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considering purchasing an egg

Unknown
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
just looked at purchasing an egg(went to buy a smaller gas grill) and the salesperson was an Egger. Are they as easy to use as I was told? A little intimidated as I have used nothing but gas for years, did charcoal before that. How much maintenance? How easy to cook on for the begginer?

Comments

  • WessB
    WessB Posts: 6,937
    jhitthetrail,
    There is a small learning curve, but it`s not a big deal...once you get the hang of controlling temps you pretty much got it...look around my website...it may give you some additional info...and be sure to check out the Whiz`s site...it you do buy one...definately watch the instuctional dvd that comes with it..it answers many newbie questions[p]Wess

    [ul][li]WessB`s[/ul]
  • jhitthetrail,
    You've come to the right place.[p]Check out link and others will add comments. My only comment is don't wait as long as I did before buying. You are definetly missing out on the worlds best smoker/grill.[p]Mike

    [ul][li]Naked Whiz[/ul]
  • jhitthetrail,
    The fact that you have a sales person close by to help you with any immediate questions is a huge plus.
    once you fire up your egg for the first time, you will discover they are easier to use than you are thinking it might be.
    Try something simple like sausage or burgers the first cook, so you can familiarize yourself with the temp control and venting. I am actually more intimidated by gas grills, (you mess up lighting and BOOM there goes the house) than I was my Egg.
    The food taste is sooooo much better with the Egg than your old gasser. Plus it won't rust.
    nakedwhiz.com is a great resource. Go to his website and read and learn.
    I hope to welcome you to the world of Eggheads soon.
    Have faith, you'll love it!!!!

  • mb168
    mb168 Posts: 265
    jhitthetrail,[p]I too am a converted gasser. Thought "screwing with charcoal" was too much hassel. Bought my egg Labor day weekend and my gas grill is sitting on the porch moping unused, I do use the side table on it to set my ceramic lid while I'm cooking on the egg as well as tongs or meat tray. I can't imagine using gas now, once you eat off the egg you'll never try to cook ribs or a steak with gas again.[p]You will take to it easily and you'll come here and great guys like WessB, Naked Whiz, Celtic Wolf, and Thirdeye as well as all the rest of us that are learning as we go, will be glad to help you out.
  • jhitthetrail,[p]The money I have spent on gas grills/smokers trying to find the best gasser was wasted. I could have purchased 2 or more eggs.[p]The food is outstanding and the gassers can not even come close.[p]We are all advising to to visit all these web sites (which I too highly recomend), but don't take that as this is all some hard process.[p]Cookkng with the egg is simple and other than over cooking (to dry or too burnt) there is nothing I have cooked that has not been excelent.[p]Many people use the egg for grilling, smoking, jerky, smoke cheese, Dutch Oven cooking, pizza.[p]Other than trying to cool your favorite drink I don't think there is anything that can't be cooked on the egg.[p]Many of those sites mentioned below will give you some great visual examples of great eats.[p]This is one purchase you will not have to wonder if you made a good choice.[p]Hope to see your 'first cook' post very soon.[p]Kent

  • HH
    HH Posts: 2
    jhitthetrail,[p]Tell us where you are located and odds are you can find one to see in action. thx..[p]HH

  • Jeeves
    Jeeves Posts: 461
    jhitthetrail,[p]Like Master Wess pointed out, there is a learning curve - heck, there is for almost all cooking surfaces, etc.[p]I guess if you are used to a 'low, medium, high', there is the same target, but controlled in a different matter.[p]Oh, go to youtube and search big green egg, or maybe BGE[p]also look at the site below and the FAQ section
    [ul][li]http://www.nakedwhiz.com/ceramic.htm[/ul]
  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,671
    jhitthetrail,
    think of it this way, you light the lump and get it going, lots of ways to do that, easy to find a way that suits you. heat control is done by opening and closing the lower vent, more open, more heat, less, you get the idea. its fairly simple to get started. after maybe 5-10 cooks you will have all the basics down, how to get the heat you want, how to set up for inderect cooks or direct cooks, why you want to wait for the smoke to look clean before adding food etc. then the fun begins and your idea of what a grill can do changes significantly. easiest thing is to figure out what you want to cook and ask here for the basic setup and temps for those first few cooks and it will be easy. its also a good idea to come back and tell us what you didnt like about a cook and usually we can fix that.

