Generic Recipes for the Egg?

RiverFarm

I have the little pamphlet that comes with the egg and I see lots of recipes here, but what I need is something that talks about how to use the egg for grilling and baking and roasting: in other words, how to adapt the egg to the recipes I already make. We tried our egg the first time a couple of days ago and made hamburgers, but the patties I use are organic and not very thick, so they got overcooked when I followed the time frame in the manual. Flavor was excellent, of course, but they weren't as pink as I like them.

Some of the recipes here are very specific about what temperature to get the egg to for cooking the dish that's being described, and roughly how long to cook it, but others are rather vague and assume a familiarity that we don't all share. Also, when it says to use the plate setter, does that mean feet up or feet down? I'm sure all of this will become obvious once I've used the thing more, but right now it's all kind of daunting.

I saw the cookbook that's in the works, and I'll get that when it comes out, but meanwhile I'm not sure how to set about using my new toy!

Morro Bay Rich

The platesetter turns the Egg into a roaster/baker. Any cookbook will tell you how to roast/bake whatever you are cooking.

Eggscriber

Like most things in life, there is a learning curve.
You learned how quickly your burgers overcook, and next time they'll be much better. A thermopen will help you determine "doneness" and will help eliminate overcooking. I've given up on guessing or feeling to see if the meat is cooked.

The BGE is a great oven. Most times I use the plate setter feet up unless I want some crispiness. In that case a raised grid will come in handy.

Things that I have cooked on the BGE instead of the oven include Mac and cheese (see prior post), tater tots, artichoke dip, frozen pizza, appetizers such as pigs and a blanket, cookies, stromboli and chicken wings.

Little Chef

River Rat...Yes it is true, it will take time before you really get the egg methods down. Remember, every recipe on the planet is just a "guideline", and often you have to vary them a bit to meet your desired results.
Platesetter cooks are almost always done legs UP, with a drip pan, and the grid placed on top of the legs. The exception to this is pizza and breads...(probably a couple others I am not thinking of). Legs down for pizza and breads...and the little green feet between the platesetter and the pizza stone.
Until you get the hang of it, you can search the forum recipes, and ask in here. Somebody will surely chime in to assist. We were all new to the Egg at some point.

Ross in Ventura

You can go into the Search forum and look for the things you like to cook, there you see how the rest of us cook these things or post a question

Ross

RiverFarm

Thanks for the responses, people. Morro Bay Rich, I know how to roast and bake, but not how to do it in the BGE. With my oven, I preheat it (or not) and then cook at a specific temperature for a specific amount of time, but the difficulty is that I don't know what the comparable times and temps are for that dish in the egg. Eggscriber, how does the plate setter with feet down add crispiness? Do you cook directly on that surface or use a grid? Little Chef, the guidelines you offered were really helpful. They were specific enough that I can figure out how to apply them. There needs to be something like that for newbies - maybe a sticky thread about cooking for new eggers? Ross, that's a good suggestion although I haven't seen any recipes for whole goose, and I have a freezer full of them!

It looks like a thermopen isn't just one more gadget but a real necessity. And what's a guru? I've seen references to that here, too. It's hard to decide what you really need and what's for the more advanced and adventurous egger.

Celtic Wolf

BIG HINT: NEVER, EVER COOK TO TIME. Always cook to temp. Time will bite you in the ass every chance it gets.

Adapting recipes is easy. Baking, Roasting, braising just do indirect and add 25 degrees to the oven temp the recipe calls for. Check for your desired doneness about 15 minutes prior to the time specified. Baked goods are done when a fork goes in and out clean. Roasts are done when you have reached the recommended internal temp (i.e. 140 for pork loin, 135 for medium rare beef, 165 for most poultry). Briased meals when the meat and vegetables are tender.

Grilled foods are done at the recommended internal temps.

Aren't sure what the recommended internal temp is, ask us first. You will get an answer quick

bubba tim

Dang Pete, how did you get so mart? :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :P :P :P

Celtic Wolf

EYES bee goin' to college..

Ross in Ventura

RR the Thermopen and Guru are necessities for me, You well need both for the Goose

Ross

RiverFarm

What's the guru? This is sounding complicated!!