Just bought a large Egg

BlueSmoke

I bought a large Egg yesterday, and am looking forward to learning it, with help from the folks here. The clerk, in his enthusiasm, neglected to tell me about the "plate setter." All I know is the brochure says it is "a must for indirect cooking." I'm anticipating about 75% grilling, 25% low and slow barbecue. What does the plate setter do - should I have one?

Tim M

BlueSmoke,[p]I like mine and I use it for Pizza and many indirect cooks. You also need a good (not a cheap) pizza stone. BGE makes a good one. The setter (or firebricks) act as a heat shield from the direct radiation for the fire. It makes the Egg more like a brick oven. [p]The link below has lots of pictures that might help and be sure to visit the New Users page. Don't pay any attention to the recipes in the manual - most are very wrong! So always check here before you cook anything, great advice here and normally you don't need to wait 5 min.[p]Welcome to the Egg familly[p]Tim M

[ul][li]--Tim's BGE site ---[/ul]

Char-Woody

BlueSmoke, eventually, you may wish to get one but first before you use a barrier, get a cheap nickle plated or plain welded steel grill available most BBQ supply stores, (Weber has a large 18" grill with handles) for a auxillary grill for rough house cooking. Save the porcelain for your direct grilling of steaks, chicken, chops and other meats.[p]Most of my personal cooks are done other than with a "plate setter" (I like to call it a Tri Sitter) and the "sitter-setter" is used more for bread baking and pizza cooks. Some use the combo sitter and pizza stone.
I use 2 or three firebricks on edge for legs and a pizza stone on them for my pizza setup, as well as other times using the tri sitter. There are so many variables that I find having a tri sitter, firebricks, extra grills, V racks, rib racks, drip pans both aluminum and pyrex type, are just routine gadgets necessary for a quick innovation of a cook. Almost like selecting a spice for variety..
Hope I haven't confused you more..
Cheers and welcome to the forum.
Char-Woody

Unknown

Tim M, good one...How was the rib cook? I might have something that may interest you in a few weeks...! Has to do with ribs eventually...as well as a kicker for other things.
C'ya..
C~W

Car Wash Mike

<p />BlueSmoke, Congrats and welcome to the the BGE family. Iv'e been here ofr about 10 months and everybody is sooooo helpful. I use a place setter a lot. I have 3 slabs of babybacks going on right now using a place setter and cooking indirect. Wait till you get hooked on beef jerky. For my personal style of cooking the place setter is the way to go.[p]CWM

Spin

BlueSmoke,[p]Welcome to the fmily and forum.[p]The BGE plate setter is a three legged pizza stone. It sits on the fire ring (round ceramic ring the grill sets on) and provides the necessary upwards spacing so the pizza can be inserted and removed easily. It also can be inverted (legs up) to hold another grill and provides indirect cooking in this manner.[p]Like Char-Woody, I tend to use the plate setter only when cooking higher heat (450°+F), or when very good insulation of the fire from the meal is desired. For low and slow cooking (200-250°F), a foil pan works as well as anything else.[p]Spin[p]

Bordello

Car Wash Mike,
What a great picture, I can almost smell the ribs and touch the smoke. They look great, what time is dinner???????
New Bob

Tim M

C~W,[p]They came out great. I do like the differentrib cooking methods. The direct cook produced a darn good rack! I'll do it again soon.[p]Always interested in what you're working on, and even more with ribs involved.[p]Tim

Earl

BlueSmoke,[p] Welcome to the forum. I do not have a plate sitter,however I do you A pizza stone or the fire bricks as a heat deflector. It wooks for me & has for some time. I may pick one up at Eggfest in Waldorf, but want to see it working first.[p]Earl

BlueSmoke

Thanks, all y'all for the tips and explanations. I can hardly wait for the weekend.[p]My mom was an amateur ceramicist (?), and had a lot of shelves, fire brick, shelf holders, etc. Seems like time for a scrounge...