Having 2nd thoughts.

blasting

@mjk412  

Hopefully you can shake it off and enjoy the ride.  It sounds like your dealing with head trash.  Shake it off friend.

These guys can help you with your cooks.  Have fun.

EDIT - just wanted to add, I'm cooking on a weber gasser - saving for my first egg.  This forum has helped me up my cooking game to the point I'm pretty proud of what I put out.  Trust in the forum.

ChillyWillis

We're the burgers thicker, or were they 'fast food' style thinner patties?  With thicker patties I'll cook indirect but at a lower temp like 250-300 then sear when they get close to the desired finished temp. For thin ones I cook direct with the dome open the entire time and the bottom vent shut to about 1/2 an inch. 

SMITTYtheSMOKER

I would say you need to stick it out a while or you will simply take a bath on the original cost vs resale.  Overcooking food (drying out) is not the fault of the cooker.  Buy yourself a Thermapen and learn to use it.  My 2¢

mjk412

ChillyWillis said:

We're the burgers thicker, or were they 'fast food' style thinner patties?  With thicker patties I'll cook indirect but at a lower temp like 250-300 then sear when they get close to the desired finished temp. For thin ones I cook direct with the dome open the entire time and the bottom vent shut to about 1/2 an inch. 

I used 80% lean ground beef. I normally use ground chuck mixed with ground sirloin. They were not really think, but not too thin. 

swordsmn

First thing I ever cooked great on the egg was baby back ribs.  I have raised two kids but never cooked even a steak decent.  Things didn't start well with egg either; I had temp control issues I'd get it too hot before closing all vents wayyy down and the ceramic stayed hot

then I learned to really close the bottom to a finger width before I approached 200 and closed the top to a sliver and voila. I could hold 200-250 !  Yea

once I got it to where I could hold low/slow temps I did ribs using a recipe I found here.
and then ( in Borat voice) I AM AMERICAN BBQ HERO.   

my daughter and son in law got an egg. ( yes a gift from us - ha. Have buyers remorse from ONE egg, try outfitting ur kid with one. Lol). My son in law turns out to be a pulled pork prodigy.   He just made 3 this weekend. We got one, his boss paid him to make his mother one and they kept one... Best gift we ever gave.

keep reading, spend a Saturday learning temp control and you'll really start loving it.

yes I ultimately bought a cyber q and I sit in the house and grin as I now watch on my iPad my stable 225 temp stay there for 5-6 hr ribs  but  I like the manual method too... Just catch it on the way up and risk closing it too much to  to get the temps to stay at 200, 250 or whatever u need.  It can definitely be done and it's worth building 1-3 fires just to learn that.   Btw. Light in 1 spot only in middle , close lid after it catches then watch dome... when it starts to get within 75 or 90 degrees really close those vents..  Read /search temperature  control on here for better help.   Once you get that. You got it made

mjk412

swordsmn said:

First thing I ever cooked great on the egg was baby back ribs.  I have raised two kids but never cooked even a steak decent.  Things didn't start well with egg either; I had temp control issues I'd get it too hot before closing all vents wayyy down and the ceramic stayed hot

then I learned to really close the bottom to a finger width before I approached 200 and closed the top to a sliver and voila. I could hold 200-250 !  Yea

once I got it to where I could hold low/slow temps I did ribs using a recipe I found here.
and then ( in Borat voice) I AM AMERICAN BBQ HERO.   

my daughter and son in law got an egg. ( yes a gift from us - ha. Have buyers remorse from ONE egg, try outfitting ur kid with one. Lol). My son in law turns out to be a pulled pork prodigy.   He just made 3 this weekend. We got one, his boss paid him to make his mother one and they kept one... Best gift we ever gave.

keep reading, spend a Saturday learning temp control and you'll really start loving it.

yes I ultimately bought a cyber q and I sit in the house and grin as I now watch on my iPad my stable 225 temp stay there for 5-6 hr ribs  but  I like the manual method too... Just catch it on the way up and risk closing it too much to  to get the temps to stay at 200, 250 or whatever u need.  It can definitely be done and it's worth building 1-3 fires just to learn that.   Btw. Light in 1 spot only in middle , close lid after it catches then watch dome... when it starts to get within 75 or 90 degrees really close those vents..  Read /search temperature  control on here for better help.   Once you get that. You got it made

Wow!  Thanks for the tip!   I'll def try that. 

swordsmn

My finger width suggestion might be too aggressive, but the idea of clamping the vents well ahead of target is correct.  Experiment  and by all means search temperature control here.  I am far too new to be an oracle like some of these folks.. I barely have my man card grill endorsement and I'm 59!  Lol

