New Big Green Egg Owners

JKlo10

We are LOVING our new Big Green Egg and would love to get a list of FAVORITE recipes along with MUST DO's and DON'Ts regarding cooking on the Egg. Any suggestions?  We plan on going to the Eggtober Fest in Atlanta but till then?

Thanks!

Jenni and Rick Kloete

Hillbilly-Hightech

Hi, glad  you're liking the Egg. 

However, could you please be a bit more specific regarding your request?  I mean, the there is a whole subsection to the right side of the forum which lists several hundred recipes, all categorized by type of food (ie, beef, poultry, pork, baking, etc). 

Maybe if you threw out some things you'd like to do, and then we can assist w/ that. 

Also, the same w/ the "do's and dont's" request - what is it you're curious about, and we can assist. 

A quick rule-of-thumb for folks coming from gassers is to NOT cook w/ the lid up.  Also, temp control is probably one of the biggest learning curves.  Another is to learn to cook your food to internal temp, and not to time... 

So those are just a few quick tips... what else ya curious about?  We can help, if ya just ask!!

tazcrash

here is another tip: 

When you ask for an accessory recommendation, expect it to be expensive. 

Seriously, check out http://www.nakedwhiz.com lots of great info there as well as here.

JerkChicken

Welcome to the cult  >:)

travisstrick

Focus on the result and not the process. The egg is very forgiving and hard to mess up.

Cook to temp (I think this is the best tip for all cooking)

Buy some bricks and an extra cheap grid from academy. Play with alternate cooking setups prior to buying expensive aftermarket stuff so you know what works for you.

Don't get excited about what kind of lump to buy. It all catches fire and burns.

When trying to reach your desired egg temp, start shutting you top thingy and lower vent about 50 degrees before you reach it. The egg heats up quick and cools slowly.

Your gasket will fail. Don't sweat it. BGE will send you a new one for free. Lots of us don't use a gasket at all. I suggest trying it without one to see if it works for you.

dlk7

Read up about flash backs so you don't loose your arm hair and eyebrows (search on flash backs).  Burp your egg!!!!!

mm8552

Welcome!  One of my favorite recipes is smoked meatloaf.  I hate to post a recipe without giving credit, but I cannot determine where I got this one.  It was probably from someone on this forum.  There are lots of great recipes and pros ready to give great advise on here!

Ingredients<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

§ 1 pound ground pork  

§ 2 pound ground beef  

§ 1 tablespoon chopped, fresh chives, plus 1 teaspoon for the sauce

§ 1 tablespoon chopped, fresh thyme leaves, plus 1 teaspoon for the sauce

§ 1 tablespoon chopped, fresh Italian parsley, plus 1 teaspoon for the sauce

§ 3 large eggs

§ 1 1/3 cups finely ground Panko (place Panko in food processor to finely grind)

§ 2/3 cup whole organic milk  

§ 1 tablespoon kosher salt

§ 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

§ Olive oil

§ 2 stalks of celery, finely diced

§ 1 large Spanish onion, finely diced

§ 2 cups chicken stock, homemade or good quality purchased

§ 8 to 10 cloves roasted-garlic

§ 3 tablespoons butter, at room temperature

§ <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Hickory or apple chips

Directions

1.      Preheat your smoker or grill to 400 and set it up for an indirect cook. (If cooking in an oven. preheat the to 350 degrees.)

2.      Heat a medium saute pan over medium-high heat and film it with extra-virgin olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the celery and onion to the pan and cook, stirring, until softened. Remove the celery and onion from the pan and let cool

3.      Combine the celery and onions with the pork, beef, chives, thyme, parsley, eggs, Panko, milk, salt and pepper. 

4.      Using clean hands, mix the ingredients until well combined and everything is evenly distributed. Place a piece of parchment paper on a sheet pan (it should have sides at least 1 1/2 inches high to prevent grease runoff from the pan). Place the meat on the sheet pan and pat it and punch it down to remove any air pockets. Shape the meat into a loaf (about 14 1/2 inches long by 5 inches wide by 2 inches high). Place the sheet pan in the oven or on the grate of you Egg and cook for 45 to 60 minutes or until a meat thermometer indicates an internal temperature of 155 degrees. Remove the meatloaf and let it rest for 10 minutes.

5.      Meanwhile, for the sauce, combine the broth, roasted garlic and butter over medium-high heat and simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until lightly thickened. Add 1 teaspoon of each of the chopped thyme, chives and parsley. Slice the meatloaf into serving portions and spoon the hot sauce over the meatloaf and serve.

 

nolaegghead

Popcorn Crunch
Here's an easy treat to prepare and take to the drive-in movie. The kids will love it.

