All Hail the Minimax

tau_ceti

Man, I should have bought one of these earlier. I have had a large egg since 2011, had it delivered the first day we moved into our first house. I would have had it earlier, except the creepy neighbor in my duplex said the smell of charcoal from my Weber went into her apartment—well it wasn't anything like the mothballs she had her poor husband dump under our porch...while we were having dinner with friends!!! I bought a used Mini a couple of years later and it hasn't had much use. But now we are doing a lot of Japanese cooking (check out https://www.justonecookbook.com/ for our health) and are a 9 days from being empty nesters, so firing up the large is less and less common. I bought an original Minimax off FB Marketplace. Boy is it fabulous. Here's a drone shot (!) of the two sitting on my modular nest system. 



I cooked a brisket on the large and an 8 pound pork shoulder on the Minimax for a family reunion. Almost everything got eaten. And what wasn't eaten then has been my lunch this week. The Minimax is perfect for 4-5 burgers, for salmon, for pretty much anything we throw at it. I've even used it for wok cooking. I'm a foodie, I like to learn about different kinds of foods and cuisines. Woks need to be really hot and stir frying is awful for indoor air quality, so it's perfect for that. 



It lights up quick and it doesn't burn through coal fast. What a gem. I love it! I bought the Kick Ash can and basket for it. This is going to be a fun journey. 

I'd love to hear what other owners of multiple eggs use their minimax for and heck, what I can use my old Mini for. I've tried selling it here in north Jersey for a while, but no luck.  

Botch

tau_ceti said:

I have had a large egg since 2011, had it delivered the first day we moved into our first house. I would have had it earlier, except the creepy neighbor in my duplex said the smell of charcoal from my Weber went into her apartment—well it wasn't anything like the mothballs she had her poor husband dump under our porch...while we were having dinner with friends!!! 

Good grief, what city do you live in?!?  

zaphod

I've been waffling back and forth between a mini and a minimax to supplement my large. You never used your mini much - what is it about the minimax that makes you love it and use it?

Ozzie_Isaac

My medium gets the most use, I use the minimax when cooking sides or just for myself.  The MM takes a little bit of getting used to and is more finicky than my other eggs.  I have the woo from CGS and it works great.  My son used to take it down to the dorms to cook for his friends.  I also have a mini, but that was straight up bought because I liked the way it looks.  I occasionally cook a few hotdogs or a burger on the mini.  It works surprisingly well.

tau_ceti

zaphod said:

I've been waffling back and forth between a mini and a minimax to supplement my large. You never used your mini much - what is it about the minimax that makes you love it and use it?

The mini is too small to fit much. Maybe you can put two burgers on it, but not four. I’ve done a pulled pork, but it’s really tough. The Minimax has the same grid dimensions as the small. 13” vs the Mini’s 10”. That’s a critical difference. 

I do have the woo ring. 

As for city? I live in a suburb. Was renting for 6 years while waiting for the market to crash so we could buy a house back in the 2000s. A long, frustrating wait. 

Stormbringer

I'm a big fan of the MMMX. For the two of us it's the Egg that gets used the most. That includes low 'n' slow cooks, I've smoked beef ribs in it for 12 hours in the past. I mostly use the large for pizzas, pork butts, brisket and rotisserie cooks. 

I designed a custom built two level adjustable height cooking rig for the MMX that's really easy to make ... https://thecooksdigest.co.uk/2017/06/30/maxing-out-a-minimax-big-green-egg/ this gets used most cooks.

CPFC1905

Stormbringer said:

I'm a big fan of the MMMX. For the two of us it's the Egg that gets used the most. That includes low 'n' slow cooks, I've smoked beef ribs in it for 12 hours in the past. I mostly use the large for pizzas, pork butts, brisket and rotisserie cooks. 

I designed a custom built two level adjustable height cooking rig for the MMX that's really easy to make ... https://thecooksdigest.co.uk/2017/06/30/maxing-out-a-minimax-big-green-egg/ this gets used most cooks.

Follow the link and see the magic words 'four double cut pork chops'  Epic!

Florida Grillin Girl

Sorry, I love my mini. My small still gets the most use, though. 
Congrats on the empty nester thing... you will love it!

tau_ceti

Stormbringer said:

I'm a big fan of the MMMX. For the two of us it's the Egg that gets used the most. That includes low 'n' slow cooks, I've smoked beef ribs in it for 12 hours in the past. I mostly use the large for pizzas, pork butts, brisket and rotisserie cooks. 

I designed a custom built two level adjustable height cooking rig for the MMX that's really easy to make ... https://thecooksdigest.co.uk/2017/06/30/maxing-out-a-minimax-big-green-egg/ this gets used most cooks.

That's a really nice hack, Stormbringer.

tau_ceti

It's a year later, so I wanted to share some thoughts. 

The mini is going to my 22 year old daughter since she is finally living in an apartment in upstate NY this fall. She's excited about cooking with it. 

We are empty nesters during the school year and have had our 2 kids back this summer, plus our son's daughter much of the time.

We use both the minimax and the large a lot. We make a lot of "Japanese" chicken on the minimax using Bachan's sauce (some folks on these forums don't like it, but it can be good) using boneless, skin-on thighs that my wife then cuts up with scissors and we serve with rice (we make Japanese food a lot... there's less meat, but there's still meat, works for me). Yesterday we made miso-marinated pork chops. We've made lamb kebabs on the minimax. Burgers of course. I haven't been able to throw any big parties, so no opportunity for my beloved pulled pork or brisket. 

I made a big 2-pound ribeye the other day, but for that, there was no question, I wanted the large.   