NoobZero

I got my egg 5 months ago. Before that, I had never cooked much more than hot dogs or hamburgers. To date, I've done ribs, steaks, chops, butts, and salmon. I can say with certainty, there is a learning curve. This site is a treasure trove of info, and it's really easy to get help here if you need it. Give it some time, and come here often for info. Heck, I use the search function all the time when I'm getting ready to try something new. There are so many ways to cook something. Just choose a course and go for it!

swordsmn

Dman I now re-read your earlier post that temp control wasn't the issue.. Sorry.  
Meh  you obviously we're somewhat disenchanted with the wsm/kettle or the egg cult just threw u into a van and took u to the store...  I think you'll get past the remorse.  Heck I'm spent the bloody egg cost on that Cyber Q and the adjustable rig outfitting from ceramic grill store.   I like mucking with they toys almost as much as the food... Almost :-)  

texaswig

Ride it out. You'll be fine. If you can cook good on a wsm. You'll be a chef with a bge in no time. 

grege345

dont forget to update this post a few months from now

gdenby

I had my 2nd thoughts before buying my 1st Egg. Spent about 18 months, thinking and re-thinking the matter.

Once I got the Egg, my cooking improved rapidly, and I regretted waiting so long. Here was my logic before the purchase.

I wanted to cook ribs that were close to as good as from the best place in town. I tried for years with a variety of charcoal grills. Never got very close. The best I had was a bullet smoker, which produced OK food, but was fairly hard to use. I read and I read, and it seemed that I needed a different style of cooker, probably an off-set stick burner.

There used to be guys who made them and sell them cheap in town, but I couldn't find any. The commercially produced models that had a good reputation were all as much as an Egg. I read around about the qualities of ceramic cookers.

Great fuel economy, tho' lump was a little hard to find at the time.

Can be used year-round, in all weather. Thunderstorms, blizzards, not a problem for the cooker.

Extremely durable. Likely to last decades with minor care. And the Egg's warranty on the ceramics means that the rare defective casting is replaced.

Precise temperature control over a wide range of temperatures, allowing many more things to be prepared.

The only down side for me was the learning curve. I had to forget most of what I had done using metal cookers. I fussed too much w. temp control. Took me about 6 mo.s to get the hang of it. After that, I finally reached the point where we stopped buying 'Q, cause I could make it as good or better than most of what was in the area. In the long run, the price was justified by the cost of the meals that we didn't pay to restaurants.

Hotch

@mjk412 You haven't said but do you have a thermapen? It is your best defense against over cooking.

If what you grill, chicken breasts, burgers and such, is coming off dry you may be over temp on the egg and on your protein. Check the temp of the protein and remember it will keep rising it temp when you take it off the Egg.

I was the worst at over cooking many years ago when I first started.

Do a little research and ask away before your next cook. We will be glad to help you get it done.

Sundown

For heaves sake you guy!! Someone figure out where this guy lives and visit him/invite him over and help him out!!

It's as much you obligation as it is your duty as an Egghead to do this.

UrbanForestTurnings

Just wait until winter And do a low and slow butt on it. You will see how the Egg is worth the money you spent on it. 

fishlessman

well you have been using two of the best back yard cookers out there, it makes the transition to the egg easy but it took me time to get things like chicken and burgers off the egg better than my old kettle grill. the kettle grill is almost like cooking on an open pit compared to the extremely low air flow in the egg, i found i had to really fine tune my temps with chicken. thighs at 275, wings at 300, breasts at 325/350, took me about a year learning what works best for me with chicken parts and with my kettle there was just one rusted in setting for chicken parts. the biggest improvement for me was beef, steaks, roasts. and the ease of overnighters with butt and brisket, dont buy a temp controller if your coming off a wsm, its not needed. then theres the lump savings and for me the use of the egg in the winter where the wsm just couldnt keep up. i wont go back

Fred19Flintstone

@Sundown - Brilliant idea!  @mjk412 where are you?

henapple

Seems to me that the op is merely having buyers remorse. He sounded happy with his meals.
The main to me about the egg is versatility. If you are going to a gas grill, a good one will cost as much or more than the egg.

Fred19Flintstone

henapple said:

Seems to me that the op is merely having buyers remorse. He sounded happy with his meals.
The main to me about the egg is versatility. If you are going to a gas grill, a good one will cost as much or more than the egg.

Just trying to get free beer if he's in Michigan.

aukerns08

I was lucky that my Dad gave me my first Egg, a large, for Christmas one year so I never had buyers remorse with that Egg.  The large is great but was a little too much for just the 2 of us on week night cooks so I pulled the trigger on a Mini.  Within a few weeks of having the Mini I wasn't using it that much and my wife told me she was pregnant so buyers remorse kicked in for a week or so.  After that week or so we started cooking more and grilling more to save money from going out and now I'm wearing that Mini out during the week so buyers remorse went away really quickly.  The more you use it the more likely that remorse goes away.

Acn

henapple said:

Seems to me that the op is merely having buyers remorse. He sounded happy with his meals.
The main to me about the egg is versatility. If you are going to a gas grill, a good one will cost as much or more than the egg.

