The golden rule?

Pharmer

I didn't see an "introduce yourself" forum so allow me to do so here:

I live in Ottawa, ON, Canada. I am an avid "foodie," "wino," and "coffeeholic" who takes each hobby seriously but not so much that I can't have a lot of fun with them. However, I have completed a sommelier course and I roast & blend my own coffee so perhaps I am a bit overzealous in my pursuits ... in a good way, I hope. I have been smoking/grilling for about 10 years on a Weber Genesis.

My wife, sister, parents, daughters, and mother-in-law pooled together to give me a large BGE for my birthday. I love 'em all! It arrives next week.

I've found much advice searching these forums but I'm curious what ONE "must-know" piece of advice (e.g, a must-have accessory or must-do trick) would you knowledgeable folk give to me as I embark on yet another sickness ... er ... hobby?

Cheers!

Village Idiot

Welcome !!!

Must-have accessory: Plate Setter (however, with our shared sickness, they are ALL must-have accessories :laugh: )

Must-know trick: Learn temperature control.

Bacchus

Welcome aboard and congrats on your new Egg.
I share your love for food, wine, & coffee, though wine is my strongest suit. My cooking is getting better and I'm learning more about coffee.
You will find several Canadians here on the Forum, all of which are great folks, and several of which are incredible cooks.

FlaPoolman

Welcome BGmE,, there is no one must have/ must know but a collection of different tried and true paths. Eggsperiment and while there is a short learning curve on temp control with the egg you will be producing great meals in no time.

[Deleted User]

I'm no EGGxpert, but for me...

The MUST HAVE is an instant read thermometer.

Also, be sure to check (and calibrate if needed) your dome thermometer.

Plate setter... another MUST.

I personally found a 2" fire-ring as very useful for doing vertical roasting turkey (replacing the 4" with a 2" sets the turkey lower in the dome). The 2" fire-ring also raises the cooking grid up a couple of inches further from the coals, which I found gave me a bit more wiggle room to avoid burning stuff like burgers and chicken breasts.

There are lots of accessories to control grid height, I just use the fire ring because I had it and it seems to work.

AZRP

I would say the most important thing is to make sure the lump is burning cleanly before putting your food on. If there is white smoke coming out the top, wait until its clear. -RP

Kenny 13

Welcome aboard!

One piece of advice as a somewhat newbie myself is to be patient. You will have some learning curve to temperature control, and you may even have some frustrating moments while learning your egg but it is all worth it. I absolutely love my egg!

Congrats on the great gift, and enjoy!

Little Steven

BGmE,

Hi. I'm in Caledon, near Orangeville. There are a few guys up your way that would be more than willing to help. I would suggest a platesetter, pizza stone and thermapen as the essentials. The maverick et73 will suffice as a monitoring device. Cdn Tire has them on fairly cheap now.
If you are a foodie you willl love the ability to do ethnic stuff, naan, tandoori, korean, indonesian and so on. Soups and stews, tajine, baking, pizza and long slow cooks.

Feel free to e-mail me if you want more explanation.

Steve

gdenby

Must-know trick: Learn temperature control.

I'll second and offer to brake out what that means:

..make small vent adjustments
...creep up on the desired temperature
....watch out for over-shoot leading to lava temp

(but then that's 3 golden rules?)

Rascal

Learn what 'FLASH-BACK* is! Hear about it, read about it, but don't EXPERIENCE it! You will find a description of this infernal phenomenon here: http://www.nakedwhiz.com/flash.htm
There's also a plethora of more-than-you-can imagine BGE info at the same site. Happy cooking!!

Rascal

Read my post below. Somehow, it veered off course...

BigA

Welcome, and the biggest tip i can give you is this. Ask for help if you need it, there are a lot of people in here that know there stuff and they are pros at this and do so for a living, and they love to help us newbies out. so ask away!! :cheer:

Weekend Warrior

Honestly, you've already figured out the single most important thing about learning to cook on the Egg and that was reading and then registering on this site. All the other stuff is ancillary really. We are different than many other forums in that a great many of us have met face to face at Eggfests and formed personal relationships beyond just cooking on the Egg.

Welcome to the club.

Mark

Chef Charles

BGmE,

Welcome aboard. It is always great having another Canuck join the cult er I mean club :evil: . I too live in the Nation's Capital and don't hesitate to drop me a line if you need any info.

Weekend Warrior really hit the nail on the head when he said that you have already met the golden rule by signing up here. On the forum, you will be able to tap into a wealth of experience. I certainly found it useful as I started exploring the Egg.

