Big Green Egg [Cooking]

2011 Mar 11
With spring approaching, here's an update on my Big Green Egg escapades.

Over the winter, I made the apparently common mistake of leaving the Egg uncovered for some time, causing the melt/freeze cycle to fuse the upper and lower gaskets. Next time I used the unit, I warmed it from the inside before prying open the lid, and of course tore the gasket off the ceramic. So first and foremost, I need to replace the gasket! The Grateful Griller told me to supplement the self-adhesive of the gasket as follows: "You want to go and purchase a product called "permetex" at the big box hardware store, red tube, $8 and put it all around the ceramic rim and then re-apply the new gasket which will work much better."

Replacement gaskets for a Large BGE seem to be priced as follows:
* Internet... - $20 + $22 S/H
* Capital City Appliance - $35
* Fireplace Center and Patio Shop - $27

I'm finally succumbing to the inevitable and buying a temperature controller to facilitate overnight and all-day cooking! These controllers are uniformly overpriced for what they are but it's a pretty small niche market so that's the way it goes. I'm using money I received as a gift for this. Nice gift!! After careful analysis, I decided on the Rock's Bar-B-Que Stoker unit (www.rocksbarbque.com). It offers more features for slightly less money than the industry-leading BBQ Guru product. Also, it can tweet! (Geek alert!) I already reserved a twitter ID: twitter.com/warbyq ;-)

2011 Mar 11
Let us know how it goes!

I was thinking of going with a controller but have only started looking around. Another forum I was looking at was raving about something called the "Pitmaster"... the unit is (relatively) cheap, but I haven't sat down to compare it against the competition. It also looks kinda hokey too... store.pitmasteriq.com


2011 Mar 11
I make my own PID temperature controllers for sous-vide, meat-curing and smoking etc, and I have to say that the systems you guys are looking at are not really that outrageously priced for what you are getting. Buying a PID + Relay + temp probes + box + fan + time and energy comes to more than one might think. I only do it because I want a custom system.

Can I suggest you look at Auber (www.auberins.com/) it will satisfy your inner geek, and yes, they make BGE units....I have no links to them, other than being a happy customer.

I'm hoping this helps allay any residual guilt you might be feeling ;-)

2011 Mar 11
biff and Single Serving, the units you each mentioned are great value for sure! The main thing they're missing (for me) is the ability to also monitor the temperature of the food.

The Rock's Stoker and the BBQ Guru both regulate the temperature of the fire using a probe on your cooking grate but they also can monitor the internal temperature of your meat using a second probe. This way, you can remotely check to see if the meat is finished! In the Stoker's case, you can get it to send a Tweet when the internal temperature of your meat reaches some value (also if the fire temperature goes too low or high).

Thanks for the guilt allayment. I appreciate it! :-)

2011 Mar 11
warby - nice score! i have read nothing but great things about the Stoker controllers. dual probe = essential and the tweeting/web server feature is pretty nifty.

biff - if you want a basic unit at a slightly lower pricepoint, check out BBQ Guru's NanoQ. i would also suggest scouring BBQ forums/message boards for a used unit.

Single Serving - Auber is a great company to deal with. i was going to build my own PID for my Bradley but after pricing it out i might have only saved ~$40-$50 over buying one of their pre-fabbed units (which works like a charm by the way). it should be noted they are definitely a different animal than a BBQ Guru or Stoker, though.

2011 Mar 12
Oh, man. I'm totally following your BBQ now.

If it weren't for the BBQ Guru that I purchased I'd totally buy "iGrill: The First Bluetooth Enabled Grilling and Cooking Thermometer."

www.amazon.com

It's ridiculous. But it can be controlled from your i[Phone|Pad|Pod Touch]!

2011 Mar 12
Fresh Foodie

I have the same problem with my first egg during the winter months. I have started to put three wooden shims between the base and the dome once it has cooled down sufficiently and have had no further issues.


2011 Mar 12
Hmm...

Fresh Foodie, does a dual probe solution moderate the air also based on food temp? Or is it there for convenience of reading the food temp/setting an alarm at the same time?

Monty, did you go with a BBQ guru? it sounds like you went with a commercial solution.

Darn it... must..keep..visa..in..wallet...


2011 Mar 12
biff, it's the latter. Airflow is affected by fire temperature only. The food temperature is there for convenience. The only theoretically potential usefulness of connecting the two might be to extinguish the fire once the food is cooked, but these ceramic cookers retain heat so well that turning off the fire would have a very delayed (i.e. culinarily detrimental) effect.

2011 Jul 14
Fresh Foodie, how's your Stoker doing? I plan on getting one if my wife agrees, though I'm a little worried about custom charges when shipped to Ottawa. Looks like the Stoker has WiFi built in now!

2011 Jul 14
MrChowy, yes I heard about the WiFi capability. I'll be cursing my bad luck each time I lug out the 16 foot ethernet cable and feed it through my kitchen window! They've also made it more weatherproof, which would save me having to invert a giant stainless steel bowl over it in adverse weather conditions.

The Stoker is doing quite well, although I did have to disassemble it once to retrieve parts after one of my plugs fell apart. I glued the pieces of the plug back together and it seems to work well again. So I'm not thrilled with the build quality but it's working well enough!

2011 Jul 15

2011 Dec 22
Hey warby, how low can that pit master thingy regulate the temp on the egg? Can it get it below 200F?

I am about to become an egghead thanks to a small inheritance, and that thing looks like da bomb! The guy at the fireplace store on Carling showed me how to get it down to 200F but I'm hoping one of those things could get it a bit lower.

