperature where you want it.
Note that this information comes from personal experience. We were asked to review a wood fuel product which was going to be advertised as a replacement for charcoal. When doing our normal burntime test, we ended up with creosote on the dome of our cooker, and the top vent was stuck shut. We couldn't regulate the temperature and the wood only lasted about 25-35% of the time that even the worst charcoals would burn.
Back To Top [p]

Cornfed · May 2006

toomsdpt,[p]From what I understand, lower end offsets require a lot more work when bbq'ing than does the Egg. Also, they won't maintain super long unattended cooks like the Egg does. And I think for grilling you'd be relegated to cooking directly over the firebox.[p]The Weber Smokey Mountain is a great smoker and does really well on long unattended cooks at bbq temps. I don't think it will go quite as long as an Egg (I'm thinking something like 12 hours while some here get the Egg to go like 20ish). Also, it's less efficient with fuel, especially when it's cold out since it's not as well insulated. You can grill on it by removing the midsection, but the cons there are that you have to bend a lot to manage the grill, which is no good for the lazy among us like me Also, the top doesn't fit perfectly over the bottom section, which makes the classic grill then roast a little more unwieldy. Lastly, while you can get insanely hot temps using just the bottom section of this cooker and lump charcoal, I don't think you'll get to the ridiculous 1000+ level you can get on the Egg (it'll get plenty hot, I just don't think quite as hot as the Egg).[p]Overall, I think the Egg is the best all around choice.[p]Good luck!
Cornfed

Essex County · May 2006

toomsdpt,
You've gotten lots of good comments below. I guess I'd sum it up with my four favorite cooks: steak, pulled pork, roasted chicken, and pizza. I tried to use my gasser to roast and smoke (I remember buying these little cans with wood chips in them!) but it was inefficient or ineffective. The gasser IS more convenient but I've gotten really good at building a charcoal fire. Charcoal IS more flavorful than gas. So, the egg is a fine smoker but it does a lot more. Take a look!
Paul

Unknown · May 2006

toomsdpt,
Gota start with a full disclaimer. My wife does not like the taste of smoke so My BGE has never seen a chunk or chip of wood. When I do long, low and slows it just the lump flavoring the meat. I am sure someone else will chime in but I will throw in my 2 cents.[p]When you say burn wood I assume you mean adding chunks or chips in the lump, not just burning pure wood. The smokers here do it all the time with great success. There are no flare-ups because the airflow is already too low to allow it. Smoking is generally done 250 and under and the BGE will only allow enough air to maintain that temp. No chance of flare-ups. Some creosote is unavoidable when you burn any wood, but if you stuck the top vent shut then you have some really poor product. Properly dried wood produces very little creosote under most any condition. I was raised in New England and my dad still heats his house with wood. The chimney would be closed shut full of creosote if the stove acted the way you are describing. I think you had poor product. Every now and then you have to take some foil and rub down your dome(I have done it once in the last year) but that is about it. [p]I forgot to add on the first post. You said you were really into this. Hang on this forum for a few days and you will see enthusiasm like you have never seen before. It’s addicting. [p]HTH

Pick · May 2006

toomsdpt,
You will never regret, good luck Jason

Unknown · May 2006

Whitetail,
I know what you mean. I honestly cant get enough of this. I want to take the next step and get a good smoker. I love this %^&$

Unknown · May 2006

Essex County,[p]essex co NY?

Essex County · May 2006

toomsdpt,
Nope. MA.

Smoker?

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