BBQ and Smoking for Dummies

jimfastcar

Table is built, Egg arrives Tuesday, the excitement and anticipation is reaching frenzied levels ! Along the lines of the "for Dummies" books, where is a good general reference to all things I need to know ? Examples of chapters would be: what is Brining, what does it accomplish and what are some recipes for different meats? I want to assume nothing, leave few stones unturned ......good Books and/or website please

Firemedic183

I am brand new as well, and this site has pretty much been my go to guide. Google is your friend as well. Good luck to you and welcome!!

DMurf

I like Smoke & Spice, great book, good recipes, and wonderful stories. Actually if you can cook it on a stove or in an oven then you can just about do it all on an EGG. 

bakoque

Wise One's Big Green Egg Cook Book on NakedWhiz.com is a great resource. In fact, the whole web page is a wealth of information.

gdenby

1. Learn how to keep your Egg between 250 and 300F.
2. Have a bunch of hard wood mixed w. the charcoal and let the "bad" smoke clear.
3. Use chunks of meat, the bigger the better, that have lots of connective tissue, and a good bit of fat. (Brisket, Chuck, ribs, pork shoulder)
4. Cover the meat w. S&P and some sugar at the least. Add 20 or 30 other spices and herbs as you like.
5. Cook w/o looking for at least 4 hours. After that, cook till a bit of meat can be pulled off between  thumb and forefinger.
6. If you like sauce, put some on 10 - 15 minutes before removing from Egg.

TahDah!

Then go read about 1500 pages of recipes and lore.

Get a good instant read thermometer.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

you'll find everything you need here but use google as your search. Search "big green egg____" and it will pop up on google for you.

Brining is great- lots of resources on here and google as well. 

Welcome

HogHeaven

jimfastcar said:

Table is built, Egg arrives Tuesday, the excitement and anticipation is reaching frenzied levels ! Along the lines of the "for Dummies" books, where is a good general reference to all things I need to know ? Jim... The first thing you need to do when your egg is ready to go is just fire it up and don't cook anything. Just put a temp thermometer inside on the grid, cut a spud in half and stick your probe through it, and learn to control your temps. For me 225 and 325 degrees are most important and that is at the cooking level that your meat will be at. The dome temp and the cooking level temp is 2 different things. They can and will differ by 25 to 40 degrees. The absolute best sites to learn on and get great recipes is Amazingribs.com and nekkidwhiz.com. I learned the most from Amazingribs.com for sure! The guy that owns and operates that site used to teach cooking at Cordon Bleu. He has won many grilling awards and he is a wine critic that has written many articles for food and wine. He has the science of cooking all over his sight. Check it out... You will be much more informed if you do. Now on the nekkidwhiz.com he has information about lump coal that is very detail. Then he has an article by some guy on how to setup your egg for a long, long low and slow cook. It instructs exactly how to position each piece of lump in your fire box so that you get maximum ventilation and allows you to do a 24 hour cook without putting in more lump. That article is worth it's weight in gold for a new Egger. He has great recipes too. I go to those 2 sites to learn how and why and I come to this site to see what everyone is doing. Anyway... Learn, learn, learn and your friends and family will love your cooking.

jimfastcar

Thanks

jimfastcar

Unpacked and ready for son-in-Law to help me put together, then first trial burn (empty) to play around with temperatures until I get the hang of this thing !

Eggcelsior

FYI, It's "nakedwhiz.com", not "nekkidwhiz.com"

Here is a link

jimfastcar

Fired her up for the first time an hour ago with a small load of charcoal Bottom vent is open about half and top full open, it is amazing how sensitive it is to a small change in the top vent. A small shift changing the temperature by 25 F While I had read about burping, forgot and opened it look and got a face full of steamy air ! Will learn with time Mrs Slowcar is getting into it,make home with two Portehouses, a small Pork shoulder and some Beef Ribs

Foghorn

"two Portehouses, a small Pork shoulder and some Beef Ribs"

 

That's a good start

Little Steven

If you are using smoking chips or chunks...go light on your first attempt. Little goes a long way in the egg.

henapple

alcoholics anonymous is a great go to for most eggers I know...

Cookbook_Chip

Try Ray Lampe "Dr BBQ"'s Slow Fire

The Cen-Tex Smoker

henapple said:

alcoholics anonymous is a great go to for most eggers I know...

speaking of which..........about time to light that candle.

HogHeaven

Little Steven said:

If you are using smoking chips or chunks...go light on your first attempt. Little goes a long way in the egg.

Think of smoke, how much wood you put on the fire, like you do salt. The right amount is exquisite, not quiet enough is still good, too much and It ruins a good meal!

Griffin

You can learn all you need to know on this site and with google. If you have to or just like to hold a book in your hands, Steve Raichlen's "How to Grill" would be the bbq cookbook for dummies. Tons of pictures to walk you through cooks step by step. From basic chicken breasts to pork butts and brisket.

bbqgaffer

There are 3 BBQ books I wouldn't want to be without:

Adam Perry Lang's, Serious Barbacue

Chris Lilly's, Big Bob Gibson's BBQ Book

Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby, Thrill of the Grill

Serious Barbecue

KennyLee

DMurf said:

I like Smoke & Spice, great book, good recipes, and wonderful stories. Actually if you can cook it on a stove or in an oven then you can just about do it all on an EGG. 

 

Totally agree on Smoke & Spice.

Tailwind

Yeah Smoke and Spice is a solid go-to.  The authors, Bill and Cheryl Jamison, know their stuff and won a James Beard award!   I have cooked a tone of recipes out of it and the book has a good deal of information on wood chips, charcoal, spices, etc.  I like the others highly recommend it.

jtippers

+1 for amazing ribs.com That site is a wealth of information on the science and theory behind grilling. Lots of great recipes as we'll!

Charlesmaneri

my sugestion to you is do as I did when I got my Egg I watched every youtube video on the big green egg I learned a lot just doing that and the next thing I will say is relax  and enjoy your experience because if your not enjoying Egging whats the point