What accessories should I buy with the Big Green Egg?

[runwestierun]

I am a lucky lucky girl in that the new husband just told me he ordered an extra large Big Green Egg for me and we are going to go pick it up tomorrow. While I have pined for a BGE for many years, it has never been a pressing enough reality that I looked at the accessories. We live over 100 miles from the egg shop, so I'd like to get everything I need in one trip. I have no clue what is necessary. What did you/would you buy with your BGE?

[ElsieD]

Someone just posted a similar question re: what he should buy for his brand new Weber. I realize the egg is different (I have both) but you will get some answers to some of the tools you should get. I tried to find the post but could not. Specific to the egg, I would get an electric starter and the place setter so you can cook indirect. I also got the BBQ Guru which regulates the temperature but that is a pricey add-on. The BBQ Guru is available on-line. Hope this helps.

Edited to add: I would also get the contraption for beer can chicken but get the non-stick type, otherwise it will be a bugger to clean.

Edited August 27, 2010 by ElsieD (log)

[runwestierun]

Someone just posted a similar question re: what he should buy for his brand new Weber. I realize the egg is different (I have both) but you will get some answers to some of the tools you should get. I tried to find the post but could not. Specific to the egg, I would get an electric starter and the place setter so you can cook indirect. I also got the BBQ Guru which regulates the temperature but that is a pricey add-on. The BBQ Guru is available on-line. Hope this helps.

Edited to add: I would also get the contraption for beer can chicken but get the non-stick type, otherwise it will be a bugger to clean.

Thank you, Elsie. Could you please tell me more about this BBQ Guru? I see their website and got mightily confused.

[Kerry Beal]

Plate setter for sure - totally required for the indirect heat. A pizza stone (but doesn't necessarily have to be theirs). It would be nice to have the ash scraper, however not absolutely necessary as a big spoon will probably work. The grill lifter will be handy.

A rib rack (again, doesn't have to be their brand), a beer can chicken thing as mentioned above.

[MSRadell]

Could you please tell me more about this BBQ Guru? I see their website and got mightily confused.

It's a temperature controller and fan. You put the probate inside and it controls the fan to keep the temperature correct. The higher priced unit has 2 temperature probes, one for the air temperature and one for the meat temperature.

[peterm2]

I have heard that some of the cheaper pizza stones will break at high temperatures in the Egg, so I got one of theirs. The price wasn't too bad.

The Stoker is another temperature controller plus fan, that many people use. You can also control it wirelessly from your computer, smartphone, etc. once you get it set up. At the time I got it, the Guru couldn't do that, but they've since come out with a newer unit that might.

I think the above posters covered the essentials. Plate setter, pizza stone, beer can chicken thing (I got the Steven Raichlin one that comes with a "beer can" insert so I don't need a beer can handy to make the chicken stand up). Only thing I would add is some hardwood lump charcoal, not briquettes.

[runwestierun]

Thank you for your suggestions. We picked the Egg up and I got most of the accessories you all suggested--plate setter, rib rack, beer can chicken and beer can turkey racks, pizza stone, electric starter and ash scraper. I also got a cast iron grill grate, I loves me some cast iron.

I am fascinated by the BBQ Guru and the Stoker. At first I thought the Guru would be the right one for me, but then I learned the Stoker is hooked up to Twitter now. You can get a tweet from your meat and it will tell you it's temperature. Who wouldn't want a meat tweet??

I was up against a deadline tonight so the new husband cooked a flat iron steak in the virgin Egg for supper. He waayyy overcooked it, past medium, past medium well. No red, no pink. Not a fault of the Egg, he was just unfamiliar with it. But here's the thing: the meat was still juicy. What? Yep, juicy. Who ever heard of such a thing?

[runwestierun]

Per ElsieD's recommendation I got a BBQ Guru online and I could not be happier with it. I'd never even heard of it before so I am very thankful for the recommendation. If you are unfamiliar with it, it's an electronic device with probes that has adapters to make it fit on any BBQ or smoker. It regulates the temperature of your cooker and keeps track of the internal temperature of your meat so you don't have to babysit your fire.

