Small Egg kind of guy

olblue

Dear Fellow Eggers, I need your help.
I was thinking of picking up a used large egg at this year's eggfest. I've been an egghead since August with the small egg and I don't feel terribly cramped.
I cook for two, sometimes 3 or 4. I don't cook many turkeys so that's not a good reason go bigger. I gather the people with bigger eggs have an easier time achieving high temperatures. It would be nice to put a cast iron skillet on at the same time, on the other hand you can't easily cook vegetables at 800 degrees.
The best reason I see is that the hinges on the small don't permit opening the lid very far. Has anyone put longer hinges on a small?

Mike Oelrich

ol-blue,[p] Actually, as the owner of both a large and a small, I would say that I have better luck reaching high temperatures at grid level with the small. I find the Big guy better for low and slow becuase the food is farther from the fire and there is more room for the extra stuff (fire bricks, drip pan, etc.) I use in indirect cooking. I use the small when I'm cooking for myself and the large anytime I have people over for dinner or have a large slab of meat to play with. No question, you'll get great performance out of either, I just like the flexibility of being able to cook for a crowd if I need to.[p]MikeO

Spin

ol-blue,[p]I own both and agree totally with MikeO. I make pizza on both and feel the large has the advantage as it can recover temp faster after a dome opening. The small cannot contain the mass needed to create the conditions for making bread. For low and slow, the large is easily the more convenient of the two.[p]I love the small and use it often, but would be lost without the use of the large. The combination of both allows cooking differing meals at the same time. I normally cook for two and appreciate the large when company is due.[p]I haven't played with the hinge setup on the small.[p]Spin