Big Green Egg

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#121

Yo Sweep!

If I came over to your house and we were gonna grill, would you rather cook on a Weber Genesis or your Traeger? (Serious question–a big decision depends partly on your answer.)

#122

Hello? I know Sweep is posting today.

#123

Trick question. What are we grilling?

#124

Hmmmm…I’ll tell you what we’re cooking, and you tell me what tool you’d use.

  1. Burgers and hot dogs for my son’s T-ball team.

  2. Chicken breasts and sirloins for the extended family (12 people)

  3. Ribeyes or NY strips for somebody I want to impress (either a potential client or a female…assuming my wife isn’t home)

  4. Brisket and pork ribs (I’m assuming you’ve cooked these on the Traeger by now)

(edit - I realize that #4 is not like the other 3. But answer it anyway. Out of sheer curiosity.)

#125
  1. Weber, no question

2-a) Chicken I’d probably stick to the Weber as well. Traeger does chicken good too, but sometimes it tastes a little off. Probably user error though.

2-b - 3) This could go either way depending on your style. Likely the Traeger. I’ve gotten the timing down pretty good now. But, you don’t get that nice sear or grill marks like you could with a Weber so this one comes down to personal preference.

  1. Traeger without a doubt. You’d have to experiment with a few different flavors of pellets to find the right one (or mix), but done correctly the Traeger provides some excellent brisket (haven’t done ribs but I’m confident the outcome would be the same).
#126

^Did you wrap your brisket?

How long did you cook it?

Did you have to refill your pellets, or can it go 8-9 hours without a refill?

#127

I’ve only done it once and since I’m new to smoking meat I used the Traeger recipe.

http://www.traegergrills.com/recipes/beef/traeger-brisket

It turned out great. Now that I know enough to be dangerous I can get a little more creative.

Regarding the pellets…I’m not sure because I didn’t start with a full tank. I topped it off a few hours in and still had some left over when it was done so I think a full tank could probably handle it.

It was damn tasty. Could still get much better if I went out to eat, but it’ll be fun to play around with.

#128

Sweep - What model is your Traeger? What is the max temp?

I’ve got my eye on a Traeger and a Green Mountain. Trying to decide if I should buy one and risk a divorce over it.

edit - I guess my point is this–the Green Mountain has a lower minimum and higher maximum temp than a Traeger. All else equal, I’d by a GMG just for that. But if the Traeger can get up to 500, then I’d probably stick with that, because I can’t imagine needing to get the temp higher than 500 for anything. (And if I need that, I can just use my Egg.) +

The main attraction for wanting a pellet pooper is because I can cook larger volumes of food when I have some kind of big event that I’m cooking for (church, family gathering, etc.). If it’s just for my family of four, then I can just stick with the Egg.

I’m also thinking about buying a Camp Chef griddle, but that’s a conversation for another day.

#129

Since it’s Spring Break and I can go to the church bible study in the morning, I volunteered to cook breakfast.

Brisket biscuts.

It’s a pretty simple concept. Brisket on a biscuit. Sure you can put cheese on it, or a fried egg. But at its core, it’s just a brisket biscuit.

Bought a 12-lb Prime brisket. Put it on the BGE at 5:00 at 250 degrees. I think it’ll be ready by 4:30 a.m. or so.

#130

^ :+1: :+1: :+1: :+1:

#131

Brisket Biscuit sounds freaking awesome.

#132

I made brisket on the egg for the first time. It’s hard without the fancy temperature controls. I had to set alarms in the night based on temperature hahha

#133

^It takes a little practice. Once you figure it out, you’ll be making brisket on the reg. (Heh, heh…on the egg on the reg.)

And yes–it was fabulous beyond belief. I timed the brisket just right so that it got to 195 degress internal temp right at 4:30 this morning, which was when I wanted to pull it off. So at 6:00 a.m., when we dug into it, it was divine.

#134

Greenie, Big Green Egg in this Benny Blanco video.

[video:https://youtu.be/56WBK4ZK_cw?t=16]

#135

Somebody recently PM’d me asking about my Egg. Here’s my response, for all to see.

I got mine at a small, family-owned place in San Antonio. I think it was called Jeff’s Back Yard. But Jeff sold it several years ago. You can get them at a lot of hardware stores and “outdoor living” places.

