Cooking on a Big Green Egg

[Pilori]

I saw earlier in this thread that these can get up to 600+. Is it possible to get ~800 for pizza?

[Kerry Beal]

I saw earlier in this thread that these can get up to 600+. Is it possible to get ~800 for pizza?

Yup! You'll want to change your gasket first or you'll cook the one you've got - but it can be done.

[Kerry Beal]

Didn't want to stink up the house tonight - so I cooked bacon on my BGE. Rack on a baking sheet, plate setter for indirect. Perfect crispy bacon - no smell (except for the smell that brought the neighbour out to see what I was cooking).

[Chris Hennes]

Stink?! Bacon!? Sacrilege!

What temp were you at?

[Kerry Beal]

Stink?! Bacon!? Sacrilege!

What temp were you at?

Great smell day one - not so good day two!

Temp crept up from about 300 to around 500 by the time it was crisp.

Grease filled drip pan and rack are still sitting in the egg - by the time I fish it out tomorrow it will be nicely congealed.

[Kerry Beal]

Couple of pork tenderloins - marinated in lime juice, palm sugar, fish sauce, garlic, sriracha, lemon grass and ginger. Cooked direct at 450 F. Amazingly moist.

After these came off I ramped down the temperature a bit - then cooked a little meat loaf right on the grill and roasted a whole cauliflower to be used for what ever tomorrow.

[Okanagancook]

We're new to BGE cookery. Hubby tried to make his usual Paul Reinhart bread in the BGE. He used the pizza stone and set a small container on it for the water component of the bake. The loaf turned out well but the crust did not crisp up nor was it very brown. He thinks it was because there wasn't enough moisture in the BGE but we don't see how you can get more moisture going due to the limited space on the pizza crust. That is, a larger more shallow pan could provide more evaporation. Has anyone got a suggestion.

[andiesenji]

I can't say how to do it with a BGE but I have a friend who has a huge Kamodo that is essentially the same type cooker/smoker.

He fixed a hook into the top of the lid and hangs a small stainless steel pail 1-quart (bought in a feed store) that he fills with water and hangs by the bail onto the hook - he has to do this when the lid is partially closed - wears a Nomex gauntlet after burning his forearm, but it produces sufficient steam during the first few minutes of baking to allow plenty of oven spring and a crisp crust.

The kind of pail is the 4th item down on this page

You can probably find one at a pet store.

Edited October 27, 2010 by andiesenji (log)

[HungryC]

Saw a few BGE cooking questions upthread and wanted to throw my 2 cents in:

--bread doesn't need any steam in the BGE, in my experience. If you're having problems with browning, increase the temp and raise the grid higher in the dome. Additionally, you can flip a mostly-cooked loaf over to even out the upper & lower browning. See these pretty loaves...

--naan cooked directly on a preheated stone is the way to go. the walls of my egg are pretty filthy/sooty, I wouldn't want to eat anything cooked on 'em. Use a half-moon stone and you can do bread & a protein at the same time; this photo shows pita cooking, but I do naan the same way.

The Egg is a great tool for stir-frying; the grid-raising ring sold by the Ceramic Grill Store inverts to hold a wok perfectly:

Finally, char-grilled oysters might be the best thing to cook on an Egg, bar none:

Edited October 27, 2010 by HungryC (log)

[Kerry Beal]

I second the 'don't bother with water for bread' in the BGE. Doesn't seem to need it.

[Okanagancook]

Thanks all for the advice on the bread. Will give it a try. Oh, those oysters look wonderful and naan is next up. We had a two inch ribeye on the BGE and wow, great charcoal flavour.

[HungryC]

Found the photo of naan on the Egg:

Flatbreads are made for Egging; I use Anissa Helou's Savory Mediterranean Baking and Alford & Duguid's Flatbreads & Flavors all the time.

One last Egg photo--hasselback potatoes:

[Kerry Beal]

Dinner tonight - a tri tip. First I've ever made.

I also took cooked some sweet potatoes for the rug rat to eat over the next few days.

[Kerry Beal]

Dinner tonight via the BGE - some seasoned burgers from a local market that handles wonderful meat. Also cooked up a few veal and spinach sausages - should make some nice low carb snack food for the next few days.

[Anna N]

Dinner tonight via the BGE - some seasoned burgers from a local market that handles wonderful meat. Also cooked up a few veal and spinach sausages - should make some nice low carb snack food for the next few days.

....

Kerry, those burgers and sausages look awesome. Did they both come from Marylu's? I always forget that place when it comes to meat - must head out there very soon.

Edited to fix typo - too early in the morning to be typing!

