Bunch of questions!

Unknown

1) I just purchased a plate setter. It has a hole in the bottom, a little smaller than the circumferance of a tennis ball (manufactured that way). Do they all come like that? Is that bad? I'm thinking a drip pan will block it anyway.[p]2) Where can I get a second grill to sit up on the plate setter?[p]3) I'm planning a party for 10 at the end of June and would like to do beer butt chicken and ribs. Thinking of doing 2 chickens, and a couple of racks of ribs. I'll have to cook either the chickens or the ribs ahead of time, maybe the day before or in the morning. Can anyone suggest which I should cook ahead, and how to warm them up?[p]4) Has anyone cooked two chickens in a Medium egg? Will cooking time be alot longer than if I was doing one chicken? I haven't checked yet, but I'm not even sure if I'll be able to fit two chics in the medium. Would you all suggest using the plate setter set-up with chickens if it'll all fit, too?[p]5) Paul Kirk says in his book Championship Barbecue Sauces that he has better results sprinkling rub on ribs and cooking them right away rather than letting them sit 8 hrs or overnight. Has anyone here experimented to determine if there is a significant difference?[p]Many thanks BGE crew!

Chief

Jerry,
I have never seen a plate setter with a hole in it. BGE sells one that is located on the web. For a grill extension BGE has one of those also. Go to Tim M site and you can see these accessories or you can access the accessory site in the window marked "what's new"
Hope that helped.

Unknown

Jerry, answers to 1 & 2.
The sitter I just bot is one piece, no hole...me thinks you got a reject that should never have gotten out of Mexico, musg less out of Atlanta. Go see your dealer if that's where you got.[p]2 for an extra grid you can buy those chrome jobbies most anywhere. You just need an 18" and that's pretty common and cheap. ^oo^~

Tim M

<p />Jerry,[p]I just got a new setter from BGE and both of mine have no hole. It sounds like it broke in the middle. One reason BGE doesn't like to sell them is because they are so hard to ship without breaking the legs. I never heard of the center falling out - seems odd.[p]Picture is of my old setter - when it was new. The latest version is a little larger in diameter - by maybe .5"[p]Call BGE - I assume you got it from them.[p]Tim - pics on my website under MSC Pics[p]
[ul][li]-Tim's BGE cookbook etc -[/ul]

Unknown

one feral kat,
Thanks for your reply.[p]I called BGE in Atlanta and they said they only have the plate setters for the large BGE, not the medium, so I stopped by the local ceramic supply house. The hole in this setter isn't a defect, it was manufactured that way. Guess that's not always the case and now wondering if that's gonna be a problem.[p]The medium egg has a 15' grid.

Unknown

Chief,
Thanks for your response. Unfortunately, the plate setter that BGE sells is for large egg only, and I have a medium egg, so I bought one at a ceramic supply store. I hope that won't be a problem. I have checked out Tim's great website (many times - fantastic site!) but don't remember if I was able to see the bottom of his plate setter in any of his pictures.
Jerry

Unknown

Tim M,
Thank you for your reply. Although I have been to your great website many times, I couldn't remember seeing a full frontal picture of the setter, so I bought the one I described this morning hoping it would be ok. The person I spoke to at BGE said they only have a plate setter for the large egg, and I have the medium - that's why I went to the ceramic supply place. The setter looks just like yours, 13" across, but with the hole in the center. Do you think that will be a problem? If I put a drip pan over the hole?
Thanks, Tim...
Jerry

Unknown

Jerry,[p]I'll try to answer number 5 on your post. Most balanced rubs usually contain about 40% salt. If the rub is left on the meat to long, it will pull the moisture right out of your ribs. Ribs really don't have much moisture as compared to other low and slow type of BBQ. For ribs, take the meat out of the fridge, sprinkle on your rub, and wait until the moisture comes to the surface which should be about 1 hour, you will know as it will be bright red and you can see the liquid, this is when it needs to go on your Egg. This is what will give you the good bark or crust that adds all the flavor to your meat. If you wait too long, you will have a puddle under the meat on the plate and this puddle IS the moisture that should remain in the meat. [p]Paul Kirk wrote the book on this kind of smoking and his advice is usually right on target.[p]Hope this helps,[p]Old Dave[p]

JJ

Jerry,
1: The ony problem that you encounter is tring to do pizza and that can be resolved by placing a pizza stone ontop of the setter. When inverted a drip pan or aluminum foil would cover the hole.
2: Any Home Depot or anyother store that sells gilling equipment should have the size you need.
3: IMO, I woulod do the ribs first then nuke them in the micro prior to serving and do the chickens the day of the event.
4: Can't help with the amount that can be cooked on the medium as I have 1 Mini, 1 Small, 1 Chiminea and 2 large EGGs. As for using the setter or not is your choice, I use aluminum foil for the drip pan.
5: Different strokes for different folks. Do what you like and what tastes best to you. Techniques are personal choices and boil down to the Chevy/Ford debate. No winners and no losers.

