The BGE taste? too smokey?

GrateEggspectations

Without knowing about your lighting procedure, I'm going to hazard a guess that you're putting your food on too soon after lighting, before the acrid white smoke has cleared. 

In in my personal experience, these are the only conditions under which I have experienced a harsh smokey flavour. When I have baked pies, brownies, etc. on the Egg, the smoke is generally imperceptible provided I have allowed the white smoke to clear prior to cooking.

J-dubya

jeff9360 said:

Thanks for all the responses.  I usually use either BGE lump or this brand called Wicked Good Charcoal.  

Going to try a clean burn.....

I like both, but they are smokey IMHO. Try rockwood it's super neutral.  Smell the smoke before you put the food on. 

tacomeat

I had this problem until last night! My wife rolled her eyes when I said we were making chicken on the Egg. She told the kids to get ready for cereal.

Here's the solution: Like many here say, let the coals burn longer than you think you need to. I listened to the people here who said leave it open to burn for 10 min. to burn off the lighting cube. I used LESS than a full box of coal, some was left over and I added a bit of new. Then closed and set temp. Then, I let it burn at temp for another 20 and then I put my hand over the top vent for a few seconds and smelled my hand. At first I still smelled the VOCs, but a few minutes later, I didn't. THEN I took more advice. I stirred the coals around to get a more even burn going. Only then did I add the spatchcock chicken. Left it for 45 at 300, flipped it, cooked another 30. Pulled it. Let it cool. And the fam raved about the taste. My wife asked for seconds. I couldn't believe it. Mission accomplished.

Moral of the story: there's a lot to it, but the main goal is what everyone says. Let the VOCs burn off before you cook. Everything I did was aimed at getting rid of that before starting to cook.

PS...I used Fogo lump.

bicktrav

The first time I cooked on the egg I got some terrible smoke flavor because I didn't burn the VOCs off completely. But that was the only time I had it. In fact, nowadays I wish I had a touch more smoke flavor on my BGE cooks (but then I love smoke).

First, switch lump brands. I like Rockwood, like so many others on this forum. It burns very clean.

Second, be sure you've got enough oxygen. Don't overshoot your temp and then close the vents to try to bring it back down. That's a recipe for ashy flavor.

Third, start your coals properly. There are a million ways to do it, but my favorite it the standard chimney starter. Fill up a chimney, then throw an oil soaked paper toil underneath and light. Come back in ten minute. The whole chimney should be well lit, and the coals should have a white-ish ashy covering. Dump the stuff into the firebox and let it burn for another few minutes with the dome open (this step isn't totally necessary, but since you're trying to avoid smoke flavor, it will ensure that you've burned off all the VOCs). Adjust the vents to achieve your temperature, being careful not to overshoot.