Edited November 7, 2010 by Anna N (log)

[Kerry Beal]

Dinner tonight via the BGE - some seasoned burgers from a local market that handles wonderful meat. Also cooked up a few veal and spinach sausages - should make some nice low carb snack food for the next few days.

....

Kerry, those burgers and sausages look awesome. Did they both come from Marylu's? I always forget that place when it comes to meat - must head out there very soon.

Edited to fix typo - too early in the morning to be typing!

Burgers from Marilu's but sausages from Denningers - picked up at half price and stored in the freezer a few weeks back.

[Beth Wilson]

I love Denningers! That is one of the things I miss the most about living up here. Great German food!

I just picked up a pork tenderloin on sale and was thinking of grilling it on the mini tomorrow....any favourite recipes or techniques you might suggest? DH actually picked up the tenderloin on sale and suggested it would be nice cooked on the egg. Eureka! I have converted him from gas bar-b-q. Now to start saving for a bigger egg!

[Kerry Beal]

I love Denningers! That is one of the things I miss the most about living up here. Great German food!

I just picked up a pork tenderloin on sale and was thinking of grilling it on the mini tomorrow....any favourite recipes or techniques you might suggest? DH actually picked up the tenderloin on sale and suggested it would be nice cooked on the egg. Eureka! I have converted him from gas bar-b-q. Now to start saving for a bigger egg!

Tenderloin seems to cook up beautifully - I'd probably just give it an hour with what ever your favourite marinade is right now, then grill. Pull at 135 F (57C).

[Kerry Beal]

Tonight - Buffalo Wings (or wings as Patris from Buffalo would say).

I sprinkled with baking powder and salt, let sit in the fridge for 8 hours, then cooked on the raised grill for 50 minutes at 450F.

Wonderfully crispy.

Right off the grill.

Post sauce - I probably didn't add quite as much as Franks Hot Sauce as some would.

[OliverB]

yesterday burgers made of about half pork half beef, s&p, a spritz of worcestershire, chopped onion, one egg and bread crumbs. Roasted parboyled potatoes.

Tonight a big skirt steak cooked at 500 degree for some 6 to 8 min, beans, baguette.

This week I'll be making a whole bunch of chicken at once, one for that nights dinner, the other to heat up again with teriaki sauce or something like that.

There's no week without a hot BGE :-)

[Okanagancook]

Kerry, do you find that you use the raised grill alot? I didn't get that accessory when I bought my large BGE. Those wings look really yummy and very crisp. Did a butterflied cornish game hen and it was fantastic after just 25 minutes at around 350. Have a couple of fresh free range chicken legs on there at the moment.

cheers

[Kerry Beal]

Kerry, do you find that you use the raised grill alot? I didn't get that accessory when I bought my large BGE. Those wings look really yummy and very crisp. Did a butterflied cornish game hen and it was fantastic after just 25 minutes at around 350. Have a couple of fresh free range chicken legs on there at the moment.

cheers

I've used it twice now - I suspect I will use it a fair amount. It's not the BGE raised grill but the one from the Ceramic Grill Store. I purchased a spider from them as well.

[HungryC]

I use my raised grid almost constantly--it is great for quicker-cooking foods like boneless/skinless chicken, turkey burgers, pork tenderloin, boneless pork chops, and so on.

[Okanagancook]

Thanks Kerry for the link, and Hungry C for the feedback. Looks like a useful item to have.

[Hombre]

Did anyone else see the Next Iron Chef episode where they used BGEs for high-temp grilling? I watched in horror as those who left their bottom vents open turn their grills into infernos. Why on earth did the producers pick a BGE for this type of grilling?

I was once a true believer, but I’ve fallen out of love with my large 18" BGE over the past few years. It’s great for smoking and making pizzas, but regular grilling is a chore on the BGE. You can’t create a low-temp area or safety zone, so you’re either at very high temps or going low and slow (and it takes a great deal of time to changes temps on the BGE once it’s hot). The gasket will burn off if you do any high-temp grilling, and replacing it takes some effort (I eventually bought an electric sander). And you’ll probably burn the hair off your arms at least a few times until you remember to “burp” it.

So I use my old Weber 22” kettle 90% of the time now. It’s just easier to start and clean, has more surface area, and allows me to create multi-zone fires for searing and then finishing things off more slowly. The good old Weber is once again my desert-island grill, but the BGE still comes in handy for certain applications (try putting a pot of beans with some chipotles on the place setter with a chili-rubbed pork shoulder over it on the grate, then smoke it for half a day. Smash up beans, serve with pork.)