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The wait is over



I had major butterflies when I finally picked it up....can't wait!!!!!  I won't be able to cook for a couple days due to my work schedule but it will give me plenty of time to watch all the YouTube videos(already have) and read the posts on here....I know I can only go up to about 350-400 on the first couple cooks in order to "break-in" the egg....I'm thinking beer can chicken or something along those lines....any other ideas?

Comments

  • evie1370
    evie1370 Posts: 506

    Chicken is a good start, I would go Spatchcock myself. A quicker cook, usually 45-60 mins. I assume you have a plate setter? IMO that is a definite must!

    Welcome to the club! Look forward to seeing your cooks!

    Medium BGE in Cincinnati OH.

    "

    "I don't know what effect these men will have upon the enemy, but, by God, they frighten me. " Duke of Wellington, Battle of Waterloo.
  • DesertSnow
    DesertSnow Posts: 67
    Plate setter is sitting right next to it
  • Budgeezer
    Budgeezer Posts: 669
    Pulled pork, very forgiving.
    Edina, MN

  • Ladeback69
    Ladeback69 Posts: 4,482
    Chicken, ribs, pork butt, brisket if you want to really start on a hard one.  I did chicken I believe for the first time.  Meatloaf is a good one too at 350 for 45 to 60 minutes.

    Welcome to the EGGdiction and to the club.
    XL, WSM, Coleman Road Trip Gas Grill

    Kansas City, Mo.
  • northGAcock
    northGAcock Posts: 15,164
    Well congratulations. Is that a Medium or a large?
    Ellijay GA with a Medium & MiniMax

    Well, I married me a wife, she's been trouble all my life,
    Run me out in the cold rain and snow
  • DieselkW
    DieselkW Posts: 894
    I did burgers first, something I know and had done a thousand times before. If you use it like any other grill, you reach a point where you want to explore the alternative possibilities. I'm two years in and still haven't baked a pie on it, but I should have by now.

    First smoke: pork baby backs, naturally. Easy does it. You start to impress your family, then you impress your neighbors, then you have some friends over.

    First pizza was a big hit.

    I had a few expensive misses - a brisket I put on at 10pm and at 6am when I checked it the fire had gone out who knows when... then I got impatient and pulled it by temp, not by "buttah" and it was like shoe leather.

    Pulled pork is hard to screw up - just wait for the bone to wiggle free and you're good to go.

    just have fun with it. Best thing about my Egg, the oven won't be turned on until it gets cold out. I hate it when the oven and the AC have a fight over home temperature and I'm paying to run both.

    Indianapolis, IN

    BBQ is a celebration of culture in America. It is the closest thing we have to the wines and cheeses of Europe. 

    Drive a few hundred miles in any direction, and the experience changes dramatically. 



  • bhedges1987
    bhedges1987 Posts: 3,201
    pulled pork

    Kansas City, Missouri
    Large Egg
    Mini Egg

    "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us" - Gandalf


  • stichrunner
    stichrunner Posts: 103
    Awesome. Just got my xl this week. I have BB's on right now and they look good. Kinda been fighting temps. Definitely a learning curve. Good luck. 
    New Orleans, Louisiana. 
    XL bge, Napoleon Prestige  Pro 665 (gasser) sad that it won't be used much anymore. 
  • jabam
    jabam Posts: 1,829
    Welcome aboard ditto on the chicken and meatloaf
    Central Valley CA     One large egg One chocolate lab "Halle" two chiuahuas "Skittles and PeeWee"
  • SoCalTim
    SoCalTim Posts: 2,158
    Did a 9lb 17 hour low and slow pork butt first time out. It was magical!
    I've slow smoked and eaten so much pork, I'm legally recognized as being part swine - Chatsworth Ca.
  • Congrats!  Enjoy yourself and don't be shy about asking questions or showing your cooks.
    Flint, Michigan
  • blasting
    blasting Posts: 6,262

    Meatloaf would be a good first.  The egg does something magical to a simple meatloaf.

      Its a good one too, because it's not a long first cook.


    Phoenix 
  • THEBuckeye
    THEBuckeye Posts: 4,230
    Spatchcock

    A Rite of Passage
    New Albany, Ohio 

  • CTMike
    CTMike Posts: 3,247
    You're first cook should be a plain ol' nekkid fatty. It's a good inaugural cook to help you learn temperature control, and it's cheap if things get out of hand so you're aren't out much. Enjoy the madness and guard your wallet, this place will cost you a buck or two. 
    MMBGE / Large BGE / XL BGE (Craigslist Find) / SF30x80 cabinet trailer - "Ol' Mortimer" / Outdoor kitchen in progress.  