    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
  • jhitthetrail, there is s dirty little secret that no one here has told you about,yet.......after you have had a few steaks cooked in the Egg, you will no longer be able to stomach restaurant fare. This can be serious. My wife and I still have a zillion gift coupons for Bennig*ns. Last time we went to "get a good steak", we know longer were impressed. We used to just love the smoked chicken from a local oh-so-raved-about BBQ joint; now we realize that it's just DRY. You have been warned......

  • Pdub
    Pdub Posts: 234
    jhitthetrail,
    If you like good food, pull the trigger and you will never look back.

  • mb168
    mb168 Posts: 265
    RVH,[p]Yes, we have been eating at home a lot more than B.E. (before egg) and I'm proud to say that when someone asks where they can get good ribs locally I can say that the best I know of around here are mine.[p]About the only local restaurant we go to is when we want Japanese like hibachi or sushi.
  • Wise One
    Wise One Posts: 2,645
    jhitthetrail, I'm not sure what stories others ahve told you but I agree with you. It's a little intimidating. I had used a gas grill for over 25 years and only occasionally had to make a fire with briquettes (which was always the battle Royale) so when my wife bought me this green smoker and I found out it used lump charcoal - not even briquettes but lump charcoal) I was overwhelmed. That was over 7 years ago and in that time I have used my gas grill exactly once and have dragged my large BGE 200 miles to cook on it at least three different times (not to mention the ten or twelve times I have carried my mini)and have bought a BGE for my mother, my brother, two nephews, and two sons. Yes, it is intimidating but only until you try it once.

  • mb168, I blame all this on The Egg. We can only go to the Chinese place, now. In the B.E. period, no one would eat my ribs...even me. I had given up. Now, (thanks for all the ongoing help, Icemncmth) some folks will ply me with imported beers to induce me to smoke a couple racks...they actually LIKE them! Anybody need a Bennig*ns coupon?

  • jhitthetrail,[p]I recently cooked for 45 people. My buddy cooked on his great big expensive gasser, and I cooked on my medium.[p]Once of the most common statements was, "I didn't realize you could taste the gas in [the other guy's] food." And everyone loved the food from the Egg.[p]Now -- just so the balanced view can be stated -- after the evening was over, the other guy said, "I don't care what it tastes like, I don't want to handle charcoal [lump]."[p]He'll stay with gas --
    The rest of us will use lump.[p]~ Broc[p]

  • TomCPA
    TomCPA Posts: 82
    jhitthetrail,[p]Like you, I was a bit intimidated when I bought mine. After a few steaks, burgers, sausages, etc., I gained confidence in temperature control. I pretty much have memorized my settings so now I have no trouble in that area. It takes practice and patience. Once you have the hang of it, you will never look back.[p]Like others, my wife, daughter and myself go out infrequently as a result. It was WessB who told me that with the amount of money spent on eating out, you could buy another BGE. He's right.[p]My confidence in cooking now is up there very high. I really enjoy it and I am having fun. So will you.[p]Buy it, try it and enjoy it. [p]Tom[p]
  • jhitthetrail,[p]I'm one of the newbies, and I still ask a gazillion questions of all these guys, but I can tell you this...they love to help us, and the only stupid questions are the ones you don't ask.[p]I used to only cook with gas, because it was so fast and easy to get it up and going. Ofcourse, I only cooked steaks or hamburgers...maybe a fish occasionally. Well, I've had my medium egg for about 3 or 4 months now. I have used 5 bags of lump charcoal (which reminds me...) because I cook on it at least 5 times a week. I can't find anyone who makes smoked, pulled pork better than I can, except another egghead. After messing up a rack of ribs or two, I can now make 'em better'n anyone else. [p]I'm starting to learn how to cook using my cast iron dutch oven on the Egg, and how to obtain that wonderful smoked flavor in pot roasts, stews and beans. I'm going to tackle Ox Tail Stew next, thanks to Mad Max. (He's another one you'll get to recognize as one of the helpful, sages in here[p]One recommendation...get at least a LARGE size--even if it's only you and the wife. Well, two recommendations...hurry up and get one.[p]Hope we'll all soon be hearing about your BGE masterpieces. By the way...do you have a digital camera? They love it when you show off your meals in here.
  • billt
    billt Posts: 225
    mb168,
    egged london broil, rare, chilled, sliced thin > laid slices on nori then a layer of sushi rice + 3 spears of chilled charred asparagus > rolled > sliced = beef aspargus maki. soy with wasabi to dip.. it was great. like you the only restaurant expense now is for sushi. not even pizza anymore! insert happy face here