I agree with this; at the risk of branding myself a heretic around these parts, the egg doesn't do everything better - a lot of times there are better tools for individual cooks.  The egg's greatest skill is being good to very good at almost everything.  

For me the real turning point was over the summer and not having to take homemade bread, skillet chocolate chip cookies, cornbread, braises, roast chicken, etc out of our meal routine.  We might not want to crank the oven up to 450 for a roast chicken, or 325 for a few hours for braised short ribs, but if it is outside on the egg, no problem.

BYS1981

You mention your wife looked at you like you were crazy about cooking a meatloaf on the egg. .don't get crazy, the egg isn't always the best cooking vessel. 

theyolksonyou

BYS1981 said:

You mention your wife looked at you like you were crazy about cooking a meatloaf on the egg. .don't get crazy, the egg isn't always the best cooking vessel. 

But meatloaf on the egg rocks. 

Skiddymarker

Boneless skinless chicken breast is a tough cook on anything, turn it into souvlaki and it is excellent. As noted above, do the whole chicken, spatchcocked. 
I agree with @Jstroke the egg is much easier than a kettle or a WSM, give it a chance and you will never look back. For open pit grilling, I still like my kettle, the grandkids can all gather round it and no one has to look at the dome!

BYS1981

@theyolksonyou I'm not saying it doesn't, and I  get @Acn's point. . I meant you won't see me cooking fettuccine alfredo on my egg just because it's possible to do so. 

pgprescott

mjk412 said:

pgprescott said:

I hate to say this but to dry out food on the egg is more difficult than one might think. Maybe wrong temp and time issue. The cooking vessel is ceramic and it is ultra efficient with air flow. These two factors alone give you exponentially more moisture than other cooking vessels. 

I cooked the burgers indirect at 500 or so dome temp. And the chicken I cooked at 350 dome temp. 

Well, should be fine based on that info. You could cook the burgers at a lower temp, but surely isn't the issue IMO. Stick it out. 

fishlessman

BYS1981 said:

@theyolksonyou I'm not saying it doesn't, and I  get @Acn's point. . I meant you won't see me cooking fettuccine alfredo on my egg just because it's possible to do so. 

try smoking just the cooked elbow noodles and make a chili mac casserole finished in the oven, surprisingly good smoke the noodles in a spaghetti strainer

SmokeyPitt

WeberWho? said:

Give it 6 months.  At this point it's worth just as much as it will be in 6 months 2nd hand so you might as well put it to good use and learn what you can before losing out selling it

All great points so far but I think this one nails it.  A 6 month old used egg will go for the same price as a 1 month old used egg so there is no hurry to sell it now.  You are going to loose some money so in the long run I think you will feel better about the whole thing if you give it some time to get over the learning curve.  

Like others said try a whole chicken on the egg or bone in skin on split chicken breasts if the wife prefers white meat.  

SmyrnaGA

My first Egg (Large) was a gift from SWMBO.  I use to have a gasser with a house hookup before we moved and I rarely used it.  SHE had buyer's remorse since I never used it the first year.  That next summer, she suggested I cook up some turkey burgers and they turned out to be hockey pucks.  She stopped trying to get me cooking on the egg after that...

On the THIRD year of owning the egg, I found this forum and wanted to try making a pork butt since EVERYONE was talking about it.  Spend that first night fighting the vents.  Had fluctuations of 190 to 300 most of the night.  Had a "what am I doing?" moment at 5am...  Somehow, when 195 hit the next morning, the thing tasted AWESOME!  Then I started trying other stuff people tried on this forum.  Like others have said, the thermapen solved most of my overcooked chicken & burger problems.  I would even go as far to say if I had to do it all over again and have a choice of either the LGE or thermapen, I'll choose the thermapen!

This is year 5 and I finally tried my first brisket 3 days ago.  My family and in-laws said it tasted great, but, they're family...  These are the same folks that ate my hockey pucks with no complaints!  It's when they wanted to take some home and the sound of the Tupperware openning in the kitchen by SWMBO (stealing pieces of burnt ends!), I knew they liked it...

BigWader

I agree with others that you need to start cooking with a thermometer for everything AND you need a way to raise the cooking height.  Burgers and BS Chicken Breasts are shoe leather if they are even slightly overcooked.  With the egg, if you don't have a way to raise the grill you are blasting very hot coals right at the surface of your meat.  By the time you get the internal temp the exterior is overdone.

If you don't have a raised grid set up (lots of options that don't cost much $$$) you should try chicken and burgers indirect until almost done and then "sear" the outside for colour.

Also, as said before - really watch the colour/aroma of the smoke.  That BGE free bag of charcoal hurts more new eggers than anything else.  You need a neutral smoke and that comes easiest from a neutral lump.