There Has To De A Better Way

U2Pilot

I've only had three cooks on the XL BGE but I'm really struggling with preparation times, what courses to put on the egg first, and how long its going to take the meat to cook. On each of the three cooks, I really worked to have things finish at about the same time. The closest I got was an 1:45 from the first food off the grill to the last. I have read and watched literally hundreds of posts, videos and recipes as to the proper way to do a cook but they seem to be all over the place in what they tell me to do. I'm afraid you good people are going to tell me that it's just all part of the adventure and don't give up. By chance though can anyone recommend a resource, that I may have overlooked? 

dougcrann

Wife's favorite question....what time will the meat be done? My standard answer...will be done when it is done...not a minute earlier. After you cook a particular thing, consistently, you will be able to take,an educated quess....as long as the thickness of whatever it is remains the same.  I am going thru this very thing...ribs on the Egg were running g about 6 hours....my Reverse Flow...well.....it is comfortable at 300*. First 6 racks 4 hours....last one...2 hours and 45 minutes...lol...
Good luck 

Sweet100s

U2Pilot said:

I'm really struggling with preparation times, what courses to put on the egg first, and how long its going to take the meat to cook. 

Great topic.  I struggle with same.  Everyone here makes it look so effortless!

Easiest solution for me has become: 

1) I don't try to Egg to a specific time.  Cook the day before and re-heat at the specific time.  An absolute favorite things about Egg'd food is that it tastes so much better than other leftovers.

I like this solution best because it allows for serendipity and minimal planning.
As a plus, I can serve guests and don't smell like Eau de Alderwood.   My thick and below shoulder-length hair is a smoke magnet, even if pulled back.

2) If I do want Egg to a specific time, I try to do ALL veggie and meat prep the day before. Both food prep and egg prep.

Day before Food prep:
- Especially remove fat and silverskin.  Removing pork tenderloin silverskin seems to take forever.  If I ever get married, I will attempt to pre-negotiate silver skin removal duties for the duration... 

Exception:  Zucchini.  Don't pre-slice zucchini the day before.  Surface gets different.

Day before Egg prep:  
Clean the egg if needed.  If no rain in next 24 hours, I pre-load it with charcoal.

Keeping the kitchen, cookware, and herbs and spices organized really helps too.

Other people can advise better on budgeting specific cook times.  I mentally budget 20 min / lb of meat at low and slow. 

I try to never plan on having time to cook something in the kitchen AND egg something at the same time if I am primary on both types of cooks.

I try to remind myself I can't keep adding things to the egg to cook :-). 
I really hate to shut down a good fire. 


Here's an example of Egging whenever I feel like it :-) . 

YukonRon

I, too researched everything available for exactly what you mentioned. Nothing. 
It took me a while to be able to prep cook and serve. I have learned to start the BGE first, while prepping most of food I want to cook.I finally got it down after about a dozen cooks or so.
i will admit, I am glad I never found that guide, because it would have limited my creativity.

Wolfpack

One question- if the closest you have had items come off grill was almost 2 hours- were you doing low and slow cooking? If so quick answer is to plan on finishing those kinds of items early and then FTC (foil, towel, cooler) until the other items are ready. It doesn't hurt the quality of the food and can actually help with moisture, etc. 

JMCXL

Had the same problem for a big Super Bowl cook, Brisket, Ribs, chili. I did the FTC for the Brisket and it worked like a charm. Recently did the FTC for a Pulled Pork that I had to travel 2 hr with. When I arrived it was still hot and ready for the Pull.
Still learning and making mistakes but loving the journey...

Robo2015

@Wolfpack when doing the FTC for a butt do you lose your bark? I don't foil when cooking a butt just because I love all that bark and I'd hate to lose it afterwards....

Mickey

@Sweet100s Question on this:"Clean the egg if needed.  If no rain in next 24 hours, I pre-load it with charcoal."
All 4 of my Eggs STAY loaded with lump (just adding some if needed at time of cook). 
In the 8 or 9 years doing this have never had a problem keeping lump in the Eggs no matter the weather. In fact the lump for my Mini and Mini-Max most of the time comes out of one of the Larges. 

Sweet100s

@Mickey good to know... 
Especially since you're here in Tejas where it gets  humid

I think I got in that habit (not loading Charcoal till day before) because I read it will spark more embers if not totally dry (?) 

lousubcap

@Robo2015 - regarding bark.  If you let the butt, brisket or any other L&S cook rest on a cooling rack for 15-20 mins before the FTC you stop the carry-over cooking and your bark will be almost (key word) as crunchy as if you went straight from BGE to table.  FWIW-

smbishop

It really is part of the adventure.  The key for me is preparing everything so that it is ready to cook.   Most of this is done while the Egg is stabilizing, maybe an hour or so. 

Then figuring out cooking times and what will work with your setup.  Of course a second Egg has really helped with all this..

Have you checked out the Ceramic Grill Store and all of there options for multiple layered cooking?  http://ceramicgrillstore.com/

DoubleEgger

I don't really have anything to add but you were a U2 pilot.... That's beyond cool. Thank you for your service to this Great Nation. 

Robo2015

lousubcap said:

@Robo2015 - regarding bark.  If you let the butt, brisket or any other L&S cook rest on a cooling rack for 15-20 mins before the FTC you stop the carry-over cooking and your bark will be almost (key word) as crunchy as if you went straight from BGE to table.  FWIW-

Wow that is huge.  Thank you @lousubcap! Guess I have some experimenting to do!

theyolksonyou

Sweet100s said:

U2Pilot said:

I'm really struggling with preparation times, what courses to put on the egg first, and how long its going to take the meat to cook. 

Great topic.  I struggle with same.  Everyone here makes it look so effortless!