A large BGE, complete with a platesetter, ash tool, and gripper (all necessary tools) will probably cost around $1,000. I also have a stainless steel table that cost about $800. Plus, I bought a BBQ Guru for $400, a grid-raiser (so I can cook on two levels, or twice as much food) for about $100, a special bottom grate and a special top. I bet I have about $2500 in it.

Pros - the food on a BGE tastes better than any other grill. Period. It’s juicier, tenderer, and has more flavor. Even your mistakes on a BGE will taste better than your successes on a Weber Genesis. Plus, it can do anything. Bake, roast, broil, sear–you name it. It can cook brisket at 225 for 15 hours, or it can sear a ribeye at 750 for two minutes. No drippings to clean up, no flare-ups, no gas. Just great food. Plus, the grill should last a lifetime. There are no moving parts or electronics to break.

Cons - It is pricey. There is a learning curve. It’s not as easy as “turn the knob and push the button” like you get on a gas grill. And the cooking area is relatively small. (I have the Large. Wish I got the XL.)

That said–if you want a BGE, my recommendation is to look at them, research them, figure out exactly what size you need–then buy one size bigger. Grills are like TV’s. Nobody ever said, “Darn, I wish I had gotten a little bit smaller.”

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#136

Yo, Greenie - I may shortly be in possession of property that has private outdoor space for the first time in my adult life, so naturally my first purchase is going to be a kamado grill. I’ve done some high level research on kamados (read: I lazily watched a bunch of youtube videos) and seems like KamadoJoe has surpassed the BGE as the market leader. I know you’re a BGE guy, but have you ever looked into KamadoJoe?

Also, this thing looks pretty awesome, but seems like the tech is still too nascent and buggy judging by the reviews I’ve read:

BTW, thank you for this epic thread.

#137

KINGGGGG KONGGGGGGGGG… i miss you bro.

#138

Remember 15 years ago when there were about a dozen different MP3 players? There was the Microsoft Zune, the Rio, Sony Walkman, iRiver, etc. And though they were perfectly good MP3 players, it was hard to get customer support, no accessories fit them, nobody know how to use them, etc.

But there was one MP3 player that you could always count on working and doing a good job. Everybody understood it. It was easy to find accessories for it. And it lasted for years and years until it finally got cannibalized by the iPhone. I’m talking about the iPod.

Big Green Egg is kinda like the iPod of the Kamado industry. Great customer service, been around a while, you can always find toys to go with it, etc. It will probably be around longer than most of the others. Don’t know if it’s the best, but I know that it will be around as long as Kamados are around.

There are plenty of brands to choose from. Primo is another good one. (That would be my second pick.) There’s Komodo Kamado (that sounds an awful lot like “commode”). And there’s Pit Boss (which I’ve never actually seen). I’m sure they’re all similar.

I’ve never heard of “Everdure By Heston”, so I can’t comment on it. Based on the very little I’ve seen of it, it looks like a “Lexus” of the grill industry. You know what a Lexus is, right? It’s basically a Toyota, but you get a slightly upgraded interior package and different decal on the front that costs a fortune, because snooty people like Lexus more than they like Toyota (for no good reason). It looks like more “vanity” than “quality”.

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#139

I watched the video of the 4k. I wouldn’t buy one.

  1. They’re overpriced.
  2. They have too many mechanical/electrical parts (which are certain to break if you keep it outdoors). BGE has none.
  3. I’m sure it will cost a fortune to have serviced.
  4. Fires aren’t that hard to start, and you can get temperature regulators than have Bluetooth technology built in, like the BBQ Guru.
  5. It looks like you’ll have to buy all of their toys, because the toys off the shelf at Lowe’s probably won’t work with it. Plan on shelling out more dough.

It’ll probably work, but I think it will underperform, especially for the cost. (Unless you just have Ohai-type money to burn, then get one and let me know how it goes.)

#140

Thanks man, appreciate your insight as always. Two other questions:

  1. Do you also own a gas grill? I feel like it’d be a pain to fire up a kamado every time I wanted to grill a quick steak or burger or something for dinner during the week after getting home from work.
  2. Do you own a Looftlighter or do you light your coals the old fashioned way?