The Big Green Egg

[Big_Blue]

Getting ready to get the Large model for at home. Used a Cabello's silver bullet water smoker for years. Mostly for the November turkey event. Then an occasional brisket during the summer. The thin sheet metal design made holding temperature an endless challenge. Especially so in Maine & in November.

Please share your experiences, recipes & recommendations.

If ths works, may get a medium size for RV'ing.

Cheers, Bob

[Woody69]

I have a large @ home, and take a Medium with us any time we go glamping. I built a table for it that holds it while travelling. They are very versatile cookers.

[5thwheeleroldma]

Cooking a good brisket is difficult on a kamado type pit. Even with using a pizza stone and a couple layers of foil beneath the cooking grid, it still burns the brisket up from the bottom because you have to leave it on so long, 10 - 18 hours. I finally found the answer; put a pizza stone and two layers of foil below, then suspend an extra grid above the cooking grid on top of two fire bricks, with a foil pan of water beneath the brisket. Finally got a great brisket; melts in your mouth!

To clarify; from the bottom up: charcoal fire, about 4"up the pizza stone and foil, about 6" above that the cooking grid, about 4" above that the brisket with a foil pan of water beneath it. Be sure the water pan does not run dry. Good luck!

Oh, and the pan of water helps to stabilize the cooking temperature at about 240 deg. Much harder to stabilize temperature without it.

[davosfam]

We bought a Rec Tec Mini to take on the road with us. Very heavy duty so should be able to handle travelling. We looked at the Greem Mountain Davy Crockett. It small and lightweight and even comes with wifi. The RT Mini is a little bigger. Can't go wrong with either one, especially if you're looking for portability.

Did our first tri tip on the Rec Tec the other night and it was delicious! Going to make tri tip quesadillas with horseradish sauce tonight with the leftovers.

[jnharley]

If we were some place for a couple of days, we would use it. We are cautious and always wanted to make sure that the fire was out so we would not use it on just an overnight stay, we stored ours in a clothes basket and it was easy to get in/out. The stand could be made smaller by loosening a couple of screws. We now have a green Mountain Davey Crockett pellet grill. To us, it imparts great smoky flavor to our meats, for steaks, we smoke them for 30 minutes at 180 degrees, remove them from the smoker, and then crank it up to 550 degrees and finish cooking, Makes a wonderful steak.

[diftw]

We have a large BGE and bought a BGE MiniMax in December to take camping with us. It is still heavy @ approximately 75 lbs but it comes in it's own "nest" with carrying handles on each side. I can carry it but is much easier with 2 people. Have used it quite a bit this winter since it is mainly my wife and I. Works great! Looking forward to having it with us this camping season so we can cook some our favorite meals while camping.

[Go_Dogs]

wbwood wrote:

jnharley wrote:
We carried a small BGE with us for 2 of our fulltiming years. We never had an issue with it. Fit in the basement of our 5th wheel and we cooked some quality food with it.

While you had fulltiming, how often did you move around and how often did you pull it out and put it back in? I think a small is in the 80lb range and only big enough for a couple of steaks (which is plenty for a couple). But for $560 and the weight, it's not something I would want to be moving in and out a lot. That's about like the weight of my spare tire and wheel. Not something I want to take in and out of my storage bin a lot... lol

That's why you should consider the PK oven!!!! Portable, bullet-proof, and precise temperature control!

[wbwood]

jnharley wrote:
We carried a small BGE with us for 2 of our fulltiming years. We never had an issue with it. Fit in the basement of our 5th wheel and we cooked some quality food with it.

While you had fulltiming, how often did you move around and how often did you pull it out and put it back in? I think a small is in the 80lb range and only big enough for a couple of steaks (which is plenty for a couple). But for $560 and the weight, it's not something I would want to be moving in and out a lot. That's about like the weight of my spare tire and wheel. Not something I want to take in and out of my storage bin a lot... lol

[Navy_Smoker]

I've owned a series of kamado style cookers since 1976 along with metal charcoal cookers and gas grills. I currently own 3 kamados made by Primo that I use at home and for BBQ competitions. Believe me, they produce award winning BBQ. The reigning South Carolina State Champions won using Primo kamados.