        1/2 cup butter, melted
        1/2 cup honey
        3 quarts popcorn, popped
        1 cup dry roasted insects, chopped

Blend the butter and honey together in a saucepan and heat gently. Mix the popcorn with the insects and pour the
butter-honey mixture over it. Mix well. Spread on a cookie sheet in a thin layer. Bake at 350° 10 to 15 minutes on egg with pecan wood, or until crisp. Break into bite-sized pieces.
)

FanOfFanboys

DO make sure your thermoter is correct. Boiling water is the perfect way. They can be pretty far off from factory. Mine was about 60 degrees off

lousubcap

Listen to travis above and don't over-think it.  The engine that makes it work is fuel and air-flow.  Beyond that the learning curve-welcome and enjoy.

MountainBoyEggin

I wasn't on the BGE forum when I bought mine, wish I would've been and someone could've told me a couple of tips:

• Happy egg is key:  bottom all the way open and top 5 open on the daisy wheel will allways = 400 degrees, when it warms all the way to the bottom, it's happy and will be for a long time
• Never think you can drop temp quick, if the egg has been at say 450-500 for awhile, it's going to take some time to cool down
• Burping egg is suggested a temps over 500
• Like travistrick said, don't sweat the gasket

 

 

 

 

nolaegghead

I've learned a lot from this forum.  And I've learned a few things the hard way.  Keep reading the threads here and post any questions and you'll be cooking delicious meals in no time.

lousubcap

Upon further review, a few other bits of info:

on indirect cooks (platesetter in) your dome temp will initially read around 20-40*F hotter than the temp at the cooking grid-gaps narrows the longer the dome is shut.  If not specified, cooking temperatures reference the dome temp.  Check the calibration of your dome thermo before you start.  Always wait til the smoke is burning "clear" before putting your food on..(if smoke smells good then all is well, if not-wait).

vidalia1

Here is another tip...when you ask for help or information on the forum...come back and say thanks...just sayin'

FanOfFanboys

When cooking, pics or it didn't happen

gte1

No matter what you read in any recipe DON"T close the top and bottom vents and "dwell" till the cook is done.  I ruined some beautiful ribeyes this way.

Also as stated above watch out for flashbacks.  I have found that I really love my egg, but the damn thing has burned me lots of different ways.  Flashback, pulling out hot platesetter with poor quality gloves, hot small pieces of buring lava shooting out the bottom vent onto my bare foot.  This thing is HOT and likes to wound you if you are not paying attention

George

 

Fred19Flintstone

Insects in your popcorn?  FAGEDABODIT!!

ratcheer

I am also new, I've had my Egg about a month.

One of my favorites is grilled chicken. It's very simple. Chicken pieces with the bones still in. Pat them dry with paper towels. Dry rub with anything you like - I love chicken with Old Bay. Stabilize the Egg at about 375-400. Then grill the pieces with the lid closed for about 35 minutes, turning them 1 or 3 times. Once is better for the cooking, thrice lets you keep an eye on how it's going and whether there are hot spots that make you need to switch their places. Anyway, it's not rocket science.

Tim

biggreeneggic

I am trying to create a BGE online resource full of recipes, maintenance tips, and accessory reviews (among other things). Check out the link in my signature (sorry for the shameless self promotion). I'm not the greatest chef, but I love messing around and figuring stuff out about my BGE. So if you have anything you would like me to test or if you have general questions, please let me know!

Casekeibs

@biggreeneggic - Awesome site, my friend. Very well done.

Outcast

@biggreeneggic   Very nice site.  One thing you have on there is incorrect though.  Under the Prices section you stated  "Well, the Big Green Egg company doesn’t actually sell directly to the consumer, but instead to “brick and mortar” stores".  BGE does sell to the public.  I bought my XL from there.  They have a very nice store in Tucker Ga.   Very friendly and helpful folks there.

SmokinDAWG82

nolaegghead said:

Popcorn Crunch
Here's an easy treat to prepare and take to the drive-in movie. The kids will love it.

        1/2 cup butter, melted
        1/2 cup honey
        3 quarts popcorn, popped
        1 cup dry roasted insects, chopped

Blend the butter and honey together in a saucepan and heat gently. Mix the popcorn with the insects and pour the
butter-honey mixture over it. Mix well. Spread on a cookie sheet in a thin layer. Bake at 350° 10 to 15 minutes on egg with pecan wood, or until crisp. Break into bite-sized pieces.
)

So what are your favorite insects, I tried bees but unless you cook until the popcorn's almost burnt you can still get a pop from the stingers, I tried ant eggs but don't like the taste. Just wondering?

Doc_Eggerton

gte1 said:

No matter what you read in any recipe DON"T close the top and bottom vents and "dwell" till the cook is done.  I ruined some beautiful ribeyes this way.

