Things I Learned this week on the Egg

Golasso

1. When cooking, use the same means of measuring temp. On Thanksgiving, I used the dome thermometer to keep track of the temp. On Xmas, I put my meat thermometer probe through the top to keep track of temp. The cook wound up going waayyyyy longer because my meat thermometer reading was a lot less than the dome temp. But...

2. I learned how forgiving the BGE is. Like I said, I went more like 20 minutes a pound instead of 12-16. Also, because of my complete ineptitude in measuring the bird's temp, I wound up going 175-180 in the breast and near 200 in the thigh. Was it still juicy and tasty? Yep!

3. If you put in Hickory chunks for smoke that are meant for replacing charcoal, don't be suprised if you have a hot fire even for a low and slow. I did a rack of ribs tonight and the temp kept going to 300 even though all vents are shut down to within a millimeter of being closed. Had to do a 2.5/3.5 method (foiled for 3.5 hours) to keep from destroying ribs. Still turned out ok -- B to B-.

4. Be patient in building the fire -- if you have a chimney starter, let it do its work. I got impatient, dumped the coals in the egg before they were ready, lost my fire... I should have just relaxed.

bgebuddy

I would put the chimney starter away. Completely unnecessary, and likely to give you more trouble than it's worth.

Hoss

You must TRUST the EGG,,,,,,Grasshopper! :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: Just funnin!Glad it turned out good.Relax,have fun,enjoy!!!

Ripnem

I second that one. Those things are great for a webber, but not an egg. In a webber you get all the coals going, in an egg you only want what is needed for your desired temp. Also the egg gets itself warmed up (ceramics) while the lump is getting going. If you just dump in a buncha hot lump, you will be chasing temps all night. Unless of course your searing steaks. Give that chimney to a webber guy and get a MAPP torch for your egg.

Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker

welcome.

don't get too worried about things. 300 isn't very different than 250. you weren't in any danger of destroying the ribs.

the fire probably wasn't any hotter than it would have been without the wood in it. wood burns at a lower temp than charcoal. the egg can throttle a charcoal fire because charcoal burns at a relatively fixed temp. but when you try to dial back regular old "wood", you can get a smokey mess of a fire. it will smolder and burn inefficiently.

just use charcoal, and add chips or chunks for whatever smoke you want.

as you said, learn to let things ride and be patient. if you can follow a tried and true method first, you will get the hang of things and be able to reinvent a process or two if you want later because you'll have a good feel for why things are happening the way they are.