I am VERY new and would like some tips and easier recipes to smoke

BigBlackV

Hi all my name is Jay and I picked up a BGE a couple weeks back. I have grilled burgers, steaks and chicken on it but I have not smoked anything just yet. I got it used and it came with a nest and a plate setter (3 years old for $550). I am a little nervous about screwing up a nice expensive piece of meat so I want to start off with smoking something smaller and not as expensive. 

A guy I know who has an egg told me to get ET733 thermometer and I am using the royal oak charcoal however I do not have the thermometer just yet. 

What do you suggest I smoke for the first time? What recipe do you think I should use? What rubs and ingredients should I pick up? 


I am a noob so please be kind and if this is in the wrong section mods please move it. 



Jay 


p.s. my user name is car related so get your mind out of the gutter!   (Cadillac CTS-V)

BizGreenEgg

Do with a pork butt. They are cheap and very forgiving.  No thermometer needed really.  Put some rub on it, throw it in the egg with some smoking wood (apple, cherry, hickory) anywhere from 250-300 (350 if you want to turbo).  Should take anywhere from 1-1.5 hrs per lb.  If it's bone in, it's done when the bone pulls out easily.  If it's boneless, it's done when it probes through like butter.

jabam

Try a meat loaf, one of my favorite things on the egg. I use several different recipes. That's what's fun about meatloaf, so many different things you can do

A simple meatloaf recipe I use is;

1lb ground beef
1lb ground pork sausage
2 eggs
3/4 sleeve ritz crackers
1/2 medium red onion chopped
1/2 green bell pepper chopped
salt and pepper 

mix all all ingrediants together and form loaf
dust with favorite Bbq rub 

throw on indirect at 400 for about 45 min to an hour. I go until internal temp is 155

baste with sauce about 30 min in if you like sauce

westernbbq

Bone in pork shoulder.  All the way.  1.5 hr per lb, indirect at 210-220F.   Dry rub salt and pepper. Drip pan with dark beer in it.   It is dome when the bone pulls out clean.  Almost impossible to screw up and the results make you look like a bbq rock star

BigBlackV

I have a local meat shop one town over and I have some apple and hickory chunks that I got from home depot with the charcoal. Do you suggest I soak the chunks? 

What kind of rub do you suggest? 

ChillyWillis

No need to soak your smoke wood, just mix 3-4 chunks in with the lump and let her rip. 

For or rub you can mix a batch of your own or go store bought. Dizzy Pig is one of the favorites around these parts but many will recommend others as well. 

BizGreenEgg

BigBlackV said:

I have a local meat shop one town over and I have some apple and hickory chunks that I got from home depot with the charcoal. Do you suggest I soak the chunks? 

What kind of rub do you suggest? 

No need to soak chunks.  Throw a few fist sized ones in or mix throughout the lump.  I usually make my own rub, but have also used some Bad Byrons with success.  Meat Church Honey Hog is also good.  I'm sure other can chime in with dozens of rub suggestions.

bluebird66

Welcome!

bodski

Welcome to the club and +1 on the pork butt/shoulder.

BigBlackV

Ok guys my local butcher said its like $1.09LB for bone in and $2.29LB for boneless so I will get a bone in as I hear you do not have to tie it up. I will look for rubs that they have and look for the dizzy pig as that is what a friend uses also. 

The drip pan that I put beer in just a regular aluminum cheapo will work on top of the plate setter? The beer should be easy since I am a HUGE craft beer guy! 

bodski

I just use a cheapie disposable. I'm a craft beer guy too, so I usually use the other stuff that people bring over before they switch over to my beer...

jtcBoynton

@BigBlackV  Welcome.  I agree that a good starting point for smoking is pork butt/pork shoulder/Boston Butt/Pork Collar (or one of many other names).  They are very tasty and very forgiving on how they are cooked.  Do not get hung up details on how to cook them.  You will see many differing ways to cook them - all work fine, just subtle differences in results that you don't need to worry about now.  They are inexpensive ($1.15 per pound around here).  Try to get a full size one, bone-in if possible (7-10 pounds).