Rule #33 - What works for you won't work for everyone.

I shut down all the vents and keep veggies warm all the time, and never have gotten a bad taste out of it.

Doc_Eggerton

Shamelessly re-posting some things I have learned:

 

Eggheads generally value results more than post count.

BGE covers are useless if you cook a lot.

The need for gaskets is debatable.

BGE lump is expensive, Royal Oak works great, Best of the West is interesting, and Cowboy is crap.

Really huge chunks of lump actually create cool spots.

Stir the lump every time before lighting.

A HiQue makes a LBGE more reliable.

A remote thermometer is necessary for low and slow, but also handy every day to keep an eye on things while working in the kitchen.

Getting distracted during warm up leads to afterburner excitement.

Egging in the rain sucks, and I should have moved onto the porch months ago.

Vegetables take longer to cook than you expected.

For every success you are going to have some failures.

Higher in the dome helps a lot of cooks, especially pizza.

Your Egg will never be as clean and as pretty after the first cook.

Burn out really works, and remember to pile everything that will take the heat into it.

The garden likes the ash and small lump pieces.

Got to have a camera.

Remember to burp the dome, remember to burp the dome, remember to burp the dome….

You need a lot of foil and PAM.

A Woo is very handy.

A wok is a great change of pace.

I like vigorous marinating.

You will eventually know the finish internal temps for all sorts of meat by memory.

The cook zone by the pool, is not necessarily the clean zone by the pool.

No one believes it, until I cook for them.

Smoked turkey thighs rule.

Charcuterie is way cool.

It is hard to cook without an adult beverage.

You can lose weight and Egg.

Improvisation does not always work, but you get better with practice.

Hot smoked salmon, crackers, cream cheese, and cucumber….mmmmmm.

You may not have liked chicken legs before, but you will now.

You don’t have to fill an XL every time, and you can push the lump to one side for indirect.

Check those bolts every once in awhile.

It does not particularly pay off to spend several grand to upgrade major kitchen appliances the month before you buy your Eggs.

If you buy a LBGE you will end up owning a LBGE AND an XL.

Don’t look at Sur la Table or Williams Sonoma if you are short on cash.

Eggheads appreciate sharing fails as much as successes.

The Egg is hot.

Remember to burp the dome, remember to burp the dome, remember to burp the dome….

Raised grid works for everything except steak.

Holy cow, Egged hot dogs are better than boiled.

The longer you let the Egg heat and stabilize, the less you time you will spend chasing the temp.

Don’t believe everything you read on the forum.

What works for you won’t work for everyone.

It is worth your time to tolerate a strong personality in order to score a good recipe.

Get a notebook and record recipes, techniques, and results, or you will have a hard time repeating them.

Once you get some experience, get out of the way of the newbies who want to share basics with even newbier Eggheads.

Criticize gently if you want to help.

Every once in awhile you have to tell someone to bugger off.

With imagination you can do things like scrambled eggs with ham and potatoes in the wok.

Sometimes the fancy way to cook something gets no better results than the simple way, and is a lot more work.

Most people on the forum want to help.  Some want to help too much.  Some don’t want to help at all.

You can score some cool accessories for cheap at Ace Hardware or Walmart.

You need a Thermapen.

Multiple Eggs are good for lots of reasons.

 And finally….

 It is hard to find a spot to store 50 more bags of lump, without your wife realizing you already had 75 bags.

Little Steven

Brilliant Doc! Only thing I would add is if someone helps you with a recipe, method or question thank them.

Doc_Eggerton

Skiddy added this one to the original list, which was my favorite addition:

If I may suggest two additional items for your list - 

1. The best way to control the temperature is with the lower slide vent. 

2. The best way to control the temperature is with the daisy wheel top.

IsCornell

Great advice.  As a fellow BGE Virgin, Love the comments.  Still not sure about the insect popcorn though.....Thanks for sharing!

nolaegghead

IsCornell said:

Great advice.  As a fellow BGE Virgin, Love the comments.  Still not sure about the insect popcorn though.....Thanks for sharing!

I dug that up on the web.  Real recipe.  Would I make it?  Maybe.   Would I eat it?  Helllll no!

Eric_Hess

With regards to flashbacks I bought a pair of Steve Raichlen gloves and they are pretty much the "Bees-Knees".

Amazon.com: Steven Raichlen Best of Barbecue Extra Long Suede ...

burr_baby33

Try not to over think it. Get a thermapen and start cooking.

grillking

I think Doc covered it all, well just about all. Best advise is trial and error, you will learn your temps and when to cook raised or not raised. Indirect or direct. Bottom line is have fun and experiment, so many things you can do with your egg.