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Egg Size

Unknown
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
I am heading out to purchase my first BGE today but am still not totally decided on size. XLarge or Large, what to do??? I don't want to over-indulge, nor do i want to have XL envy a couple of years down the road. L and XL owners, any advice? I am a foodie and love to entertain. I also live in South Texas, so during the heat, I like to cook outside and keep the kitchen cool. [p]

Comments

  • Wise One
    Wise One Posts: 2,645
    Kim G., yopu know for a number of years the decision was always "Do I get the large or will the medium do?" Now we have bumped that up a scale. The large is plenty big for most cooks but the nice thing about the XL is that you can really arrange your fire so that you can cook an entire meal on it. If you're going to just want to do ribs or butt or brisket, a large will do fine. But if you're the type that likes to cook chicken and some veggies and maybe heat some bread at the same time, the XL is going to suit your needs better.

  • I have the Large and a family of 6. We also entertain occasionally and for the most part the Large Egg I have has been just fine. I would think you'd also have more wasted lump on smaller cooks on the XL.

  • Kim G.,[p]I know a lot of the eggsperts on this site prefer the L over the XL, I assume because of the charcoal usage. I bought an XL two months ago and have been absolutely delighted. We do a lot of weekend entertaining with 6-8 people, rarely more than that, and the XL, like the Wise One said, gives us lots of flexibility to cook quite a few veggies, or meat for the next work week, for that matter. Either way, you'll have a great time with it. The other factor to take into account, incidentally, is that you'll probably want a second one eventually - I'm already looking. [p]Electric Don
  • Egg Pirate
    Egg Pirate Posts: 114
    Kim G.,
    I bought the XL about a year ago. I Love IT! We entertain a lot usually around 6-8 people and the extra space is nice. I sometimes cook just for me and my wife and with good temp control, we don't use extra lump. I can't count how many times I have looked at my dad and said "man I'm glad I bought the XL" [p]PS: I am eyeballing a medium to add to my collection. Welcome to the addiction!

  • Celtic Wolf
    Celtic Wolf Posts: 9,773
    Kim G.,[p] Kim I own two XL's, two large eggs and a small egg. When my family gets together there are typically 15-20 people present from the grand kids to the great grand parents. My Xl's stay in my trailer. I use one of the large eggs and the small more then any of them.[p] Don't get me wrong my XL's get used and I am glad I bought them. I use them to cater medium to large parties up to 100 people. I use them when I compete. If I am cooking ribs for more then 5 or 6 people I'll roll out my XL. [p] If I had to sell my eggs I would fight to keep the large and the small combo. [p] One other thing you need to keep in mind. The XL weighs in at 200 pounds. The large is 140 pounds. [p]
  • galoot
    galoot Posts: 69
    Kim G.,
    I bought the XL about 2 months ago and am happy with it. The extra grill space is nice for certain thinks like many steaks, potatoes, garlic bread, etc all at the same time. For some things like pork butt, a large or medium would be fine. I have my eyes on a medium for those times it's just my wife and me though. Only one inconvenience with the XL is that you need to remove the fire ring to put the platesetter in. Aside from that, it's great!

  • Kim G.,
    Large. Unless you plan to cook for large groups, I think you'll be happy with the large. [p]With the pricing, I think you could always buy another large to compliment at some point. [p]Tim

  • Kim G.,
    I've been grilling on the XL for a whopping whole week now. Every day except when I was on travel. I'm actually bummed we'll be going to a dinner party and I won't get to cook.[p]After I saw the XL and learned more, I had a bit of L regret. It is a big sucker. However, now that I've used it, including for a party of 10, I'm glad I have it. We have completely covered the rack on a couple occasions as well. As others have noted, you can meat and sides (like potatoes) all there at once, without stacking stuff up on raised grids or anything. I don't like the thought of pork grease dripping onto chicken, for example.[p]So I am quite happy, for the time. I also do not find excessive charcoal usage (not sure how to measure) for small cooks. If I'm doing something small (like chicken tenders last night) I almost can't tell any charcoal is missing the next day. Even for a 6 hour pork rib lo-n-slo there wasn't a lot of charcoal burned off. It is pretty impressive (as are all the eggs) in this regard, especially if you're used to a weber like I am.

  • Dimple's Mom
    Dimple's Mom Posts: 1,740
    Kim G.,
    I just can't get eggcited about the XL. I love my large and am considering buying another large for when we do big parties. The XL was new when I bought my large and I did consider it, but decided on the large and have never regretted it.[p]The fact that there are egg dealers who don't recommend the XL and don't like it carried weight with me. Yesterday one told me it was a 'bad egg' and 'didn't behave like an egg should.' <g>[p] But I'm sure for every one that doesn't like it, there are 2 or 3 that love it.[p]At the time I was buying, there wasn't really anyone here on the forum that had one and had experience, so I thought it might be more difficult to get questions answered and get advice. That probably isn't as much of a concern for you now at this point in time.[p]Gwen[p]

  • Pharmeggist
    Pharmeggist Posts: 1,191
    Kim G.,
    I have a Large & Small BGE.... I have the advantage of having two simultaneous cooks at completely different temperatures and set up. I can TREX a steak on the small and go low and slow on the large. For about the same amount of money for an XL. I would say I use both eggs an average of 4 times a week.
    GOod Luck! Whatever you buy I know it will be awesome! I would own all the egg sizes if my wife would let me :=) So if you want the XL go for it... then you will get an itch for a smaller one I bet! They all have their advantages.[p]Happy Egging, Pharmeggist

  • Wise One, My daughter in law is looking at an egg for my son's birthday. I think the medium would for them for now. I doubt they entertain for more than 2 other couples at his time. Does that seem right? Does the medium smoke as well as the large? Anyone else have thought on this?

  • Rollocks
    Rollocks Posts: 570
    The XL is even nicer now that you can buy the half moon grates and stone. You can cook direct an indirect at the same time