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Food tasted too "Charcoaly"

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Unknown
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edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
The initial launch of my new L-BGE yesterday left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Brought the grill home and watched the video and were so inspired that we went out and got some large shrimp and asparagus. We lit the grill as instructed (starter bricks) and let the grill heat up as instructed. The grill showed a temp in the mid 300's, though it still seemed as though there was a lot of smoke coming through the metal top.[p]The meat and the veggies had a very strong charcoal flavor - not a smoked or even grilled flavor. Did I do something wrong? We let the coals heat for more than the 8-10 minutes after we lit the starter. [p]Any advice?
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Comments

  • hayhonker
    hayhonker Posts: 576
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    30115 Griller,
    Yes indeed, I had the same problem at first.
    You need to let the fire stabilize until there is little to no smoke. Can take 20-30 minutes sometimes.
    Once you get that clean burning pile of lump the fun begins...[p]Good luck!
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  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,767
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    30115 Griller,
    give it some more time after lighting, the fire bricks were probably not burnt yet and still smoldering. i like to wait until the smoke is almost gone, almost transparant. for a cook like that you want a nice clean burning fire. someone here has pictures of what to look for.
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
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  • Rick's Tropical Delight
    Rick's Tropical Delight Posts: 1,564
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    30115 Griller,
    you needed more time for the fire to get going and stabilize...
    heavy white smoke means have another beer!
    wait for the smoke to clear and turn blueish[p]i did the same thing on my second cook, but we ate it anyways!
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
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    30115 Griller,
    those starter blocks will sometimes stop flaming and smolder, producing lots of white smoke. [p]always look at them to amke sure they are GONE, not glowing red or still flaming.[p]get in the habit of sniffing the smoke, too. if you don't like how it smells, you won't like how it tastes.[p]10 mintutes minimum for those starters to burn off. cook around 15 to 20 minutes after lighting
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • Unknown
    Unknown
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    30115 Griller,
    I am about two cooks ahead of you, I made burgers the first time and they tasted very charcoally(not so fun). They where better the second day, still had the bad flavor though. Yesterday I decided to take on the Trex style new york strip. While getting the egg at searing temp I got all the coals burning red. Then I brought the temp down to cook the steak. I did not have the charcoal flavor. The steak was very good. Getting that first cook right is such an amazing feeling. I hope they can all be that good. I may be in left field but if you close both vents I think the charcaol is more likely to smoke. I think I had that problem the first day.

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  • Unknown
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    30115 Griller,[p]Yea, what they said. You really don't want to know what you are bathing your food in when you put it in that thick white (or yellow) smoke.[p]
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  • Kelly Keefe
    Kelly Keefe Posts: 471
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    30115 Griller,
    The first myth is that you can be "cooking in 10 minutes." Only if you use a flame thrower to start the fire.[p]The second myth is a bag of lump "will last for months." That's only true if you don't open the bag. ;-)[p]Hang in there, you'll get it![p]Kelly
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  • EddieMac
    EddieMac Posts: 423
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    You're getting some good advice here...I would also suggest that you go directly to www.nakedwhiz.com and read as much of that site and all the information as you can...before you cook again...the light at the end of the tunnel will begin to get much brighter...and quickly.....You've made a wise choice and a solid investment...[p]Ed McLean
    Ft. Pierce, FL

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  • Celtic Wolf
    Celtic Wolf Posts: 9,773
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    30115 Griller,[p] I won't tell you what everyone else has told you. I will tell you you can break those little square starter blocks in half and place them at different places in the lump.[p] I usually use two squares to start my XL, but I break them in half. I place them in four different places with a piece of lump real close to them. I light all four of them off. Open the vents and wait for the smoke to clear of the XL gets close to my desired temp. If the latter occurs first I start closing down the vents to start stabilizing my temp and wait for the smoke to clear.[p] Only used a torch once cause I forgot the squares..
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  • egginator
    egginator Posts: 569
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    30115 Griller,[p]This was a great thread on the subject
    [ul][li]clean fire[/ul]
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  • Unknown
    Unknown
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    Kelly Keefe,[p]I pretty much figured going into this thing (one cook on my egg) there is NO way a lump fire is going to really be ready in 10 minutes. Ive cooked with lump for years... just not gonna happen. Get a clean fire going and your going to be very happy.
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