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And so it's begun....

boostfed
boostfed Posts: 63
edited April 2014 in EggHead Forum
Hey All,

Long time lurker here that's finally taken the plunge. I've planned on upgrading my grill for some time since my gasser's getting pretty old , I wanted to venture into smoking and almost pulled the trigger on an Chargriller Akorn until I found out about these big green beauties. Took me awhile to finally get myself to pick one up and convince SWMBO (lifetime investment? ok fine :) ). I did my research, built the table thanks to nakedwhiz, picked up the egg last week for the best deal I found it at and away we went! Enough talk, here's what everyones waiting for :)

New Egg first time in its table , I used Doug Fir (what was available around here) and being that it's not the best looking wood, had SWMBO choose the color and gave it a few nice coats:
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Got out of the gate running, being a California born and bred boy, I decided to break it in with some good ol Costco Tri Tip. I went with a Santa Maria style rub and chimichurri which wasn't bad, but not really my forte in taste. The meat came out great even though I let the temp get away from me, accidentally pulled it at 130 instead of 120, a few bottles of wine will do that i guess....
Right before its 6 hour soak in the fridge
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And how she turned out:
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Not being super happy with the taste, I decided to go with a simple montreal steak rub, which came out AWESOME, although a tad salty and a little too much smoke, it still came out fairly tasty:
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So i'm hooked, I can't get enough. Since this last weekend i've loaded up on wood chunk and a few of Dizzy Pig's finest, still need to go back to get some Swamp Venom, but for dinner was a spatchcocked chicken. A nice 5lber that was rubbed over night with "shakin the tree" and popped on the grill indirect @ 400 , with more and more cooks under the belt I find it a little easier dialing in temp, though its still a tad challenging.
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The chicken was the absolute best tasting chicken I've had, the skin was crispy and juice was flowing out of all orifices, I had never seen bird so moist. I do think I'll need to season more under the skin next time but its a learning experience. Can't wait for more and more cooks to go through, this thing is definitely worth the investment.

Thanks for listening to my intro, see you on the next smoke!


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Comments

  • johnmitchell
    johnmitchell Posts: 7,364
    Well you have certainly come out the gate sprinting..Fantastic cooks and awesome pics. Oh yes and welcome to the Cult...I love your table and the back drop. Me thinks we are going to see some really fantastic cooks coming from that new egg... Great stuff !!!!
    Greensboro North Carolina
    When in doubt Accelerate....
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  • Gonnaneedabiggeregg
    Gonnaneedabiggeregg Posts: 59
    Welcome.  Looks great and off to a good start.  Looking forward to some more!
    South Jersey / XL Egg
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  • Chris_Wang
    Chris_Wang Posts: 1,254
    edited April 2014
    Nicely done! As for it tasting too smokey, don't forget to let the white smoke clear before you put your meat on. Even though the egg is dialed in at 400° and not going anywhere, make sure the lump is burning clean also.

    The tri tip looks out of this world good!

    Ball Ground, GA

    ATL Sports Homer

     

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  • GeorgeS
    GeorgeS Posts: 955
    +1 on the sprint! Nice job. Enjoy the addiction/journey.
    Bristow Virginia XL&Mini One of the best feelings in life is watching other people enjoy the food I cooked!
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  • cortguitarman
    cortguitarman Posts: 2,061
    Try the chicken skinless. Just as moist and more rub gets on the meat.
    Mark Annville, PA
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  • WeberWho
    WeberWho Posts: 11,527
    edited April 2014
    Food looks great. Love the color of the table.
    "The pig is an amazing animal. You feed a pig an apple and it makes bacon. Let's see Michael Phelps do that" - Jim Gaffigan

    Minnesota
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  • TexanOfTheNorth
    TexanOfTheNorth Posts: 3,951
    Welcome to the lifestyle and kudos on the fast start out of the blocks!
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Well, "spa-Peggy" is kind of like spaghetti. I'm not sure what Peggy does different, if anything. But it's the one dish she's kind of made her own.
    ____________________
    Aurora, Ontario, Canada
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  • boostfed
    boostfed Posts: 63
    Thanks Everyone!

    Couldn't have done it without all of the great info on here, I have a looong list of to-do's for this egg, it's like I'm learning the art of meat and fire all over again, heh.

    @chris_wang I usually let the egg warm up after about an hour or so to see how well I can control the temp. On the first tri-tip I went a little heavy on the chips, heh, lesson learned.

    @cortguitarman : skinless will be next! I love eating the skin, but if I can get a better flavor into the chicken it'd be worth the sacrifice.

    so many meats, so many rubs, so many variations, so little time ( and stomach room) hahah!
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  • lousubcap
    lousubcap Posts: 36,793
    Strong start and welcome aboard.  Enjoy the journey-degree of Kool-Aid consumption a matter of personal choice.
    Louisville; Rolling smoke in the neighbourhood.  Life is too short for light/lite beer!  Seems I'm livin in a transitional period. CHEETO (aka Agent Orange) makes Nixon look like a saint.  
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  • LBC Dawg
    LBC Dawg Posts: 116
    Hell of a good start right there. 
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  • tksmoke
    tksmoke Posts: 776

    Great start - Enjoy!!! 

    Spatchcock chicken is something I do very regularly (last night even).  It's soooo easy.  I generally don't eat the skin, but have never tried cooking it skinless.  I'll give that a go next time around.  It's sort of a shame to put on all that good seasoning, and only get a glimmer of the flavor.

    Santa Paula, CA
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  • SenorHuevo
    SenorHuevo Posts: 40
    Looks amazing!  I too am a new Egg owner.  Delivered on Friday, I have already cooked on it 8 times -- I haven't cooked inside since.

    +1 on that tri tip.  It's one of my favorite cuts.  Garlic, salt, and pepper usually does the trick, but I have found that when you throw in some cumin, cayenne, and paprika that it really hits the next level.

    It's so much fun.  Keep it up -- looks really good! 
    I will never cook inside again.
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  • fence0407
    fence0407 Posts: 2,244
    Looks great! Leftover spatchcocked chicken makes a great chicken parmesan...just sayin! Welcome! 
    Large - Mini - Blackstone 17", 28", 36"
    Cumming, GA  

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  • td66snrf
    td66snrf Posts: 1,838
    boostfed

    Nice job on the table and the cooks. What part of CA are you in?
    XLBGE, LBGE, MBGE, SMALL, MINI, 2 Kubs, Fire Magic Gasser
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  • boostfed
    boostfed Posts: 63
    @td66snrf Thanks! I'm located in the bay area, ca . I wonder how many NorCal members we have on here.
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