Try to keep the cook simple for now, you can always add more complexity later.  Cook it indirect anywhere between 225º to 350º (my favorite temp is 280º). Salt is all you need, but there are many rubs that will enhance the flavor. Try Meathead's Memphis Dust Rub Recipe -  http://amazingribs.com/recipes/rubs_pastes_marinades_and_brines/meatheads_memphis_dust.html

A few wood chunks are fine (too many will ruin a cook so take it easy and build up as you want in subsequent cooks) (soaking is not needed).  A drip pan can be used, but not all use them (no need for liquid in it).  Cook until the bone pulls loose or the meat probes like butter (this is normally just above 200º, but some will pull nicely at lower temps). Use temps as a guide, but make the final determination by feel.  

As for cooking time, there is a good amount of variability between individual pieces so take all times as rough.  Try to finish early - it easier to hold a finished butt than it is to speed one up.

225º:  2 hours a pound

250º: 1.5 hours a pound

280º:  1 hour per pound

350º:  45 mins per pound

I prefer cooking at 280º, not because of final results are better, but because the timing is convenient.  Get up in the morning, light the egg and let it start to warm up, have breakfast, coffee and read the paper, and then put the butt on the egg.  It will cook all day and be ready for dinner.  

BigBlackV

Wow a lot of good info and fast responses, thank you everyone! 

What is the purpose of the drip pan so the setter doesnt get all crappy? Do you guys use mustard like I have seen used on brisket to get the rub to stick or just put the rub on dry? 

Going to the butcher after work today to pick-up a nice piece of ass! 

bgebrent

Welcome aboard!

theyolksonyou

Can't taste the mustard, it's not even necessary. Just rub it down. 

The drip pan (elevated) keeps the grease from burning and stinking up your meat with acrid smoke. A butt makes a lot of grease. 

jtcBoynton

BigBlackV said:

Wow a lot of good info and fast responses, thank you everyone! 

What is the purpose of the drip pan so the setter doesnt get all crappy? Do you guys use mustard like I have seen used on brisket to get the rub to stick or just put the rub on dry? 

Going to the butcher after work today to pick-up a nice piece of ass! 

Don't waste good craft beer in a drip pan - that's a sin!  The main purpose for liquid in the drip pan is to be a heat sink. Drip pans keep the plate setter from getting all crappy as you said. They also help keep the drippings from burning - not a flavor that some want.  There should be an air gap between the plate setter and the drip pan (use most anything for this - I use an old cake cooling rack).  Mustard is just a binding agent to help the rub stick to the meat (you will not taste the mustard after cooking).  Mustard, oil, water, or nothing work fine.  Actually, pork butt is from the other end of the pig! If you want a piece of it, you need to ham it up!

BigBlackV

I have very good craft beers and I will not waste a good one trust me but I will use a cheap stout in the pan and add that cooling rack for that air gap thank you for that information! 

I told my wife we were having smoked pork butt Sunday for dinner and she started to laugh and say no thank. My reply was ok well then you will starve LOL. She will eat it and like it! 

lousubcap

One thing with the water/beer drip pan-as mentioned above, the liquid is a heat-sink keeping your temperature suppressed  until all the liquid evaporates.  If that happens your BGE temperature will rise to the natural (non-water) vent settings.  Just don't be surprised if that happens.  FWIW

Raymont

Make sure you elevate your drip pan (w/beer) from the platesetter. I use bottle caps. If you don't elevate, the beer (and drippings) will burn.

BigBlackV

lousubcap said:

One thing with the water/beer drip pan-as mentioned above, the liquid is a heat-sink keeping your temperature suppressed  until all the liquid evaporates.  If that happens your BGE temperature will rise to the natural (non-water) vent settings.  Just don't be surprised if that happens.  FWIW

What do you suggest I do to prevent this from happening...? 

theyolksonyou

BigBlackV said:

lousubcap said:

One thing with the water/beer drip pan-as mentioned above, the liquid is a heat-sink keeping your temperature suppressed  until all the liquid evaporates.  If that happens your BGE temperature will rise to the natural (non-water) vent settings.  Just don't be surprised if that happens.  FWIW

What do you suggest I do to prevent this from happening...? 