You will also discover that the egg is the gift that keeps on giving. By that I mean you will be amazed at the number of eggcessories that you will start to accumulate.

Tom

Bear

BGmE,
Welcome aboard! I'm in Ottawa as well. This forum is a great resource and I have learned a lot. Good luck and beware it is habit forming!!!!
:laugh: :laugh:

B.

RVH

Before you toss the food on the cooking grid, stop to smell the smoke coming from the top. If it smells good then the BGE is ready for the food. If it smells bad wait a bit longer and then try again. This has always worked for me and is advice I received here on the forum. Good luck!

Chef Charles

Bear,

Yet another Ottawa member. Welcome.

Tom

Little Steven

Tom,

Seems to be a lot of Que'ers in the valley. :laugh:

Steve

Theophan

... make sure the lump is burning cleanly before putting your food on. If there is white smoke coming out the top, wait until its clear.

I'm a newbie, so maybe this should be obvious, but so far I've always used wood chips, so I want smoke. I'm unhappy if the smoke dies down soon. What am I misunderstanding?

Thanks!

Theo

[Deleted User]

Although, more properly, especially if you talk with a firefighter, the term is "Backdraft".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backdraft

Chef Charles

Steve,

We should ask Tim is sales have been picking up in these parts :laugh:.

Tom

2Fategghead

Welcome to the forum Mark. Don't forget to take a lot of food pic's and post them here. Tim

Boilermaker Ben

Welcome to the cult.
It looks like you've got a lot of good advice so far, so I'll add an accessory. Since you label yourself a "foodie" I'll assume you like a variety of foods, and will recommend you get a wok. Woks were intended for use over high heat, and the egg is well suited to giving you the heat you need. If you're accustomed to wokking on the stove, you'll love the increased quality of your stir-fries coming from the egg.

Looking forward to seeing pics of your food! Information about the wines you pair with your meals would be nice, too. Welcome.

Big George's BBQ

Enjoy your gift

thirdeye

Hmmmm. Only one piece of advice is tough..... but some of the best barbecue advice (and I learned this at least 40 years ago), is to not worry about time, specifically don't hurry.

Don't hurry to get a good fire going, don't rush through the preparation of the meat or sides, don't hurry to get the food on the pit, don't try to rush the cook, and never, never set a definite time to sit down to dinner.

As far as one piece of equipment that everyone should have is a spiral notebook. Use it to record all the details of your cook, how you critiqued your food, what advice others give you, what changes you want to make, etc.

troutman

Welcome Mark.

The must-have's, in my opinion, in order:
- Thermapen
- pizza stone (use as an indirect barrier and to make pies)
- raised grill (I have the adjustable rig from TJV)

The other must-do is read the tips from the list Grandpa Grub put together for newbies, and follow the techniques of the experienced cooks here (which is not me). Too many to list without leaving someone out, but you can tell fairly easily.

If possible, ignore the periodic stupidity of the few and click through to the wisdom of the others.

Enjoy.

Davekatz

Welcome to the cult.

Right away:
Get a platesetter, a pair of grill gloves, and good tongs.
Keep your fire small (keep the lump well below the fire ring) on your first hot cooks until you figure out how to control your temp.
Watch your eyebrows when lifting the lid.

As you get the hang of things:
Woo3 extender.
Thermapen.

Have fun, ask questions, post some pics and let us know how it's going.

Dave

Scotty's Inferno

I can tell by looking at the names below your post that you have already got some great tips. The talent here is impressive. My suggestion is that you try, if not master, long cooler cooks for jerky and peppers. It is one of the most rewarding things I do with my eggs, and that says alot. I wrote up the way I do it and The Naked Whiz was cool enough to make it part of his web site.(link below) The 3 main things that have changed since I wrote it are:
1) My new favorite jerky meat is tri-tip. It may be perfect.

2) Kamado lump is history, so I just use regular lump from a previous cook.

3) I prefer the texture of the meat after being dry cured with Hi Mountain Seasoning jerky cure, and it dries faster because it starts out dry!

Have a blast. I have for years. Scott

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/coldsmoking/coldsmokejerky.htm

Cpt'n Cook

Welcome aboard Matey

Ripnem

Steve,

It's Happy Hour!

Cheers

boston_stoker

I would say that a plate setter is not necessarily a must have. I personally prefer using the Spider plus a small ceramic stone and drip pan instead. http://www.ceramicgrillstore.com/ceramicgrillstore/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=45&Itemid=229