2011 Dec 23
I am looking for help to make Christmas eve's smoked turkey a reality. I need one or two helpers to lift our Big Green Egg BBQ (approx 140 lbs) while I scoot its cradle underneath. (We moved and it was never put together.) Turkey is needed for the 24th (the last one we did was cooked for 18 hours but it was bigger) so the helpers would be needed any time from now till the 23rd. Message me if you are able to help and when. Thank you in advance.

2011 Dec 23
zymurgist, I've never tried going below 200F but I'd imagine it is possible. The lowest I've dialed the control to was 205F. The only limiting factor I can think of for the lower bound of the temperature is the "point of no return" beyond which no amount of fresh air will revive the fire. I suspect this point is well below 200F!

2011 Dec 23
So my other concern with that - any chance the blower is going to rouse some ash that will end up on your food? I've used hairdryers with my smoker and found out the hard way that this is more than just theoretically possible :-)

2011 Dec 23
The blower is much weaker than a hairdryer. Mine blows just 5 cubic feet per minute. No problems with ash. This may be in part because smoking is always done over indirect heat so any ash would first contact the plate setter rather than the meat. Also, the BGE with lump charcoal produces precious little ash anyway -- I estimate maybe 2 or 3 cups of ash from a 15 hour smoking session.

2011 Dec 24
Thanks. Now I have to figure out whether I have time to go to the fireplace store before noon today - they close at noon until after new years

EDIT: got it!

Any tips for cooking a turkey on it?

2011 Dec 24
$800 for a used one locally if anyone is looking for a deal

ottawa.kijiji.ca

2011 Dec 25
OK, I have the nest together and don't see anything in the instructions or in the DVD that came with the egg about putting the egg in there. I watched the video on assembling the egg but it does not mention the nest.

Do I just place the bottom part of the egg into the nest? Does it not fasten in any way? Just sits there?

2011 Dec 25
And it is all together - with some minor problems include incorrect parts in the box. But it was minor enough to be swappable with no issues. The biggest "issue" was that I somehow left the retailer without my side shelves, and once you have it together you can't really put them on after-the-fact. So I decided to put it together anyway since I want to build a table for it this summer and get rid of the side shelves. I'll go back to the retailer and ask about a refund on the shelves

I'm hoping to cook the bird in it tomorrow - we'll see. Still need to get a 1/2" deep socket to tighten down the bands better that hold the lid to the base. If there is a big box store open tomorrow then I'm golden.


2011 Dec 26
My first bird (and first anything) is on there for about an hour now with some soaked mesquite chips. Can't wait!

2011 Dec 26

2011 Dec 27
nice looking bird, I like the idea of doing it in the pot standing up. Bet it tasted great.

2011 Dec 27
Oh it was really good!

And I just learned about flashback - check it out


2011 Dec 27
Bird looks amazing, congrats zym.

2011 Dec 27
My poor man's chimney starter worked well - would like to find a much larger can with similar dimensions (taller than wider)


2011 Dec 27
Pizza was outstanding! I would have left it another minute or two except for the burning around the edges which I noted in the video.


2011 Dec 28
Brunch time!


2011 Dec 28
lmao, on the flashback video....had the exact same thing happen....lol

my solution was a good pair of weldor gloves that come right up to my elbow


2011 Dec 28
From what I have read flashback is only caused when you take a really hot fire, then rob it of oxygen, and then allow oxygen to rush in. I did the above knowing that I was creating the conditions and so I was expecting it.

So the best solution would seem to be to not create the conditions which cause it - and that is relatively easy to do. e.g. when shutting down the dampers after you are done cooking, do so after removing the food, not before.

This seems to be the definitive source on the matter - nice video at the bottom too :-) Jump right to about 2:30 for the action.

www.nakedwhiz.com/flash.htm

2011 Dec 28
The Naked Whiz is a great resource for using the Egg. He also has lots of recipes including a great primer on doing a paella.

I have been addicted to egging for the last 4 years and have learned to always be wary flashbacks. I even had one shoot out the bottom vent. Inevitably they are caused by the grate holes becoming clogged -- either from ash build up or small pieces of lump that get lodged. A good practice is always to burp the egg when opening it and wearing good gloves.

2011 Dec 29
And it is burgers tonight!



Can't say they were my best ever but they sure were the most fun to cook!

2011 Dec 29
congrats on the new toy! always enjoy your videos.

is that the L/XL? looks like a fair amount of grilling/smoking space.


2011 Dec 29
It is a large - and yeah it is a lot bigger surface area than my Brinkman.

Hope to get some bacon done in the next few weeks - stay tuned for the video :-)

BTW here is a good review of the Kamado that was at Costco a few months ago.


2011 Dec 30
It's 9:10 and -16C out there - time to fire up the kamado for some morning steaks!

2011 Dec 31
Hot: Wood-oven pizza
NOT: Frozen pizza

:-)

Forum - Hot and Not

2012 Jan 2
How to get your pizza onto a stone that has been pre-heating in the kamado




2012 Jan 6
Has anyone had any experience using one of these temperature control units with an offset barrel smoker. Right now I have an inexpensive barrel smoker that is very inefficient. I plan on moving to a Kamado cooker in the near future but would like to keep the barrel smoker especially if I could increase its efficiency

2012 Jan 6
I saw some videos on youtube of people using them with offset smokers. There are some even made for offsets with probes that go in each barrel (if I understood the video correctly).

2012 Jan 11
For my friends with a big green egg, Your Independent has pork shoulder and pork leg on for $1.00/lb. I was in the Billings and they had a nice 10.5 lb pork shoulder sitting there, just begging to be smoked.

2012 Jan 12
Thanks!

2012 Jan 12
Is the pork pre seasoned like Loblaws?

2012 Jan 18
More pork shoulder here at Nicastro's.

www.nicastros.com

$1.29/lb. More than Independent but 'Water Free' and I have never been disapointed with meat from Nicastro.