First Cook = Hi Temp Pizza = Fried Gasket

BGE recommends 3m Super 77.
I have installed a gasket on my Large and have temps above 600 w/o any problems. When you get the Nomex, run it thru a dryer on high heet as even the nomex will shrink.

GG...I am in TOTAL agreement! We did pies last night at 475-500*. As long as the pizza stone was preheated, we still had wonderfully crisp crust, NOT burnt at all, and beautifully cooked tops as well! The HIGHest we would go would be 550*, and that would cause an argument here.....LOL!!
For low and slow, a gasket is a MUST.

Kent...I appreciate the kudos on the BBQ sauce....but it wasn't me. :blink: I am much a traditionalist in my cooking....I will do a red or white pie...never gone to the BBQ point, and probably never will. (sounds like that will be my loss). It was probably a Zippylip creation!! :laugh: :woohoo: LOL!!

I've got to add my 450° to this thread.

I'm lazy and don't make pizzas from scratch. Too many good pizza places nearby if I want one special. So when the Pizza urge hits and we don't want to leave home I just throw a Digiorno's frozen pizza on.

Don't laugh, the Egg does something magic to a frozen pizza that a regular oven can't.

450-475° for about 12 minutes does it.



Oh yea, that old felt gasket has been on there for about three years.

Spring "Gimme A Pizza Dis An' A Pizza Dat" Chicken
Spring Texas USA

David,

I want to confirm that your gasket is a dark, crispy, crumbly black piece of char, not that the glue gave out, correct?

If so, I wouldn't worry about it.

I did the same thing. I had pizza the first time I used the egg as well. When I was done, the inner edges of my gasket were black and brittle (but the pizza was the best I'd ever made). Since then, I've cooked several pizzas, and a couple of t-rex steaks, and have done further damage to the felt gasket. Basically, the whole thing is now black and crumbly.

But I've also done several low and slows (wings, several batches of ribs, and two overnight butts) and I don't have a problem holding a low temp. I did ribs last weekend and my egg held a rock-steady 225 for about 3 hours, with no vent adjustments needed. Sure, smoke leaks out around the gasket a bit, but it doesn't seem to affect the ability to hold temp.

I'll probably replace the gasket one of these days, but I'm in no rush.

I think my first pizza was beginner's luck. Don't get me wrong, every other pizza I've made on the egg beats anything you'd get from a take-out place, but I can't seem to get a handle on how long to preheat the stone. Sometimes it's too hot, sometimes it's too cold. Too bad I don't have one of those handy IR temperature guns like Alton Brown uses.

One tip. If you use your plate-setter for a low and slow, like an overnight butt, and you get fat on it, clean it with a nice screaming hot burn (leave the lid shut to preserve your gasket somewhat) before making pizza. I did a pizza a few days after a butt cook some time ago and it came out tasting awful from all the burning-fat smoke.

You have received a lot of good suggestions. One other thing to consider is to do some low and slow cooks with a new gasket before you attempt any high temperature cooks.Let the gasket break in a little. This is especially true with a high temp pizza cook since the pizza stone placement tends to direct high heat right at the gasket.

Barry

David911 wrote:

...
So my question for everyone is what is the preferred high temp gasket? My dealer is getting me one from BGE, but I have read here about others. I am a bit worried about the glue that will be used as 750 is hot and many glues will fail at those temps.

I think I need a gasket because I will also be doing low temp smoking, and I believe the gasket is important for that type of cooking

Thanks for your help,

David

I can’t comment on temps for a pizza but to your gasket issue, I had the same experience. I simply cleaned off the grey felt, and then used the white “nomex” one supplied by BGE free of charge. I followed the instructions on cleaning and using the Super 77. I probably did 3 or 4 cooks below 400 before I fired her up. Not sure if that is necessary or not but that was recommended. I hit over 800 routinely now with flames all around the gasket and haven’t had an issue. Get the white gasket and follow the instructions. You should be fine. Good luck.

I do my pizzas with the plate setter legs up, then grill, then pizza stone on the grill. I use a dome temp of about 550-650. My original felt gasket is still holding strong (although it looks pretty black) after 2 years and many 550+ cooks with platesetter in place. I think the key is that I always use the platesetter with legs up.

I rub down the pizza stone quickly with a wet paper towel prior to each pizza to reduce the stone temperature and therefore the risk of burning the crust. That combined with the relatively high dome temp and about 8 minutes cooking time seems to produce good results for me -- well browned crust with no burning on the bottom.

I also use parchment to get the pizza onto the stone, then slip the parchment out from under the pizza after 90 seconds on the stone which is an idea I got from someone else on this forum.

The only problem I have is stretching out the crust thin enough. I need to work on my technique. because I end up with thicker crust than I'd like.

Um, but the stones and plate setter in when the egg is cold and first lighting, not after it has come to temp, let everything come to temp together, then your ready to put the pizza on.

:laugh: :woohoo: :laugh: :laugh:

Kent

I just shook my head at myself after reading your comment. Oh my, embarrassing.

Kent