I like them because a little charcoal goes a long way. I have run a kamado for 26 hrs. at 250 degrees F on 8 lb. of lump charcoal. (Something you can't do on most metal cookers.) As others have said, their only drawback is their weight.

Good luck with yours.

Bill

[jnharley]

We carried a small BGE with us for 2 of our fulltiming years. We never had an issue with it. Fit in the basement of our 5th wheel and we cooked some quality food with it.

[profdant139]

I have had a large BGE for 15 years -- we use it about three nights a week, year round (since it almost never rains in Southern California, unfortunately). One important trick -- get natural lump charcoal, not briquettes. I use mesquite lump -- it is fairly inexpensive, about 17 dollars for a 40 pound bag. Messy stuff -- dusty, too. But it works well, and I can load up the BGE in the evening, stabilize the temp, and it will cook all night at the designated temp -- never have to load in new charcoal.

I use oak, hickory, maple, and olivewood chunks -- not chips -- for the smoke flavor.

Another handy thing is a remote thermometer by Redi Check. Not expensive, and you can monitor the temp from inside the house.

Camping without my BGE is the only downside of RVing. I can't imagine bringing anything so heavy and fragile on the road. To compensate, we bring frozen portions of BGE smoked food with us on our trips.

By the way, the BGE company is great on warranty claims -- lifetime, and they mean it. I doubt they would cover road hazard damage, though.

To finish up, a quick list of what we make on the BGE -- chicken (whole or parts), beef, pork (especially ribs and pork shoulder), fish (especially salmon), meat loaf (a mix of meats), bread (usually in a dutch oven), pizza on the grill, and grilled veggies (especially eggplant). I smoke my own chipotle peppers, too.

[wbwood]

jnharley wrote:
We really enjoy our BGE but when smoking something overnight, we find that the wood chips are gone pretty quickly and must be replenished and that means taking the meat off the grill, and taking the plate setter out just to add more chips. No problem with that with the pellet smoker. We set temperature, fill the hopper with pellets, and go to bed. Next morning, the pellet grill is still going strong. And our Davey Crockett works on DC power so we tapped into the DC light fixture near the pin box and I stakked a DC plug. Very convenient when dry camping. We do like our BGE and it does cook flavorful tasty food.

Why do you have to remove the plate setter? There are three openings that you can put chips into. You would need to remove the grill grate, unless you can raise a side with one hand and put chips in with the other.

[jnharley]

We really enjoy our BGE but when smoking something overnight, we find that the wood chips are gone pretty quickly and must be replenished and that means taking the meat off the grill, and taking the plate setter out just to add more chips. No problem with that with the pellet smoker. We set temperature, fill the hopper with pellets, and go to bed. Next morning, the pellet grill is still going strong. And our Davey Crockett works on DC power so we tapped into the DC light fixture near the pin box and I stakked a DC plug. Very convenient when dry camping. We do like our BGE and it does cook flavorful tasty food.

[magnusfide]

erstanfo wrote:
If you have a Sams club near by, they stock a brown egg, Vision Kamado grill.
Same as the large big green egg, but less $.

Which ever route you go, pick up a BBQ guru temperature controller. They make any wood, charcoal grill set it and forget it. I do 18+ hour cooks for brisket with the guru. https://www.bbqguru.com/

Those Vision Kamados are very well made. Nice!
http://www.visiongrills.com/

[wbwood]

We have the Large Big Green Egg at home and love it. But this type of grill would be the last thing I would take camping. You do realize that a medium size one weighs 113 lbs? Even a small is 80l bs. They are fragile also. The lady that works at the local shop that carries the BGE told me that a customer went to lift a BGE to put it in a table stand and broke the top. It was half the price of the BGE to replace the top. For his large, that was over $400 (just for the top half). The medium eggs are going for over $600. I would stick with something lighter and that can take a beating (somewhat).