Doing a quick cook?

You are going through EXACTLY what I did when I started out.   Still learning a lot.  The one thing I have learned, is no matter WHAT I am cooking or what temp I desire, I need to allow about 30 minutes for me get the temp stable and where I want it to be.  When I started out, I starting cooking too soon on many things, and then I was chasing temps throughout the cook.  When I switched to only controlling the temp with the Daisy Wheel and leaving the bottom vent wide open, I gathered a lot more control for some reason.  It just because so much easier for me to only work one vent and now I am already getting to the point of knowing where it needs to be at for each temp I want.  Even Saturday Night when I did wings, I told my wife to remind me, that as soon as I get home, no matter what, LIGHT THE EGG if I am planning on using it so I have ample time to get the temp right where I want it.  I am so used to charcoal and worrying about it burning out and getting cold, that I forget how slowly the Egg burns the lump, so even if it sits there at Temp for 30 minutes before I start cooking, I don't waste much lump, and then it is even more stable when I do start to cook.

I have done a cook probably 5 out of the last 7 days of each week since I have got the Egg, so the one thing I can definitely recommend, is cook, cook, cook, cook......you will have some disappointments, but each one something will go off in your head about what you could have done differently, and the next time yo make the same thing, it comes out better and better.  Confidence builds fast, which tells me, when it is all said and done, everything they say about the Egg being easy to cook on is 100% accurate!

I still struggle with the beginning of the light, and it getting super hot, then cooling it down again so I don't over shot, etc, and I have a feeling, please correct me if I am wrong, when the fire lights, and you set your vents where you want them, the dome temp is going to read really hot, but as the airflow restricts to our vent settings, the temp will drop back down again as the fire mellows out to just burning lump.  I have started to light it, let it get to temp and a little above, then I add the grill/PS, temp drops, then I let it get back to about 10 degrees over what I want, put the meat on, and then closely watch the temp for the first bit of the cook to make sure it is under control and does not get too hot, then I never worry again.

It's fun getting better!!!!

DynaGlide said:

Allow me to simplify my question: If I want to cook wings at 350 direct raised and I expect this to take 30min to finish, do I need to allow time for the temperature to stabilize within the egg? Meaning I need to set say another 30min aside prior to putting the wings on for the egg to find its happy place?

Jstroke if I'm reading your comment correctly you're suggesting the egg temp was higher but the dome was reading low. I haven't started using my digital temp probes yet to do any sort of testing.