new egg owner, mmx, at bottom of the learning curve

helloegg

Hi Everyone,
Im a new owner of a mmx, and I have no grilling/bbq/smoking exoerience
I am sure my questions will sound really silly but I want to say what Ive done so far, and ask about things I don't understand

My first cook I filled the firebox with BGE charcoal, used one starter square, and then got temp up to about 300, where I cooked salmon, cook was a long time (BGE recipe site, 20 minutes) but it came out very nicely, moist and flavorful

Second cook, I added few replacement pieces of charcoal, used two squares of starter, and got temp about 300, and cooked simple burgers with Worcester, salt and pepper

Third cook, I just got to 300 and let it go for a while  with no food- they said first few cooks shouldn't be too hot, so now I guess my gasket should be cured

Many questions have come up!
So, after you light it.....my coals don't look anything like Trex glowing lava picture. When they seem to be burning well,  I closed dome, and left open bottom vent and top cover. Then when things heated up I adjusted the opening-what I thought wasn't that much-about half on bottom and top slider-temp fell drastically and it began smoking a lot!!!!!-the most smoke today-? why is that? does leftover coal possibly with grease make it worse? I am not trying to smoke but to cook, not sure what determined smokiness, or how you get the Lava look

What is volcano mode? 

I am planning to try to cook steak in a few days, haven't yet chosen

Can someone explain to me about the smokiness, how the coals should look, etc? Should they look lava like for just the hottest sears? How should they look for say 400? 

Keep in mind I am not experienced at grilling with any device-gas or charcoal

Thanks in advance to anyone who answers, from Helloegg

TEXASBGE2018

Welcome! You needed to leave the top vent open. Look at it this way. The bottom vent is for major temp control. The top vent is for small tweaking. When you closed both the top and bottom vent half way you started choking the fire of oxygen. Thus the smoke.

All the coals will glow red but only at very high temps (500-600+) at 300-400 they will be mixed. Small parts lit while the rest will be un touched.

Next time leave the dome of the egg open till you get a well established fire. About half the coals lit. They won't ash over as much like you may have seen a grill that used Kingsford charcoal. Once its established and that should take about 10-15min then you can close the dome. Leave the bottom vent fully open for grilling and adjust the top vent as needed. For a steak I like to cook them at between 500-600. I would advise you also calibrate your dome thermometer. You can find videos of how to do this on youtube. Also, if you are new I would advise you look at getting an instant read thermometer for your food. Lots of folks myself included would recommend a Thermopen. But you could also look at a Javelin Pro. 

helloegg

thank you!

bradleya123

Welcome Aboard!!

johnmitchell

Welcome and have fun..Stock the fridge with plenty adult beverages !!

jtcBoynton

Welcome. 

Many questions have come up!
So, after you light it.....my coals don't look anything like Trex glowing lava picture. When they seem to be burning well,  I closed dome, and left open bottom vent and top cover. Then when things heated up I adjusted the opening-what I thought wasn't that much-about half on bottom and top slider-temp fell drastically and it began smoking a lot!!!!!-the most smoke today-? why is that? does leftover coal possibly with grease make it worse? I am not trying to smoke but to cook, not sure what determined smokiness, or how you get the Lava look?  What is volcano mode? 

Not sure exactly what "lava look" or "volcano mode" are.  Those are not terms I have seen used around here.  Temp is what is of concern - I don't really pay attention to how the lump looks as long as it is producing the right amount of heat.  Maybe something like this is what you are referring to?

That is a HOT fire. Good for searing a steak. Never actually measured the temp. The amount of lump burning determines the heat being produced. Airflow controls the amount of lump burning.  Open up the vents all the way and the temp will go crazy high.

The smoke was caused by choking the airflow. You had lump burning but when you closed down the vents there was not enough air to sustain the fire at the burn rate. With the lower air flow some of the fire started to smolder instead of burning.  Always remember that smoke is a complex thing - there is good smoke and bad smoke. Good smoke smells and tastes wonderful and is what makes great bbq.  Bad smoke makes your food taste like an ashtray. There have been numerous discussions about the properties of smoke and how to get good smoke on an egg.  Its a subject worth searching for.