Tim M

Jerry,[p]A setter with a hole will only bother you when you're using it as a stand for the pizza stone. Since you'll have a hole in the middle, I would expect the pizza stone would also get hotter in its middle. That really should not be that big of a problem. I don't preheat my stone when I do pizza and I can get two big ones done before I notice the stone getting hot enough to burn crust. Give it a go - maybe you're on to something.[p]Tim

Tim M

JJ,[p]You're going to have to break down and get the full set! You also need to get a picture of all your toys on the deck, I think you're missing the small and the chiminea in your picture that's there now.[p]Tim :-)

Chief

JJ,
What do you use your mini for????

Chief

Jerry,
Could you put fire brick to cover the hole??? Sorry about my bad information...I need to read closer. [p]

Unknown

JJ,
Many thanks for your advice - much appreciated. By the way - I'm looking forward to sampling your famous rub, JJ - can't go wrong with that, I'm sure!
Jerry

Unknown

Old Dave,
Thanks for that excellent explanation, Old Dave. When you say to sprinkle and wait 1 hour, should I put the ribs back in the frig during that time?
Jerry

Gfw

<p />Number 5...[p]Jerry, I totally agree with 'old dave' about the salt. The ones in the picture are done with a rub (recipe on the link - browse and you'll also find a few more rib recipes) that contains no salt, just a little sugar, pepper, etc.[p]The last time I used it, I put a generous coating on the ribs, put the ribs in a plastic bag in the refrigerator and cooked 18 hours later - spicy and juicy! [p]Note the word 'spicy', not really hot but a great taste.[p][p]
[ul][li]Memphis Style Ribs[/ul]

Unknown

JJ,
I have very little experience using or mixing rubs. Your rub lists "salt to taste." Can you give me some idea of how much salt you use in your rub? A suggestion to start with?
Thanks, JJ.
Jerry

Gfw

JJ, I'll second your 'nuke them in the micro' idea. I have used your idea (I usually put item to be nuked in an unsealed plastic bag at about 5-6 minutes and 30% power) several times with both PP and ribs. [p]Thanks. Your idea has worked great every time.

Unknown

Gfw,
Wow - those look like mighty fine ribs there, Gfw, and it's just about dinner time! Thanks for the link to your outstanding website, too. I'm think I'm catching on here - salt-based rub, long marinating time optional, non-salt-based rubs, longer marinating... Thanks for the help, Gfw.
Jerry

Unknown

Jerry,[p]In most of your cooking, it is best to let the meat come to room temp if possible on your counter top. So you don't want to put it back into the fridge. Ribs are a little tough to cook right the first time if you are new to this type of cooking but can be done well with the help of the folks on the forum. You can e-mail me and I can give you some tips on cooking this meat.

Tim M

Gfw,[p]They look great - I just can't get myself to do the "in foil" part. I will try to force myself sometime. I am going to try ribs tomorrow night with the raised grid and a drip pan under it. Then for the last hour I can really easily remove the drip pan and go direct. I post a picture of the setup. [p]Did that guy e-mail you about having an Egg on a screened porch? You do right??[p]Tim

Gfw

Tim M, tonight I did it with no foil - still cooking for about 5 1/2 hours - last 45 minutes direct as per most recent picture-post. [p]This time I put water in the drip pan and I think it will do about the same thing - temp ranged from 225-275 .[p]I LOVE BABY BACK RIBS! Haven't found a bad way to make them yet - the fun is in the search.

Cat

Old Dave,[p]Good advice. Here's an interesting wrinkle: let the meat come to room temp, then pop it in the freezer briefly to chill down the outside without cooling the inside too much. (This has more of an impact with butts & briskets than with ribs, but I do it with the latter too.) The result is maximum smoke penetration, which pretty much stops once the meat's exterior temp passes 140. And since the inside of the meat stays warm relative to the outside, it cooks before the outside has a chance to dry out.[p]I didn't invent this technique (a sager/smarter pal did) but I've found it very effective.[p]Cathy

Gfw

Tim M, pulled the ribs off at 5:45 and let them sit for 10 minutes... No foil, still great!

Char-Woody

Jerry, It sounds like you got a different version of a sitter from the ceramics people. They do make a solid sitter, as Tim M has shown. You can plug the hole with high temperature furnace cement. I don't see any problem with the hole if your using a additional pizza stone on top for Pizza. I use my sitter singularly for pizza. Both way work well.
Cheers..C~W[p]

JJ

Jerry,
Sorry to be this late getting back to you. We are in Raleigh, North Carolina and just got back from Goldsboro where my Wife had a book signing.
I do not use salt in any of my recipes but most people like to use it and that is why I state salt to taste.

JJ

Chief,
2-3/4" porterhouse steak, 2 2" thick pork chops etc and anything else for high temp cooking for 2.

Unknown

Cat,[p]I would like to give that method a try on a brisket flat. Most of the flats I get weigh about 4-5 pounds and are about 2" thick. About how long do you think I should leave it in the freezer.[p]Thanks much[p]Old Dave

Cat

Old Dave,[p]I usually freeze butts & briskets for about 45 minutes. If you want to be scientific...put a Polder probe in the meat & remove it from the freezer when the internal temp starts to drop.[p]Cathy

Unknown

Thanks, JJ