Cooking on a Big Green Egg

[curls]

Wish I could have gotten a picture of this chicken on the Kamado Joe but it was a bit too dark outside. Last night's dinner, spatchcocked chicken - un-brined, spiced with Dizzy Pig Crossroads, direct heat near the gasket, ~375 F for 50 minutes. This is the first cook where we really got a sense of the advantages of kamado cooking -- such a juicy and tasty bird. I've had good chicken on the Weber but it has never been this moist. It fell apart a bit on the transfer from the grill to the cutting board.

[curls]

Yesterday I attended the Egg Fest at Dizzy Pig - DizzyFest 2018. Found a video that someone posted of the event that captures different parts of the event than I captured with photos.

 

And some of my photos from the event...

 

House Yearwood was my favorite of the day with smoked turkey, carnitas empanadas, stuffed peppers, and maple smoked chocolate chip muffins. Their samples were disappearing too fast for a picture! They did not win the people's choice award but they did come in second place (and this was their first time cooking at DizzyFest). They also provided recipes for all their cooks.

 

This group made three salmon filets on the BGE, very tasty. They encouraged people to take as much as they liked. They also made macaroni & cheese and a fish stew (with sea bass, coconut milk, peppers, onions, and a few more ingredients that I do not recall).

 

 

Beautiful marrow bones! Sadly the serving size was a 1/4 teaspoon of marrow on a piece of toast.

 

 

This was a fun event and most of the food was good to very good but I was hoping to find Kerry Beal and Anna N. style participants and sadly there was no one there of their caliber of cook quality and creativity. Maybe I'll have the time to check out the Toronto EggFest some day!

Edited May 6, 2018 by curls
updated to provide more detail (log)

[Kerry Beal]

2 hours ago, curls said:

Yesterday I attended the Egg Fest at Dizzy Pig - DizzyFest 2018. Found a video that someone posted of the event that captures different parts of the event than I captured with photos.

 

 

 

This was a fun event and most of the food was good to very good but I was hoping to find Kerry Beal and Anna N. style participants and sadly there was no one there of their caliber of cook quality and creativity. Maybe I'll have the time to check out the Toronto EggFest some day!

 

Some nice looking stuff! The bone marrow in particular called out to me. Did you get any details on how they had cooked it?

 

The Toronto Eggfest is not going to be until the fall this year - Toronto Eggfest

 

I had a call the other day (and a drop off of a new product) from Marc who makes Cluck and Squeal. He's making a new product called Tasty Hot - all peppers - 'spike to taste'. Quite lovely - going to be playing with it over the next little while. He mentioned there is an eggfest happening in Delaware, Ontario (up near London) on June 9 - OMA eggfest. Unfortunately I am without sitter that weekend and won't be able to attend. 

[curls]

1 hour ago, Kerry Beal said:

Some nice looking stuff! The bone marrow in particular called out to me. Did you get any details on how they had cooked it?

 

The Toronto Eggfest is not going to be until the fall this year - Toronto Eggfest

 

I had a call the other day (and a drop off of a new product) from Marc who makes Cluck and Squeal. He's making a new product called Tasty Hot - all peppers - 'spike to taste'. Quite lovely - going to be playing with it over the next little while. He mentioned there is an eggfest happening in Delaware, Ontario (up near London) on June 9 - OMA eggfest. Unfortunately I am without sitter that weekend and won't be able to attend. 

I too wanted more details on the bone marrow but it is one of the few that I have no more information on -- whenever I walked by their tent they seemed a bit too busy to talk -- they also kept their egg a bit farther back from the table so I wasn't even able to see if they were cooking the bones direct or indirect. Only thing I can tell you is that they put the bones directly on the grill.

 

The Tasty Hot product sounds interesting. I'll make a note about the Toronto eggfest on my calendar but odds are better for 2019.

 

Have you had a pig shot? I hadn't seen those before and they were a nice bite and a crowd pleaser. Plenty of ABTs and moinks (but those I knew about).

Edited May 6, 2018 by curls
added links to recipes and additional information (log)

[Kerry Beal]

42 minutes ago, curls said:

 

Have you had a pig shot? I hadn't seen those before and they were a nice bite and a crowd pleaser. Plenty of ABTs and moinks (but those I knew about).

 

I have not! Looks intriguing.

[Kerry Beal]

One of the nurses is a serious fisherman - yesterday I was gifted a salmon fillet - brined overnight in salt, brown sugar and molasses. Pulled out the pin bones after brining (less smelly hands I find).  Off to the fridge for the day to get a pellicle - later today about 5 hours hot smoke - haven't decided on the wood yet.

 

 

 

[curls]

I'm still acquiring various smoking wood chunks so my choices are quite easy: oak or hickory. I've got dibs on an old apple tree for smoking chunks and wood turning blanks. Trying to get more fruit woods.

 

Which woods do you like to smoke with?

[Kerry Beal]

Just now, curls said:

I'm still acquiring various smoking wood chunks so my choices are quite easy: oak or hickory. I've got dibs on an old apple tree for smoking chunks and wood turning blanks. Trying to get more fruit woods.

 

Which woods do you like to smoke with?

I like apple, alder, cherry - I always used hickory when I smoked Indian Candy when I lived in the Queen Charlotte Islands - my dad had a friend who's company made axe handles - so I had an unlimited supply of hickory shavings for my Little Chief smoker.

 

 

[rotuts]

Cherry is very very nice.

 

I always same the cherry wood that sometimes comes w my cord wood.

 

hunt down an old cherry tree.  well worth it.