    RECOVERING BUBBLEHEAD
    Southeastern CT. 
  • Oh bullsh!t order a SRF brisket and get after it. Go big or go home!

    Little Rock, AR

  • Carolina Q
    Carolina Q Posts: 14,831
    Welcome, DesertSnow. Chicken's always good. I'd go with spatchcock though. When I did my first cook, I'd never even heard of spatchcock. Now, that's all I do!

    As for the break-in, others may disagree, but in my experience, the gasket "break-in" nonsense is just that. I followed that advice and had to install a new gasket in 3 months. Could have used it in ONE month, but I put it off.

    1st cook (I think), 8-29-09

    Less than ONE month later, 9-21-09

    Not a very good pic, but after two months, 11-1-09, it was toast. (Ribs were great though! =) )

    New Rutland installed on or before 12-2-09, 3 months after first cook!

    A little dirtier now, but it pretty much still looks like that 6 1/2 years later.


    Cook what you want and at the temp needed. The original gasket probably won't last long anyway.

    I hate it when I go to the kitchen for food and all I find are ingredients!                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

    Michael 
    Central Connecticut 

  • NorthPilot06
    NorthPilot06 Posts: 1,179
    Well congratulations. Is that a Medium or a large?

    Congrats!  I'm guessing a large.
    DFW - 1 LGBE & Happy to Adopt More...
  • bgebrent
    bgebrent Posts: 19,636
    Congratulations man!  I agree with pulled pork as a great first cook.
    Sandy Springs & Dawsonville Ga
  • dldawes1
    dldawes1 Posts: 2,208
    Awesome....I have a similar picture of someone's egg on this forum.  His wife put him in the backseat and the egg in the front !!!!

    Anyone guess who it was ????

    Welcome to the eggdiction and the madhouse !!!


    Donnie Dawes - RNNL8 BBQ - Carrollton, KY  

    TWIN XLBGEs, 1-Beautiful wife, 1 XS Yorkie

    I'm keeping serious from now on...no more joking around from me...Meatheads !! 


  • DesertSnow
    DesertSnow Posts: 67
    Well congratulations. Is that a Medium or a large?

    Congrats!  I'm guessing a large.
    Yep a large
  • 4Runner
    4Runner Posts: 2,948
    I burned the crap out of some burgers and dogs on my first cook.  I'd highly recommend you do the same.  :)

    Welcome!
    Joe - I'm a reformed gasser-holic aka 4Runner Columbia, SC Wonderful BGE Resource Site: http://www.nakedwhiz.com/ceramicfaq.htm and http://www.nibblemethis.com/  and http://playingwithfireandsmoke.blogspot.com/2006/02/recipes.html
    What am I drinking now?   Woodford....neat
  • THEBuckeye
    THEBuckeye Posts: 4,230
    dldawes1 said:
    Awesome....I have a similar picture of someone's egg on this forum.  His wife put him in the backseat and the egg in the front !!!!

    Anyone guess who it was ????

    Welcome to the eggdiction and the madhouse !!!


    Best post in a while!  Protect the Egg at all costs.
    New Albany, Ohio 

  • td66snrf
    td66snrf Posts: 1,821
    Rib roast. Very easy with great results. 
    XLBGE, LBGE, MBGE, SMALL, MINI, 2 Kubs, Fire Magic Gasser
  • lousubcap
    lousubcap Posts: 32,168
    Welcome aboard and enjoy the journey.  I would suggest you cook something you were comfortable with in your pre-BGE life and compare the end result.  That will give you a sense of the difference and the endless possibilities ahead.
      
    Ask any question here and you will likely get several answers, all of whom will work.  Pick one and run with it-change something up the next cook and move on.  FWIW-
    Louisville; Rolling smoke in the neighbourhood. # 38 for the win.  Life is too short for light/lite beer!  Seems I'm livin in a transitional period.
  • Jstroke
    Jstroke Posts: 2,600
    Order a gasket now from @RRP, and get after it. Shiz, I did pizza on mine about 700 the first day and the next day watched my gasket drift off in a cloud. If you cook hot it won't matter day 1 or day 300. Or save yourself the trouble and scrape the gasket off now while new and run it nekkid until the new one shows up. 
    Columbus, Ohio--A Gasser filled with Matchlight and an Ugly Drum.