You mount a fan in your cooker and then you stick one probe in your meat and another on your grate. The Guru uses the fan to keep the cooker temperature exactly where you want it. As the meat comes up to the temperature you've set, the fan ramps the cooker temperature down. It's genius and it works exactly like it says it will. You don't have to watch your fire all day if you are doing something low and slow. I love it. Thanks ElsieD.

[Kerry Beal]

Per ElsieD's recommendation I got a BBQ Guru online and I could not be happier with it. I'd never even heard of it before so I am very thankful for the recommendation. If you are unfamiliar with it, it's an electronic device with probes that has adapters to make it fit on any BBQ or smoker. It regulates the temperature of your cooker and keeps track of the internal temperature of your meat so you don't have to babysit your fire.

You mount a fan in your cooker and then you stick one probe in your meat and another on your grate. The Guru uses the fan to keep the cooker temperature exactly where you want it. As the meat comes up to the temperature you've set, the fan ramps the cooker temperature down. It's genius and it works exactly like it says it will. You don't have to watch your fire all day if you are doing something low and slow. I love it. Thanks ElsieD.

Which Guru unit did you choose?

[HungryC]

I don't bother with an electric starter (an oiled paper towel works just fine). The plate setter, a pizza stone, and a raised grid are the must-haves, to me. Check out www.ceramicgrillstore.com for nice raised grid setups...I bought the one that allows you to elevate the cooking surface, or flip it over and use it as a wok ring. Stir-fry on the Egg is a damn fine thing.

[runwestierun]

Per ElsieD's recommendation I got a BBQ Guru online and I could not be happier with it. I'd never even heard of it before so I am very thankful for the recommendation. If you are unfamiliar with it, it's an electronic device with probes that has adapters to make it fit on any BBQ or smoker. It regulates the temperature of your cooker and keeps track of the internal temperature of your meat so you don't have to babysit your fire.

You mount a fan in your cooker and then you stick one probe in your meat and another on your grate. The Guru uses the fan to keep the cooker temperature exactly where you want it. As the meat comes up to the temperature you've set, the fan ramps the cooker temperature down. It's genius and it works exactly like it says it will. You don't have to watch your fire all day if you are doing something low and slow. I love it. Thanks ElsieD.

Which Guru unit did you choose?

DigiQ DX. We chose not to get the Stoker or a bigger Guru because we don't do competition or run multiple cookers at once. It's nice that the Guru's are digital now, though. I like that.

[Kerry Beal]

Which Guru unit did you choose?

DigiQ DX. We chose not to get the Stoker or a bigger Guru because we don't do competition or run multiple cookers at once. It's nice that the Guru's are digital now, though. I like that.

Did you just get standard length probes? Is there anything about the BGE that would require anything longer than 6 foot? Also how big a fan did you feel was necessary?

[runwestierun]

I ordered the eight foot probes but they sent me the ten foot probes and I am glad I have them. I didn't want any side tables on my Egg (I have a weird 60 degree corner I shove my egg into and I thought the side tables would get in the way), so it's good to have that extra length to rest the control box anywhere I want. Also, the surface of the Egg heats up to about 245F, so I didn't want the electronic control box sitting right next to that heat for hours a day over years. The 10' leads let me put the box a distance away.

I got the 10 cfm fan because that is what Mr. Guru recommended on his site for my Egg. So far it has worked perfectly. Per. Fect. Ly. But I am the exact opposite of an expert because I just heard about the guru here for the first time 2.5 weeks ago and have owned one for only one week.

Kerry, maybe you might want to start a BBQ Guru/Stoker thread? Other people on eGullet must have much more valuable experience than I do with it. I'm still in the starry eyed heart thumpin' giggly phase of BBQ Guru ownership. They might be more jaded errrm levelheaded.

[peterm2]

The 5 cfm fan works great on my large Egg. I don't know if a bigger fan is completely necessary, but it certainly can't hurt. 10 cfm is generally what BBQGuru and Stoker recommend, but the 5 (standard on the Stoker) is fine.

If you want to extend your probes, you can just use stereo plug extenders - something like this