The Shelter Meal: Progress Report

The Naked Whiz

It's 13.5 hours since the butts went on and Ahhhh, The Power Of The Egg! The egg is at 250 degrees, the butts are at 181. I think I'll go run 5 miles and then "pull me some pork!"[p]TNW

TRex

The Naked Whiz,[p]Glad to hear your temp held like a rock. Let me ask you something - how long did you let your fire burn at a steady temperature before you went to bed? Did you do the typical long burn setup of big pieces of lump at bottom to gradually smaller pieces of lump at top, and how did you light the lump? Did you approach 250 slowly from below, or did you overshoot it at all in the lighting process?[p]Just taking some notes here . . . [p]TRex

The Naked Whiz

TRex,
I put 2 or 3 large pieces of lump on the bottom. Then I filled in by tossing in relatively large pieces until the bottom was covered. After that, I just tossed in anything that wasn't tiny until I was up to the top of the firebox. Then I added 5 big chunks of hickory. Then I added more lump around the hickory chunks until I had a level bed of charcoal about halfway up the fire ring.[p]Then, I lit 1/2 a chimney of lump until is was going really good, and dumped this on top of what was in the egg. I spread it around a little so again I had a flat bed of charcoal. Then I put a big chunk of hickory on top.[p]I put the plate setter in and then closed the egg and let it run a while with the vents open. It probably got up to 250 while I went inside and rubbed the butts. I brought them out, put on the grid, put on the grid extender, put on the butts, and then closed the bottom vent down to 1/4 inch and left the daisy wheel vents wide open. When you put all the cold meat in the egg, the temp drops, and I was back down below 200.[p]Then I just let the temp slowly rise until 250, closing down the daisy wheel little by little until it was probably 1/2 open. [p]The meat went on at 6 and by 6:30 or so I had the temp around 250. At 9, it had climbed to 270, so I closed it just a tick and waited an hour to see what happened. By 10, it went down to 260, so I opened it back to where it had been, and by bed time it was 270. This morning it was around 260.[p]So, as long as you don't let the ceramic heat up, there's no problem getting the temp back down. When you open the egg, add the plate setter and the cold meat, the temp will zoom right down and then you can tinker to bring it up to where you want it. You just don't want to let the egg get real hot and stay there for very long. [p]I'll have photos in a little while.....[p]TNW

Chubby

The Naked Whiz,[p]That's a nice play by play!![p]Tyhough I've been cooking a long time....this type of specific info on how to use this type cooker is invaluable to the "newbie" as well as the experienced alike!! In any learning curve....a "reference point" is critical in getting a handle on the subject....IMHO!!![p]Thanks for taking the time to respond in such a comprehensive way!![p]Chubby

TRex

The Naked Whiz,[p]Bravo! What a great, detailed report. That's exactly what I was looking for, and more. [p]Thanks for all your help - looking forward to seeing the pics.[p]TRex

Rich G

The Naked Whiz,[p]Since everyone else is shying away from asking you the tough question, I'll do it. So, how was the five mile run? [p]BBQ is fun when it all goes according to plan, ain't it?!? Of course, it's usually still fun when things get a little haywire, just more interesting. Enjoy the party (if your wife invited you, that is.)[p]Rich G.

The Naked Whiz

Rich G,
The run was slow. I think I needed more energy or something. It sure made pulling the pork more tiresome. Next time I'm saving myself for the pork![p]TNW