Leave out the liquid. Otherwise stay vigilant and adjust as needed. 

BizGreenEgg

BigBlackV said:

lousubcap said:

One thing with the water/beer drip pan-as mentioned above, the liquid is a heat-sink keeping your temperature suppressed  until all the liquid evaporates.  If that happens your BGE temperature will rise to the natural (non-water) vent settings.  Just don't be surprised if that happens.  FWIW

What do you suggest I do to prevent this from happening...? 

I personally wouldn't waste beer.  Any beer.  It's not necessary on a butt.  And there's some thought that the additional moisture present in the egg while the beer evaporates can affect the smoke binding to the meat.  The drip pan is just there to catch drippings.  Get a cheap foil one and put a couple balls of foil underneath to keep it from being in direct contact with your PS.

BigWader

BigBlackV said:

lousubcap said:

One thing with the water/beer drip pan-as mentioned above, the liquid is a heat-sink keeping your temperature suppressed  until all the liquid evaporates.  If that happens your BGE temperature will rise to the natural (non-water) vent settings.  Just don't be surprised if that happens.  FWIW

What do you suggest I do to prevent this from happening...? 

You have two options - 1) don't add liquid.  That way there is no correction to the temp, and 2) check on it and add more as needed.

FWIW - the ceramic cooker burns such a low fire to hold smoking temps the lost of moisture is low so compensating with liquid in a pan isn't really necessary (just don't keep opening the lid and letting out the moist air).  Also as someone else said - raise the drip pan from the platesetter.  You can do this with scrunched up balls of foil, bottle caps, stacks of pennies, copper tees, anything that won't burn. 

Phatchris

I'd stick with a temp around 250, IMO it's easier to maintain with little worry of the temp dropping or fire going out.

theyolksonyou

Phatchris said:

I'd stick with a temp around 250, IMO it's easier to maintain with little worry of the temp dropping or fire going out.

Or even higher. My large likes 275

BigBlackV

I WILL use a cookie cooling rack under the drip pan and I will NOT add the beer because it is my first real time smoking and I dont want to complicate things. I will try to keep the temp between 250-280 since that is what I have been reading. 

fishlessman

i would open it up to 230 to 280, this cook is easy and no need to hit the temps exact, just cook it til you can turn the bone and or it probes like butter

jtcBoynton

BigBlackV said:

I WILL use a cookie cooling rack under the drip pan and I will NOT add the beer because it is my first real time smoking and I dont want to complicate things. I will try to keep the temp between 250-280 since that is what I have been reading. 

Keep it simple for your first cook. Save the complications for later (you may find that you never will make things more complicated than necessary).  Because pork butts are so forgiving, there are many variations that people use.  I think a lot of the things some people employ are holdovers from methods used on metal smokers.  Ceramic eggs are different from metal smokers and not all the little tricks transfer from one style of cooker to another.  There are things that really help when cooking in a metal smoker that don't really add a significant benefit (if any) in an egg. They don't hurt either, so if you use them, things will turn out fine, but they don't really help.

EggPerfection

Welcome.  If it has to be a smoke, the butt is a great idea.  It does take some fiddling around to get a good feel for choking the fire into a low and slow but there's no reason that it has to be done that way.  I love recommending a pork tenderloin but that's not a smoke.  It is cheap and forgiving and you really can tell the difference from it Egged vs. a gasser.  It's a great test drive.

cook861

Welcome don't forget to take pictures or didn't happened

Zmokin

jabam said:

Try a meat loaf, one of my favorite things on the egg. I use several different recipes. That's what's fun about meatloaf, so many different things you can do

A simple meatloaf recipe I use is;

1lb ground beef
1lb ground pork sausage
2 eggs
3/4 sleeve ritz crackers
1/2 medium red onion chopped
1/2 green bell pepper chopped
salt and pepper 

mix all all ingrediants together and form loaf
dust with favorite Bbq rub 

throw on indirect at 400 for about 45 min to an hour. I go until internal temp is 155

baste with sauce about 30 min in if you like sauce

you forgot to wrap it in bacon!