  • bill, I'm afraid to try pizza on the egg; probably ruin me on the local parlor!

  • billt
    billt Posts: 225
    jhitthetrail,
    short on time tonight so outline format
    1]buy the egg. everything tastes better cooked on the egg
    2} $ i think the egg is cheaper in the long run. had the weber briquet thing then the $100 gasser then $200 then $300 then $700 when that died i finally bought the egg that i had been looking at for years. i could have saved a lot of $$
    3] the egg heats up almost as fast as gas once you get a system. i did not believe the dealer till i saw one in action.
    4]it is a wonderful hobby in addition to the joy of making great food for those you love.
    5] i was a great cook before i started [legend in my own mind] people here on this forum are amazing. i made a fantastic stew, that i though i invented, a few weeks ago and posted it. this forum was kind enough to not mention that it is called frogmore stew [scroll down todays posts]
    6]i have a large for 2 years and a mini for 1. and i was bummed that i had to cook inside on my expensive kitchen stove last night. i have not used it since april. i look forward to cooking on the egg.
    7] my first cook was a chicken . [i bought the thermopen right away and cooked to exact temp]. my sons were afraid to eat it as is was so moist.
    8] mortons steak house with my 2 sons $420. "dad, this steak is better than mortons" priceless.

  • billt
    billt Posts: 225
    RVH,
    it will, my first good one was thin crust,good mozzerela,tomato and basil from my garden. the second was double broccoli, double sausage, classico four cheese pasta sauce good cheese . plan is to make dough every thursday for friday night pizza night .
    imagine the clean flavors and no floating grease from the cheap cheese. you are already hooked give up and make some dough
    bill

  • bill, DARN YOU, MAN, DARN YOU!. DON'T YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING TO ME? Well, there goes the pizza parler, too.....

  • tach18k
    tach18k Posts: 1,607
    jhitthetrail, concidering that any egger will help you out, living close to one is a big start. Name your city and the crowd will follow.

  • billt
    billt Posts: 225
    RVH,
    HA HA you are basically screwed now [in pizza terms].
    seriously, i found pizza to be the hardest thing to get rigth on the egg and i am just getting started. misery loves company.

  • jhitthetrail,
    Sounds like a pretty good salesman. Ask him if he has a loaner egg. Some do others don't. Doesn't hurt to ask. If he does and you cook on it I think you'll see what we are all talking about.[p]Mike

  • Beanie-Bean
    Beanie-Bean Posts: 3,092
    jhitthetrail,[p]Go ahead and take the plunge! I've used gassers and kettles for years, and I've just sold my New Braunfels smoker to one of my friends to make room for the egg. Mine is only a week old, and I'm feeling like an old pro, thanks to the abundance of good information you can find here on the forum.[p]I got a Large BGE, because the place where I was going to buy from originally seemed to be pricing everything at retail. Even for the bundled packages![p]-BB

  • jhitthetrail,[p]I have five different smokers and a Weber gasser. One of the five is a Large BGE that I have only had about a month or so. That being said...[p]I love the BGE and haven't used the gasser once since I got it. I use a weed burner to start the lump and it is up to temp as quickly as the gasser. [p]As long as you understand the basics of fire control (air in/air out) it is a super simple cooker. [p]Go for it... you won't be disappointed!!