Welcome to the EGGhead Forum - a great place to visit and packed with tips and EGGspert advice! You can also join the conversation and get more information and amazing kamado recipes by following Big Green Egg to Experience our World of Flavor™ at:
Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram  |  Pinterest  |  Youtube  |  Vimeo
Share your photos by tagging us and using the hashtag #BigGreenEgg.

Want to see how the EGG is made? Click to Watch

Cooking 'Topless'

Buxwheat
Buxwheat Posts: 727
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
Anybody ever cook topless? Last couple of cooks I have adjusted my temp w/ the bottom draft only and let the Egg go 'topless'. I was surprised how easily the dome temp could be controlled this way. In the past I have tried Old School w/ no Daisy and using the ceramic lid kind of tilted over the top instead, but I wasn't able to get very precise control. Here are some pics from Thursday night's dinner, Flat Iron Steak w/ Chipotle powder rub (1 Tbs paprika, 2 Tsp kosher sea salt, 1 Tsp Chipotle chile powder, 1/2 Tsp fresh ground black pepper, 1/2 Tsp ground cumin, 1/2 Tsp garlic powder). Rubbed beef w/ olive oil then the chile powder rub, 6 minutes per side at 450-500 dome. Medium rare in the middle, medium on the ends. Just right for the wife and I.
Topless
IMG_1846.jpg
Temp
IMG_1845.jpg
The steak
IMG_1842.jpg
Cold adult beverage of the night
IMG_1843.jpg

Comments

  • YB
    YB Posts: 3,861
    Cat that posted here years ago never used a top... not even for ribs.

    Larry
  • There's an unnamed person of high position here at the Chicken Ranch who has been known to cook bottomless. Does that count?

    Spring "Who Meeee?" Chicken
    Spring Texas USA
  • Buxwheat
    Buxwheat Posts: 727
    That, Sir, I'm sure is a violation of the health code.
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    temp can be controlled with either top or bottom alone.

    i use the bottom for gross adjustments, and the top for finer (less bending, too), visual control.

    but you don't need both
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • Naaa! They stay away, but there is a bit of a problem with sparks and flashbacks LOL

    Spring "Old Baldy" Chicken
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    yep. as long as the lower vent is set correctly, you can't make more air rush out the top. same for the reverse. dial the top down correctly, and the bottom vent can be wide open. you can't push more air in either.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • Pretty sure I saw a picture of said offender on the coop's light switch? :unsure: :unsure: :whistle:

    Spring Chicken wrote:
    There's an unnamed person of high position here at the Chicken Ranch who has been known to cook bottomless. Does that count?

    Spring "Who Meeee?" Chicken
    Spring Texas USA
  • Buxwheat wrote:
    Anybody ever cook topless? Last couple of cooks I have adjusted my temp w/ the bottom draft only and let the Egg go 'topless'.

    B, I tend to do the opposite since I believe that leaving the daisy wheel on allows for more of a smoking effect (less smoke goes out the top).

    Anybody disagree??
  • Is this what you saw?

    LightswitchandGirlsWorkingswitch.jpg

    That was taken back in Pre-Coop days.

    Spring "Frightening Big Kids Too" Chicken
  • Pdub
    Pdub Posts: 234
    My thought would be that the open top would let more heat escape and you would not get as much heat coming back from the ceramics.
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    yep. hahaha

    sorry. stike the jackass here.

    but... if smoke is going out the top faster than it would with the daisy on, then the air MUST be moving faster. if the air is moving faster, then the temp is rising, or is already higher and stable.

    in=out. three eggs. identical lump and identical food.

    one has the lower vent dialed in, no top on. the next has the bottom wide open, with daisy controlling the temp. the last one has the vent and daisy sharing (trying to share) the job of controlling the draft.

    all things being equal, the airflow thru all three is equal too, if we are all at 250. if the one without the daisy on it was venting smoke better than the others, it would be at either a higher temp, or climbing.

