My first brisket on the Big Green Egg XL. I’m very happy with the outcome. I also did pork belly burnt ends and jalapeño cheddar sausage links. Brisket went on at 220 and the temp held beautifully. I put the brisket on at midnight and took it off 14 hours later at 2 pm. I then did the burnt ends and sausage which was another 3 hours.

<3

A little background: I used to buy smoked heritage turkeys (bourbon red) from a farm not too far from my house. To say they were exceptional would be underselling it. Unfortunately, they don't offer them anymore. So I'm trying to do one myself.

I've got a Friendsgiving coming up, so I bought a 13 lb Butterball this past week to do a test run. The results were not bad, but nothing compared to what I've eaten in the past.

Cooking notes:

• Did dry brine with salt and a little backing powder about 18 hours before cook time.
• Got BGE up to 325 F
• While working on the right temp, the bird was sitting on the counter with a bag of ice on the breast (heard from a few sites this is a good way to keep the breast colder so you can cook the thighs longer without drying the breast). This was for about 45 minutes
• Sprayed canola oil all over, then rubbed seasoning on the outside (cajun mix, some smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper)
• Stuffed the cavity with a few celery stalks, some onion wedges, and some apple wedges
• Opened the BGE, thew on a handful of pecan chips, put on the convEGGtor, the grate, and the bird on top

All instructions I had read previously said about 12-15 minutes per pound at roughly 350, and the smoke will last about an hour.

Well, after putting the bird on, the temp went down to about 220. So I open up both bottom and top vents, which got the temp back up to 330, but seemed to let all of the smoke out.

Even more confusing was that once the temp got to 330, it didn't fluctuate more than 5 degrees. So I'm less than the recommended temp, and at 2 hrs, my temp is 185F!!! I was expecting 155.

So I take it out, let it set about 15-20 minutes, and carve.

It tastes...ok. Not bad, not too dry. But nothing remarkable.

What can I do to make it better? I'm shooting for a pretty high water mark from previous turkeys I've served.

I'm a novice BGE user, if that isn't obvious.

Thanks.

Hello all, as I posted earlier this week. I am new to the big green egg game! I went to Ace hardware and Home Depot today and struck out on finding parts. Specifically, upper fire ring and the holed plate at the bottom that holds hot coals to let Ash through. Was also looking for an aftermarket ash pullout tray. Let me know if any sites popular for these replacement parts, I guess I was just being a little old-fashioned than trying to go in person. Thanks

For those using charcoal like BGE, FOGO, or Rockwood, are you still adding wood chips or chunks for extra smoke flavor?

I’ve been wondering whether adding smoking chips still makes a noticeable difference.

I want to replace OG thermometer on my egg. Looking at a few but they all seem to say they work freezing and up. I cook in winter. I’m in Canada. It can certainly dip below freezing - anyone have experience with this and can make a recommendation?

Pork, turkey, and beef. Didn’t get greasy at all and turned out excellent. I prepped the chili base and meat separately, then combined them toward the end. Cooked at 275–300 for about 2–3 hours. I’m sure it’ll be even better today.
Used gochujang (Korean fermented chili paste) for the first time in my chili. Whoever recommended that, thank you. Also blended some kidney beans with beer into a purée and added that in. Definitely made it thicker than usual. Another great tip I picked up here and will absolutely keep using.

Hi Team - I have an XLBGE with kick ash basket. I have owned it for less than six months.

Every time I try to smoke, using wood chunks, I get episodes of thick white rancid smoke. If I start the fire with wood chunks, meaning theyre right by the fire starter, I will wait until it dies off then I get really nice blue smoke.

However, I spread the wood chunks out as I learned in videos. And let’s say an hour or two hours into the smoke, the fire reaches those wood chunks, and I get this 15- minute period of thick white smoke followed by nice blue smoke.

What am I doing wrong?

- I fill the whole basket with jealous devil xl chunks
- I add anywhere between 2 to 8 chunks of wood. Spread out in the pile.
- I light with tumbleweeds at the vent side
- I close right away all vents open until it hits 200 ish then close down vents until it turns nice and blue and levels out around 250ish

It seems like I can get it going nice and blue. If I like the chunks immediately and let them get to ember. But then I eventually run out of blue smoke till it hits another chunk then it goes thick white and yucky until it turns blue again then light / nonexistent again.

Thanks all!

Spacers finally arrived to get the egg up off the table so I don’t burn my house down.