Easiest solution for me has become: 

1) I don't try to Egg to a specific time.  Cook the day before and re-heat at the specific time.  An absolute favorite things about Egg'd food is that it tastes so much better than other leftovers.

I like this solution best because it allows for serendipity and minimal planning.
As a plus, I can serve guests and don't smell like Eau de Alderwood.   My thick and below shoulder-length hair is a smoke magnet, even if pulled back.

2) If I do want Egg to a specific time, I try to do ALL veggie and meat prep the day before. Both food prep and egg prep.

Day before Food prep:
- Especially remove fat and silverskin.  Removing pork tenderloin silverskin seems to take forever.  If I ever get married, I will attempt to pre-negotiate silver skin removal duties for the duration... 

Exception:  Zucchini.  Don't pre-slice zucchini the day before.  Surface gets different.

Day before Egg prep:  
Clean the egg if needed.  If no rain in next 24 hours, I pre-load it with charcoal.

Keeping the kitchen, cookware, and herbs and spices organized really helps too.

Other people can advise better on budgeting specific cook times.  I mentally budget 20 min / lb of meat at low and slow. 

I try to never plan on having time to cook something in the kitchen AND egg something at the same time if I am primary on both types of cooks.

I try to remind myself I can't keep adding things to the egg to cook :-). 
I really hate to shut down a good fire. 


Here's an example of Egging whenever I feel like it :-) . 

You're really working too hard.  This should be fun. 

lousubcap

And old but true cliche'; if you aren't havin fun, you aren't doin it right.  
All about fun, adult supervisory beverages ( time of the day be damned) and SWMBO eggscape time.  Go forth and enjoy-
And don't chase temps.  FWIW-

U2Pilot

I was hoping for the kind of advice that you folks have given here. My better half committed me for a BGE Easter dinner which has scared me to death. With the gems in this post I'm now much more comfortable. I know I'm going to make some mistakes but like has been mentioned above if I'm not having fun why am I doing this. 
I haven't figured out how to respond to an individual post yet but to DoubleEgger above your welcome. I loved my time in the U-2 and NASA's ER-2. They are phenomenal airplanes.

kl8ton

@U2Pilot
To respond to somebody's post, you can do what i just did and type the @ symbol followed by their username (no spaces).  OR you can click the "Quote link under their comment.  Either method should alert them that someone has mentioned them in a post.

GATraveller

First off - thank you for your service to our country.....it is greatly appreciated. As far as finish times - I'm looking for a ballpark time on the protein and shoot early as most low and slow cooks can be FTC for several hours.  Anything else I get the protein going and then start of the rest according to internal temp and projected finish time based on the individual cook as every one is different (to some degree).
Welcome - nice to have you around.

theyolksonyou

I can't remember if any one mentioned above , but you can buy a cheap second grid and make yourself a second tier cooking area. Use carriage bolts and washers, simply put it on cans or bricks. Then you have a place for veggies while the meat is cooking. 

Also, very cool career you had or have. 

U2Pilot

DoubleEgger said:

I don't really have anything to add but you were a U2 pilot.... That's beyond cool. Thank you for your service to this Great Nation. 

Thank you for the kind sentiment. I dearly love this country and am sadened by what is happening to it. Having said that, I'm confident she will weather the storm. God Bless America

DeltaNu1142

theyolksonyou said:

You're really working too hard.  This should be fun. 

I know this might be difficult to believe, but for some (me included), even this part is fun.

I read a great home brewing article recently. Not unlike Egging, it appeals to a lot of different people for a lot of different reasons. Some like to experiment with ingredients and additives to produce different flavors. Some like integrating the equipment and finding the most efficient way to achieve the results. And some like the aspects of planning and process. My point is... don't knock if if you happen to like the same hobby for a different reason! It takes all kinds.

@U2Pilot, I've built up a library of my low & slow cooks on my Pit Pal app, and by referencing meat type, weight, and cook temp/time, I can plan for an approximate finish time that I can peg if I play with temperatures and account for other variables like how tight the cut is, etc. For example, I've been asked to cook up a pork shoulder for Sunday afternoon sometime... and I'm going to have to FTC because the dinner is an hour away. My wife is supposed to tell me what time we're going to leave so I can pull the food off the Egg & shut down just a few minutes before we leave. I'd rather not have to FTC for an hour or more before we even get in the car, so I'll just fall back on my documented cooks so I can get as close as possible.

If I didn't have an app to do this, I'd probably just take notes in a notebook and keep it in the kitchen. I can't be expected to remember this crap.

Sweet100s

theyolksonyou said:

Sweet100s said:

U2Pilot said:

You're really working too hard.  This should be fun. 

Opposite. 

To me, scenario 1) is total fun.  

1) I don't try to Egg to a specific time.  
Total spontaneity.   My work day is full of planning, deadlines and stopwatches.  I like egging most when I don't have to be aware of the time clock.  I even love midnight egging. (almost started a topic about that once...)

To me, scenario 2) makes egging to a specific meal time lots more fun

2) If I do want Egg to a specific time, I try to do ALL veggie and meat prep the day before. 
This greatly reduces most stress. 

What IS difficult (for me) is Scenario #3:
Trying to egg to a specific time without any advance food or egg prep.   Where DO the minutes go?   Suddenly, I need to create time that doesn't exist because I couldn't or didn't start early enough.

Trader Joes has been a big help with that though.   Trader Joes pre-marinated and vacuum packed citrus Pork Tenderloins, Kansas City Tri Tip, and Burgundy Pepper leg of lamb 
1) Have Egged deliciously
2) Do not include the crap chemicals / antibiotics that other brands of pre-marinated meats  have
3) Are less expensive than equivalent from Whole Foods

PLUS they sell pre-prepped leeks that are delicious egg'd.