Newbie's Long Weekend Long Report

Unknown

WOW!!![p]Thursday: The BGE is delivered. Tonight a special treat for Mrs. E1 and me. I was dissappointed that I had to do a little assembly (I thought the dealer was going to take care of it), but it was so easy, my only real complaint was that it caused me to have to wait longer before I could begin cooking. My menu for the evening included grilled veggies and beef tenderloin steaks. I sliced up some green peppers, red peppers, zuchini, and eggplant; added some whole cherry tomatoes; gave them all a healthy dose of extra virgin olive oil and some italian seasoning. I threw them in a veggie grill on the BGE at 300, sprinkled minced garlic liberally; shut the BGE for about 5mins; open once to stir; cook 5 more mins, and voila!! the best damned grilled veggies I ever tasted. The only thing better was the filets that followed. For the steaks, I gave them a light olive oil coating and a pinch of sea salt on each side; then I coated them liberally with fresh cracked black peppercorn. The steaks were about 2.5 inches thick. I seared them at about 700 for 3 mins per side, and let them dwell for about 6 mins afterwards. They were just a tad on the medium rare side of medium....PERFECT!! I have eaten steaks from the best steakhouses all over the world: New York, Chicago, Las Vegas, Dallas, Kansas City, Kobe (as in kobe beef steak from Kobe, Japan)....and this was the very best steak I have ever eaten.[p]Friday: An intimate gathering for about 20 of my close family and friends to share the EGGsperience tonight. For the menu: More grilled veggies, but this time I added portabella and shitake mushrooms...a very nice addition. Dale's Honey BBQ Chicken recipe applied to chicken breasts was prepared next. Unfortunately, I could not find Dale's steak sauce; so I used A1 instead. Any comments about this subsititutions from the EGGsperts? Are better substitutes available? How can I find Dale's in NE Ohio? KennyG got a suggestion? Even more unfortunate was the fact that my guests ate up the chicken breasts so fast, I never got to find out how they tasted...but I got plenty of compliments about them. Finally, I prepared some blackened blue burgers. The first item that seemd less than an overwhelming success. The patties were a bit on the small size, and the burgers got a bit too charred. I cooked them just like the steaks from the night before, but I had problems controlling flames with 10 patties on the grill at once. Still, they were juicy and very tasty.[p]Saturday: Went to a party catered by one of the finest restaurants in town. What a dissapointment after 2 nights of BGE food.[p]Sunday: Dinner on the BGE for Mrs. E1 and me again. The menu included leftovers from Saturday and a new batch of Dale's BBQ chicken. MMMMMMM....that A1 can't be a bad subsititute...but if there are better ones, this is really a great recipe!!! I also added a handful of dry mesquite chips....I did not notice a real strong mesquite taste. This was a surprise. Maybe more chips or a 30 min soak in H2O next time for the chips?[p]Thanks for all the great advice I got before using the BGE by reading these boards. You folks have created a wonderful resource here. Now, I have to go...I am much too hungry again to continue reading and posting tonight.[p]Off to fire up the BGE one more time (I think I am addicted)...[p]E1

Grumpa

Eggcitable One,[p]At the rate you're going I'd would go ahead and order that tread mill :~)[p]Sounds like you have things under control early in the game. It is nice to see people jump right in and start cooking up great food on the BGE only to be disappointed the next time they eat out. [p]Welcome to the addicted crowd!

Nature Boy

Eggcitable One,
Great report. It is clear from your post that you have a great grasp on cooking...and now the ultimate tool to live out your fantasies. Try chunks of wood instead of chips. If you use chips, they will benefit from being soaked first...not necessary with chunks.
Congrats on your successes.
NB

Spin

Eggcitable One,[p]Congradulations. Sounds like all is going very well with bonding with your Egg.[p]Dry chips will tend to burn and not produce a smoke. Soaking them in hot water (the longer the better) and then a good drain (to remove all excess water) will allow them to provide a nice smoke.[p]Spin

Unknown

Back from enjoying the leftovers from last night....mmmm....BBQ chicken was great a day later.[p]One detail I left out from my prior report...With the Thursday steak, I added a scrumptuous dollop of tarragon butter. The butter recipe is available in the Williams-Sonoma Grilling cookbook. If anyone is interested, I will post the full recipe later. It's a great addition to the meat.[p]Off to get the treadmill repaired now...
E1

KennyG

Eggcitable One,[p]A warm welcome to the family for you and the Mrs. and right here in my backyard! I have heard alot about Dales steak sauce from other forums I participate on but have yet to encounter it myself. My current favorites are Crosse and Blackwells and HB. Off the top of my head, if any place would carry Dale's, it would be Miles Farm Market Off I480.
Email me for directions if necessary and let me know what part of Cletown you call home.[p][p]