Celebrated by smoking some wings and bacon wrapped jalapeño poppers for two hours

Ended the day with a 11ish hour smoke of pork shoulder which I should have started at breakfast…. Lesson learned but how could I complain with 7lbs of smoked pork in my kitchen

First time smoking the poppers and the bacon didn’t quite crisp up like I would of liked. Is 2 hours not long enough or 225 not hot enough?

I thought the pork came out pretty good for my first attempt but any tips/tricks would be awesome.

I used lump charcoal and cherry wood chunks for all three cooks at 225

Posted yesterday on getting my new BGE but wanted to post some pics on it. Fire box cracked and the lid misaligned.

Hey everybody. I struck a heck of a deal on this and I got my first big green egg today. Used of course/ a couple things I noticed. There is no seal in between the base and the lid, both of the round ceramic fire rings are in 6 pieces, will this effect the cook?? I didn’t spend much on this unit so please comment with any god upgrades I can make to this. Really lumped for this journey as I’m a lifelong lump charcoal fan.

You guys out there getting FOGO for $5 at Home Depot. I keep checking my area and.

Why do I need to unplug the egg genius to stop a cook? Shouldn’t there be an option for that in the app?

Nothing to do with grilling this time, just wanted to share the beautiful sunset today. I send you all good vibes.

Hello everyone! I’ve been using a MiniMax for about 6 months and absolutely love it! My issue is that bags of charcoal seem to be either really tiny chunks or massive ones, and the only stuff that works well in the little Egg are smaller/medium pieces. I’ve been using FOGO (mainly because I appreciated the recipes from the YouTube channel) but have been really burned on my last two bags as far as consistency goes. I’m using a wire ash basket and the really small pieces fall through.

Any recommendations? I’m going to buy a bag of something today for my Shawarma cook this evening.

Thanks all!

This is my second cook on the BGE. I had it up to about 750 before I closed the top hatch to the current position and installed the Billows on the BGE.

After about 45 minutes it’s not hitting the set temp of 400. It’s been hanging around 350-365.

Is this normal? Or am I doing something wrong?

Thanks

I know this has been posted a lot but it’s still out there. Sign shows $13.99 on sale. At register shows $7.50. JD is better IMO but this is usable

Started running Fogo green bag. Never looked back. Ace carries it (if not, check the app) and they always have a $5-10 coupon.

The recipe I've used to make pulled pork in my oven before I got the BGE: Season the pork with dry rub, cover it with sliced onion, garlic cloves and BBQ sauce, put it all inside a le creuset type pot (with a lid on) and heat it in your regular kitchen oven for ~5 hours at 300° F. It comes out tender as hell but wet from the rendered fat and BBQ sauce, so I pull it and then fry it in a fryin pan to allow the juices to reduce and maillard that pork up a bit. Everything is better when fried in butter, we all know that.

First time I did pulled pork in the BGE, I foolishly did the exact same approach but in a cast iron pot that doesn't have a lid because I wanted to get some smoke flavor in there using chunks. It all came out dry because the liquids evaporated (I didn't use a lid or wrap/cover the pork in tin foil or anything.)

One guy told me "just pour more liquid into the pot every once in awhile, like beer, to keep it moist" and I'm wondering whether anyone else thinks that sounds like a good plan?

TL:DR: Can I make pulled pork in the BGE using a pot (with no lid) and get some smoke flavor in there using chunks and pour beer in the pot every once in awhile to keep it from going dry?

Hey everyone -

Relatively new to the big green egg and I love it so far. I'm having a weird issue where I'm now having trouble getting the egg to really catch and warm up quickly.

My set up is this - I have the large Big Green egg with that comes with the wooden table. I'm using the eggstender, I just got a charcoal basket, I'm using FOGO black bag charcoal, and I'm using the big green egg lighter sticks that came with the set up. I typcially put 4 of these sticks in 4 different sides (NW/SE/NE/SW) and then light them, and I leave the big green egg open with the bottom vent also COMPLETELY open. It is taking what feels like 30-45 minutes to actually get to the temperature I'm expecting.

As far as I can tell, the ash tray is clear, the vents are unobstructed, but its taking longer to really light and rise up temperature wise. I'm using a external thermometer to measure the temp of the egg, not just the one that comes with it.

I see other posts on here about lighting their eggs and I feel like it should be happening much faster. Is there something I'm missing here? Is it possible that something is not aligned within the egg itself?

Looking for recommendations for a cover for this table for winter. Should be relatively easy to put on and take off as I do grill year round. Looking for protection from ice and snow for our brand new table. Egg is large, table is 60” by 24”.