    you can't fight city hall.
    odd thing is, a smaller exhaust can actually speed up things. but maybe not at this scale. but if the egg were a big chimney attached to a house, you could use the stack effect to your advantage. make the chimney exhaust (top) SMALLER (and also taller), and airflow would speed up.

    and the reverse is true. make the chimney top more OPEN, and shorter, and the draft slows down (in a chimney...)
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • Cpt'n Cook
    Cpt'n Cook Posts: 1,917
    Gross adjustments seems to be the operative word for this string :whistle:
  • Buxwheat
    Buxwheat Posts: 727
    Bernoulli 'stikes' again.
  • Ashman
    Ashman Posts: 375
    With trepidation I opened this thread. After a long night of adult trick or treating, I was afraid the image would be ingrained every-time I saw a sign that said "Topless". But, having faith in the good taste that abounds on this forum, I opened it and was not ruined.

    Moving slow in Jax
    Gordon :blink:
  • Zippylip
    Zippylip Posts: 4,768
    Pretty much topless on all cooks except low-slows, & if it's raining I'll toss on the raincap
    happy in the hut
    West Chester Pennsylvania
  • AZRP
    AZRP Posts: 10,116
    I am of the belief that only one of the control devices is controlling the temp, the one letting the least amount of airflow. -RP
  • Sundown
    Sundown Posts: 2,980
    hate to say it publicly but that's the way of the Egg.

    Are our Densa cards ready yet?
  • stike wrote:
    in=out. three eggs. identical lump and identical food.

    S, So what is your conclusion? Does leaving the daisy wheel on mean there is more smoke applied to the item(s) being cooked?
  • Wilby
    Wilby Posts: 155
    A new thought. Cooking topless. This sure caught my eye. Problem is if I cooked topless my friends had better be drinking their third cocktail. :whistle:
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    it's the same air flow in all three eggs. you can't get the smoke (or air) to "hang out" longer in one egg versus another at the same temp.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    yep. if a dude sets his lower vent (like me) and then dials in eventually with the upper one, he could pretty much thereafter kick the bottom wide open.

    and vice versa.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • I do that at times, but it seems to consume my lump faster when I do. I'm thinking that I lose more heat out the bottom door, since it doesn't seem to affect my dome temperature.

    I also seem to get a lower humidity - gauging by the crispness of, say, a chicken's skin - when I open the top and control with the bottom. Am I imagining things, or do you see the same?
  • That's the one! Hope you catch that guy...before he cooks something which might keep you from ever using that egg again! :laugh:

    Spring Chicken wrote:
    Is this what you saw?

    LightswitchandGirlsWorkingswitch.jpg

    That was taken back in Pre-Coop days.

    Spring "Frightening Big Kids Too" Chicken
  • I'll defer logical thinking to the Eggsperts, but I've come to the confusion that if you have the top vent open and the bottom vent open, you are creating a draft.

    A draft essentially does two things, adds oxygen to the fire raising the temperature and adds moisture to the Egg effecting the cooking process. But by it very nature it has to move air out before it can move air in.

    The shape of the Egg, augmented by accessories, probably dictates that the air flow stays close to the wall on its way out the top. In doing so, it bypasses the center of the Egg and the intended target of the heat. It also consumes the fuel at a much greater rate without desired results.

    I have discovered that I can reduce the 'draft' factor by closing the bottom vent completely (after the fire has stabilized) thereby forcing the intake of air to come from the very same location as the outflow, the top vent.

    This process helps to minimize flareups and hot spots, while focusing the heat into the intended area around the meat.

    Of course this isn't meant to be the answer to a low and slow cook but it does help for shorter, say 30 minutes to 2-hour, cooks. For example, hamburgers... I don't get flare-ups when cooking hamburgers using this method. If I forgot to close the bottom vent, however, the flareups would really be a problem.

    Just my 3.545¢ (adusted for inflation) worth.

    Spring "Mostly Wrong 1% Of The Time" Chicken
    Spring Texas USA
  • I cook topless all the time. I have not used the daisy wheel for either of my eggs since I bought them. That was 4 years ago.