Yes burning grease left on the lump from previous cooks produces bad tasting smoke.

I would also suggest you check out this website:
http://amazingribs.com/index.html
Lots of solid information on bbq and outdoor cooking.  Not just recipes but good explanations.

Theophan

First, WELCOME!!!  You made a great purchase, and I'm sure you will continue to love grilling and smoking on your BGE for many years.

Second, be aware that different people find different things work for them, and the bottom line is what YOU find works best for you.  I always adjust both the top and bottom vents for cooks below 400°, for example, and only have the top vent wide open (or off) when I'm grilling hot and fast, but I have no doubt that great results can also be gotten by leaving the top vent open as someone recommended above.  See what works for you.

About what the coals should look like:  

• For an indirect cook (with the plate setter / "Conveggtor"), I start a fire in the center, maybe a little bit closer to the front, and I don't care what the coals look like, I only look at the temperature.  Or maybe if I'm cooking once piece of something in the center, I'd do the same thing.
• If I'm grilling several things, on the other hand, and I want the same heat across the whole cooking surface, then I light the coals in 3 or 4 places and I let the fire burn long enough that I can see I have good goals going all across the surface of the charcoal.

And you said you're planning to cook a steak.  For me, I use two different methods depending on the thickness:

• For steaks 1" or less thick, I grill them hot and fast (around 500-550°) and flip them every minute or two till they're done the way I want them.
• For nice, thick steaks 1 1/2" or more, I "reverse sear," which means a two stage cook:

1. Cook them low-and-slow around 250° (and I like to have some hickory smoke when I do this) till they're almost where I want them (for me, around 120° internal), then take them out of the Egg and put them on a plate.
2. Open the top and bottom vents wide, let the fire get up to 600°-650°, and then put the steaks back in to sear for only about 1 minute a side.

However, @Austin Egghead recently posted a cook where she cooked what looked like a nice, thick steak over a hot fire with frequent flipping and got a great edge-to-edge medium-rare, so maybe the reverse sear isn't necessary.  Again, try a few different things and see what you like best!

And one more suggestion:  Some people here will try to convince you that you need to buy a million accessories.  Do so only if you enjoy having a million accessories.  But the one accessory most everyone here agrees on is a really, really good instant-read thermometer.  Most of us seem to use the Thermapen (Google it).  They're expensive, but MAN are they worth it!  Some others have used some other brands that are a bit less expensive but they say they're as good.  Maybe search for this as well.  I know that some, anyway, of the cheaper so-called "instant read" thermometers are much slower than the Thermapen, and it makes a bigger difference than you might suppose truly getting an almost instant read on the internal temp of a piece of meat, chicken, etc..  It can make all the difference between a dry, chewy thing you don't want to eat and a moist, tender delight.

YEMTrey

Great information provided, just wanted to say Welcome Aboard and have fun!

fishlessman

for lava, bottom vent fully open, top vent off the egg sitting on the ground. with time it will hit 1200 F.   you want to catch your cooking temp as it heats up,  catching the temp on the way down is harder to do as the fire is now bigger with more coals lit.  if you havent read about flashbacks in an egg you may want to look that up before your next cook

ColtsFan

fishlessman said:

for lava, bottom vent fully open, top vent off the egg sitting on the ground. with time it will hit 1200 F.   you want to catch your cooking temp as it heats up,  catching the temp on the way down is harder to do as the fire is now bigger with more coals lit.  if you havent read about flashbacks in an egg you may want to look that up before your next cook

Eyebrows are overrated

marysvilleksegghead

Welcome to the forum
Where are you from?

caliking

Tons of good advice already given, so all I have to say is... Welcome!!

The tip re: getting a quality thermometer is worth it’s weight in gold. The Javelin Pro is a solid option. 

Discount code EGGHEAD should still be valid.