Newbie needs help

RichT

Hi everyone,

My wife just gave me the BGE for our wedding anniversary and I need help. I used it for the first time yesterday and followed the directions in the manual. I cooked the Simon and Garfunkel Chicken that was posted in the manual and let me tell you this......... The chicken was the moistest chicken I have ever had. Better than my beer can chicken on the Weber. However, the smoke flavor was the nastiest I have ever tasted. It tasted like charcoal with lighter fluid. Now, I know this can't be right. What could I have done wrong? Please help.

Rich

Richard Fl

Welcome to the "CULT". Did you allow the drippings to drip on the hot coals and create a nasty flavor? Hope you let the charcoal burn a little to get rid of the initial smoke which is not a good flavor!

FlaPoolman

Sounds like you started the food to soon. part of the learning curve. Someone will post the good smoke bad smoke post but I can't find it right now.

Austin Smoker

Rich, first of all welcome aboard!! If you haven't figured it out, this crew likes PICS, so hope you have a digital camera.

To answer your question, it's important to allow the thick grey smoke to clear after lighting your lump, and before adding food to the egg. This will allow all the nasty things to burn off that nice new lump, and you will only get the great flavor that you deserve!

If you move on to smoking meats, you'll want to let the smoke clear from the lump before you add any woods.

Best of luck!

BHE1

DId you let the lump cook for awhile to burn off the fumes? This happened to me on one of my first cooks. You should let the lump burn until you don't see smoke coming from the top.

Welcome to the egg club.

egret

A typical new owner problem! You need to start the fire much sooner and be sure it's burning CLEAN before putting any meat on. I usually start mine at least one hour beforehand. Another cause for this is using charcoal that has not been fully carbonized. The charcoal will be smoking more than usual and have a creosote smell to it. Locate these in your fire and throw them away......

RichT

Thanks for the replies everybody. You guys just validated what I was thinking. I guess I should have gone with my natural instincts and common sense. The manual is misleading in that regard. I can't wait to fire this thing back up.
I can already see the BGE and this website becoming an addiction.
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Thanks again.

Knauf

I did the same thing on my first couple of cooks. I couldn't wait to start! Just wait an extra 5-10 minutes before throwing meat on and you'll be fine. I don't think you need to wait an hour as posted earlier. Just be sure to ease into your desired temp as it's easier to raise temp than lower it and let the smoke clear.

WADoug

This was one of my first cooks too. I followed the instructions in the book like you did. But, having looked at this forum, I knew temps must stabilize and the odor coming from the top needs to smell good/neutral or eatable. I use my "nose" often now to smell what comes out of the top. If it doesn't smell good I won't put the food on it. Eventually, the bad stuff, whatever that is, burns away. I'm not very experienced, but that Simon/Garfunkel Chicken is one of my favorite meals.