[chileheadmike]

I haven't been able to find alder here, I like it a lot with fish. I generally use pecan now.

 

I have a big bag of cherry that I like with brisket. I may add a chunk or two of hickory.

 

Pork gets hickory and/or apple.

 

Chicken gets pecan.

 

I have some grape vine I occasionally use.

 

My wife bought me a back of used Maker's Mark bourbon barrel wood.  Interesting, but I don't get any hints of bourbon, just the oak. 

[curls]

1 hour ago, rotuts said:

Cherry is very very nice.

 

I always same the cherry wood that sometimes comes w my cord wood.

 

hunt down an old cherry tree.  well worth it.

Yup, I’m working on that. Next time I get to my local pick your own orchard I’m going to ask them if they have some cherry, peach, and plum wood that I can take off their hands. 

 

Need to do some research and make sure plum and peach woods are safe to burn/smoke.

[rotuts]

branches work fine if they are thicker than you finger.

 

they do pruning from time to time for sure

 

I don't really know if bark by itself has the same aroma's as the inner wood.

Edited May 8, 2018 by rotuts (log)

[chileheadmike]

I've used peach in the past and didn't care for it. Seems safe enough, I'm still here.

[kayb]

4 hours ago, chileheadmike said:

I haven't been able to find alder here, I like it a lot with fish. I generally use pecan now.

 

I have a big bag of cherry that I like with brisket. I may add a chunk or two of hickory.

 

Pork gets hickory and/or apple.

 

Chicken gets pecan.

 

I have some grape vine I occasionally use.

 

My wife bought me a back of used Maker's Mark bourbon barrel wood.  Interesting, but I don't get any hints of bourbon, just the oak. 

 

I have been somewhat successful in soaking hickory chips in bourbon and using them. I bought a big box of assorted flavors of wood chips from Amazon -- mesquite, cherry, oak, hickory, alder, apple, maybe a few others I'm forgetting -- and I've been experimenting with what goes with what.

[Kerry Beal]

 

Not my prettiest smoked salmon. Next time I'll cut into managable chunks and I will remember to pan spray the rack.

[curls]

Any kamado cooks planned for the weekend? Since it is a holiday weekend in the States, I am hoping to do a few cooks. Possible options are hot dogs & hamburgers, steak & chicken fajitas, and steaks. Sides will most likely be done in the kitchen.

 

A few weekends ago I did a low and slow cook for some ribs. I was happy with how they turned out but would have cooked then an hour or so longer if I hadn't needed to clean up and go to sleep.  

 

Sometime soon, I hope to do some dutch oven cooking in the kamado. I'll probably start with a chili and work my way up to fish stew and the like.

[rustwood]

I did some spare ribs the other day and will be doing a brisket tomorrow (rain or shine). 

 

The rib cook went a little sideways, but they come out just fine. The ends of the ribs were sticking out beyond the deflector so they were a little dry, but I expect that when I crowd the cooker with ribs.  I had planned to cook them at 240, but my kamado overshot to at least 270.  After sampling one of the ends, I realized they were quite spicy so I foiled them with brown sugar and honey to even them out a bit - and to prevent them from drying out.  I should have known better and pulled them off onto a second tray while I foiled, but instead I worked with the lid open and the fire really got going by the time I was done.  I only left them on for another half hour or so for fear of burning the sugar, but by then they were already bending nicely.

 

The brisket will intentionally be a hot and fast cook tomorrow as I don't like risking a brisket (nor any meal for guests) on an unattended overnight cook - especially when there might be rain.  If I prep it tonight and start it early tomorrow, I should be able to get it done and properly rested in time for a not too late dinner. 

 

Edited May 27, 2018 by rustwood
spacing (log)

[gfweb]

For sale at a cooking outlet store affiliated with Kitchen and Company. A miniBGE. So tiny it could hold one NYStrip.

 

$400 less stand. 

[rustwood]

I think all of the mini BGEs are way overpriced, although I would like to have a mini-max ($599 list).  They are big enough to be more useful, but still heat up quickly for a quick grill. Of course there are many other possibilities for that sort of thing and nearly all of them are far more economical.

[Kerry Beal]

10 hours ago, gfweb said:

For sale at a cooking outlet store affiliated with Kitchen and Company. A miniBGE. So tiny it could hold one NYStrip.

 

$400 less stand. 

You know this is the size we use when we are up north?

 

Cost me $400 CDN as I recall without stand and I've picked up the better stand for it - it used to be in the ring stand that apparently had a tendency to let the egg snap in half and the bottom fall off.

 

 

[gfweb]

1 hour ago, Kerry Beal said:

You know this is the size we use when we are up north?

 

Cost me $400 CDN as I recall without stand and I've picked up the better stand for it - it used to be in the ring stand that apparently had a tendency to let the egg snap in half and the bottom fall off.

 

 

 

Can it fit more than I think?

[Kerry Beal]

40 minutes ago, gfweb said:

 

Can it fit more than I think?

We've done a small spatchcocked chicken, about 6 lamb chops (not at the same time of course). It's not huge by any means. These days I'd get the mini max - it's the same size as the medium only short.

 

 

[curls]

I've been a bit busy... not too much time for cooking or posting photos but here are a few photos from a dinner in July. Beef is from Costco -- forgetting the name of the cut right now but it is quite tasty and makes for nice fajita style preparations.

 

[Okanagancook]

Looks like sirloin...they have great sirloin.

[Kerry Beal]

Oops - forgot to take picture of the cooking, but picanha is the perfect BGE cook.