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Newbie first cook

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TGR
TGR Posts: 5
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
My large BGE arrived this afternoon. I had Christmas shopping to do this afternoon, so I had to wait til tonight to "break her" in. I did TNW's Spatchcock Chicken. My wife and I loved it. The only concern I have is, the dome temp dropping from 350 to 300 after I placed the chick on. I ended up,almost constently adjusting the lower vent and upper daisy wheel to try to maintain the desired 350. The cook took about l l/2 hours. Another thing I learned, use a polder. The meat next to the thigh bone was red. My ? is, is it normal to have to keep readjusting the vents like I was doing??[p]Thanks....this group is truly eggceptional
Ray
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  • El Jefe
    El Jefe Posts: 96
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    TGR,
    did one tonight myself. same thing happened temp-wise, had potatoes on at 350 for about 30 minutes, then put then chicken on. [p]thoughts on the temp drop (non-scientific):
    1. spatchcock chicken covers the majority of the cooking area, absorbing heat; and (related, i guess)
    2. the temp of the chicken (room at best) cools the cook until everything comes up to temp.[p]wouldn't worry about the red in the thighs, as long as you reached 180deg. somebody had posted around thanksgiving about the thighs being the most active part of the turkey/chicken and whatnot making the red color. we experienced it in our turkeyday bird and survived.[p]welcome and good eats!
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  • AZRP
    AZRP Posts: 10,116
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    TGR,
    If you had the temp stable at 350 before putting the chicken in, you can expect a drop in temp after opening the Egg and adding a cold bird. Just relax and the temp will come back up as the bird warms up. Glad you liked it. -RP
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  • Banker John
    Banker John Posts: 583
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    TGR,
    first of all, congratulations and welcome. Visit often and share your successes and failures. NEVER be afraid to ask![p]Have you calibrated your dome thermometer? Mine was off when I first received it. I would check it in boiling water and adjust to 212 degrees.[p]As for the constant adjustments of the vents, this is not necessary. If you take time to stabilize the temperature at your desired cooking temperature and allow for the ceramic mass time to warm up, you will find that adjustments during the cook become less of a concern. [p]Remember, there are 2 cooking methods taking place in the egg when cooking direct. You first have the radiant heat source that comes from the direct flame and then there is the convection effect or 'brick oven' effect that comes from the ceramic mass. I have found that a few extra minutes at the beginning before I start my cook makes for a better end result on most cooks that are in the temps below 400 and especially if you plan to cook indirect (using a plate setter or other heat shield). If you are doing a high heat sear, like on a steak or burger, then the preheating of the ceramic mass is not as necessary.[p]Enjoy your new cooking tool and treat it well. May I suggest a Lawn Ranger customized handle for your new egg?[p]Have you researched "back flash" with the egg? For safety sake, please take a moment to ask questions on it if you are not familiar with flash back. The Naked Whiz has a good site on this subject (fyi).[p]Banker John
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  • Pharmeggist
    Pharmeggist Posts: 1,191
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    TGR,
    Glad you had a good first cook. If you haven't checked out the Whiz website below it is packed with a ton of useful information concerning recipes and controlling fires in the BGE. I really like the T-Rex method for doing steaks.... I like using a vertical roaster to cook a whole chicken.. if you are interested in that check out this site just copy it and put in your address http://www.spanek.com/do/welcome.php My wife loves chicken done by this method... As far as redness next to the thigh this is not uncommon.[p]Happy Egging, Pharmeggist
    [ul][li]http://www.nakedwhiz.com/[/ul]
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  • TGR
    TGR Posts: 5
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    Banker John,I did check my thermometer and it was "right on". I waited for 30 min after the temp stabilized before I put the room temp chick on. As AZRP mentioned, the cold bird brought the temp down, also it was 35 degrees here in MN. Maybe I'm to impatient and started to "puts" with the vents....I' an avid reader of the TNW site[p]Ray

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  • Unknown
    Unknown
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    TGR,
    Good to hear you had good success. On adjustments, don't try to change too many things at once. If your temps were stable before you put the chicken on, they should come back after you close the dome again. Wait a good 5 minutes before changing anything. If you do need to adjust something, try just the lower vent. Adjusting both dampers changes the flow dynamics too much to be able to make fine adjustments.[p]Mike[p]One more thought,
    Align your daisy top so the pivot bold is in line with the front of the dome. Aligned otherwise is asking for upper damper changes every time you open the Egg.
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  • jwirlwind
    jwirlwind Posts: 319
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    TGR,
    Promise, it won't take you very long to get the hang of it. Enjoy !!!!
    Merry Christmas. [p]Chef Jerry

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