I find it a bit frustrating to get the temperature right on the mini. It's easy to overshoot the temperature, but it's also easy to run out of coals fast. I have a flame boss 5000 now, which I think works better than the cyberq or digiq series, but it seems like it blows more ash up at the food, which is annoying. Coals are also tough. Ideally, I'd be able to find small pieces about 1 to 1 1/2" in size that would be large enough to not fall through the slots of the kick ash basket, but small enough to allow me to pack more of them into that shallow fire ring. BGE charcoal is all over the place. Fogo Medium seemed like the trick, until I got the bag home and found it was full of the largest pieces I had seen in my life. One was bigger than a pint beer glass! I mean hey, that's lovely coal, I'll save it, but not for this. I may resort to hand sorting in advance, great another chore. 

 

Ozzie_Isaac

For coals in the minimax, I will take partially burned coals out of my other eggs.  They are smaller and can be broken up easy and they already had any VOCs burned off so it rolls clean smoke almost immediately.

Corv

All the Rockwood charcoal bags I've received have mostly contained pretty small coals. I call them "gravel," because that's about how big they are.

lousubcap

Nothing a hammer can't fix.

JohnInCarolina

lousubcap said:

Nothing a hammer can't fix.

Is that a naval saying?

RRP

lousubcap said:

Nothing a hammer can't fix.

yup! and if you save up a bunch of those big chunks like I do then I dump them into my handy dandy lump whacker box, hit them with a hammer and then pour the small pieces back into another sack!

GrateEggspectations

RRP said:

lousubcap said:

Nothing a hammer can't fix.

yup! and if you save up a bunch of those big chunks like I do then I dump them into my handy dandy lump whacker box, hit them with a hammer and then pour the small pieces back into another sack!

Love it, Ron. Also, “handy dandy lump whacked box” may be the most Ron-nish Ron-ism I’ve ever heard. 

fishlessman

as for the mini, heres 40 drummetes and wingettes, its possible to cook more. ive done brisket point smoked pastrami overnight in a mini with one load of lump as well.

some other cooks on a mini.  you just have to think big with a mini

https://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1187833/pictures-of-your-mini/p1

fishlessman

pub pies on the mini, use taller pans and cook more vertical 

bucky925

Mine fed 4 adults a kid and a toddler Sunday.  I haven't had a gasket on it for a year, but I found one while upacking and stuck it on temporarily.

BeanHead

I have a MM and an XL both get about the same use. I like to batch cook so stuff is ready to go for future meals and that is the only reason I would take the XL over the MM if I was forced to choose one. 

BeanHead

I cook just about everything you can imagine on the MM. I bought a nonstick grill screen that I cut into a circle so small veggies and seafood will not slip through the cracks. I like it for mains and sides and for smoking smaller items like cheese and loin bacon. Also fun for parties where hot appetizers can come off as almost separate courses during the course of an event. No one has ever complained about holding the door as I bring in a bubbly pan of smoked queso. 

lousubcap

Talk about rolling in hot right there.  What a photo spread of cooks @BeanHead.  Most impressive. 

caliking

fishlessman said:

pub pies on the mini, use taller pans and cook more vertical 

Those look righteous. Coming in just as I decided that meat pies are my next endeavor. 

zaphod

the stuffed green peppers remind me that I was going to do that last summer or the one before, but somehow seem to have forgotten. thanks for the memory jog.

You have the okra raised up on rods - why not directly on the grill?

Buckwoody Egger

outstanding pics fish, bean and bucky

fishlessman

caliking said:

fishlessman said:

pub pies on the mini, use taller pans and cook more vertical 

Those look righteous. Coming in just as I decided that meat pies are my next endeavor. 

heres some ideas

sausage

 just winging it

tortiere



fiddlehead



chili



salmon with tomato dill sauce



i dont remember   could be the sausage from above



lamb sfeeha hot or cold  find a mango chutney recipe

bluebird66

BeanHead said:

I cook just about everything you can imagine on the MM. I bought a nonstick grill screen that I cut into a circle so small veggies and seafood will not slip through the cracks. I like it for mains and sides and for smoking smaller items like cheese and loin bacon. Also fun for parties where hot appetizers can come off as almost separate courses during the course of an event. No one has ever complained about holding the door as I bring in a bubbly pan of smoked queso. 

All I can say is Wow!

caliking

those all look good @fishlessman , especially the lamb sfeeha. I want to try something with a hot water crust. 

Spotted this at the library last week, and it called to me...

zaphod

did I imagine something, or do you have a cow head cast iron pan?

fishlessman

caliking said:

those all look good @fishlessman , especially the lamb sfeeha. I want to try something with a hot water crust. 

Spotted this at the library last week, and it called to me...

hot water crust

heres some ideas for fillings. my butcher has them fresh out of the oven by 9am for breakfast. you bite a hole on the top edge, drink the liquid gold out of the pork pie and then eat it while holding a pepper shaker in the other hand. scotch eggs are ready for 10am.  people born near thwaites that moved away will travel and fill up several large coolers for the ride home

he bought the english pie making pans decades ago, average age of a pie maker here is probably in her 90's

https://www.thwaitesmarket.com/homemade-items.html#a

a look at the old creaky shop

https://www.visitingnewengland.com/thwaites-market-methuen.html

BeanHead

zaphod said:

did I imagine something, or do you have a cow head cast iron pan?

It is the shape of Texas but I can see the cow head now that you mention it… also I like the okra on skewers so it cooks a bit more evenly. When I just roll it around I often end up with some overcooked pieces.