Newbie Question

mikewmorgan

I'm sure this is covered somewhere, but here goes.  Should I put my food on the grill as soon as I light the charcoal, or should I wait until the Egg is up to temperature before adding the food?

theyolksonyou

Welcome. No. Wait till you're up to temp and the smoke smells good. Put your hand into the smoke and smell it. If your hand stinks, bad if it smells like good smoke, cook away. 

johnkitchens

I made that mistake on my first cook. I put my meat on as soon as it got to temp, and it was awful. Do what Jason, @theyolksonyou,  said and you will be fine. 

What kind of lump are you using? 

Mattman3969

Follow the advice above!!!  So many people rush the cooking process and ruin good food.  Light the egg, have a beer,close dome, have a beer while keeping an eye on the temp and adjusting the vents once you get within 50-75° of your cooking temp, have a beer while waiting on the smoke to clear and then add food.  Depending on which lump you use you could be way drunk by the time the smoke clears. Ummmm Royal Choke might cause a speech impediment before you are cooking.  LOL

nolaegghead

I have friends that start their kamado up and let it run for hours before throwing on a low n slow.  Follow above advice. 

anton

Waiting for egg to come to temp also reads, drinking and smoking under the guise of eggwatch.

henapple

When using Royal Oak...

Wake early and light the egg...fill to felt line.
Go to work. 
Come home and eat lunch. Go back to work. 
Volunteer for overtime. 
Come home. The voc should have burned off.
Egg dinner on the 5 pieces of lump left.

lousubcap

@mikewmorgan-Welcome aboard and enjoy the journey.  Plenty of people willing to help with any questions you may have.  While you have unanimous views above (except @henapple who is in deep depression over the pending loss of OO:)), with the BGE you will usually find several different answers/approaches, and all will work.  Eggsperiment and have fun.

DaveRichardson

Get to temp and stabilize for at least 15-30 minutes.  Smell test works wonders.  You will have to plan dinner, etc out a little more due to lighting and burning off VOC's.  But it will all be worth it in the end.

nolaegghead

I'll burn about half a pound an hour at 250F with no heat load.  At $0.55/lb for the lump, that a bit over a quarter coin an hour.  If you can start it up early, do so and let the fire establish and it's a nice "incense" for the yard.

SmokeyPitt

Great advice here.  It is good that you asked this question because it is a common mistake.  Light early and let it burn for a while.  If you are in a hurry a small fan will speed things along.  Welcome!  

logchief

Welcome @mikewmorgan, I'm fairly new myself and have gotten a whole ton of super info from all the helpful folks around here.  

I really screwed up a nice tri tip the other night by not waiting long enough for the VOC to burn off.  It tasted like DOG S#!T, though I fortunately have not really found out exactly what that's like

Tinyfish

Lots of good advice. Everyone is always willing to help. All we ask in return is some pictures.