Anyone here use a Big Green Egg to smoke with?

[1502tuley]

We have ourselves a BBQ throwdown!

I would be happy to be the judge.

 

[mustangwatkins]

So what don't you like about your SMC (Weber smoker)? I absolutely love mine. I can light it with the minion method, stabilize the temp at 225, and it will stay within 15 degrees of that mark for 20 hours.

I use this forum all the time The Virtual Weber Bullet - For the Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker smoker enthusiast as a resource. This is where I learned the minion method of lighting the fire, which is my key to making great Q.

Oh I like all my cookers but I keep hearing great things about the big green egg and I've owned prob 3 Weber Bullits over the yrs. Just thought I'd try something new.

 

[fordman84]

Oh I like all my cookers but I keep hearing great things about the big green egg and I've owned prob 3 Weber Bullits over the yrs. Just thought I'd try something new.

On the 4th I went to a buddies house. We had a lot of people and were going to cook a LOT of meat. I took my gas grill over and he had his big wood grill. Ended up with one pork loin on my grill and one on his (among other stuff, but that was the similar item between the two). The one off my grill was the hands down favorite. My buddy texted me last night a picture of his new vertical gas smoker. Not lying. It is way easier to control the amount of smoke flavor on the gas smoker.

And you can get entry level ones that do a great job for $100 brand new. Oh yeah, plus propane tank.

 

[mustangwatkins]

I have an offset wood smoker as well, but use that for chickens and shorter timed smokes. It tends to over-flavor the meat if you aren't extremely careful as well. I want to taste more of the meat, not just the smoke.[/QUOTE]

I like to do Butts in those! I used pecan and just a bit of White Oak to do two of them at my buddies over the 4th. They turned out awesome. I'll def be getting one of those eventually. My gas upright is a Charbroil but I've never tasted gas in the food. Matter of fact ....it makes the best ribs ive ever tasted. Cherry n Pecan.
Here is my Recipe
St. Louis Cut or Babybacks!!!!!Peel membrane from posterior side of ribs,Brine 2hrs, Rub with Miriacle Whip then apply favorite dry rub. Next stack 1inch of Dark brown sugar on top of em, pour worscheshire on the brown sugar. Cover and stickem in the fridge overnight. By morning the sugar and worscheshire looks like molasses and your ribs are ready to cook!! Smoke over Cherry and Pecan 2hrs ...Wrap and add 1/4 cup apple juice ot foil and smoke 90 more minutes. Let sit 15 mins..........Enjoy.............Rib Perfection!!!

 

[fordman84]

I like to do Butts in those! I used pecan and just a bit of White Oak to do two of them at my buddies over the 4th. They turned out awesome. I'll def be getting one of those eventually. My gas upright is a Charbroil but I've never tasted gas in the food. Matter of fact ....it makes the best ribs ive ever tasted. Cherry n Pecan.
Here is my Recipe
St. Louis Cut or Babybacks!!!!!Peel membrane from posterior side of ribs,Brine 2hrs, Rub with Miriacle Whip then apply favorite dry rub. Next stack 1inch of Dark brown sugar on top of em, pour worscheshire on the brown sugar. Cover and stickem in the fridge overnight. By morning the sugar and worscheshire looks like molasses and your ribs are ready to cook!! Smoke over Cherry and Pecan 2hrs ...Wrap and add 1/4 cup apple juice ot foil and smoke 90 more minutes. Let sit 15 mins..........Enjoy.............Rib Perfection!!!

That recipe looks similar, but I always cover in mustard to get the rub to really stick and it creates a great crust. As for the timing on ribs, if I'm doing spares I use the 3-2-1 and for back ribs I use 2-2-1. That's 3 hours on rack, 2 hours wrapped in foil, then one hour back uncovered. It cooks the last hour to get the toughness on the outside so it doesn't all fall off the bone on the first bite. I've got a peach ribs recipe I want to try this weekend. Sounds really good.

 

[1502tuley]

That recipe looks similar, but I always cover in mustard to get the rub to really stick and it creates a great crust. As for the timing on ribs, if I'm doing spares I use the 3-2-1 and for back ribs I use 2-2-1. That's 3 hours on rack, 2 hours wrapped in foil, then one hour back uncovered. It cooks the last hour to get the toughness on the outside so it doesn't all fall off the bone on the first bite. I've got a peach ribs recipe I want to try this weekend. Sounds really good.

I use the 3/2/1 method on my ribs as well. Nothing like wrapping your meat (no pun intended).

I wrap almost everything, brisket, ribs, pork butt. I don't wrap chicken, the cook time is too short, I do brine it though.

 

[mustangwatkins]

I have honestly never brined chicken but have heard really good things about doing it. Gonna try it. To be honest I like Charcoal cooked Beer Butt open flame chicken better than smoked chicken. Much Crustier on outside........dip it in da white sauce!!!

White BBQ Sauce

2 cups Bama Mayo (use Bama lite for lowfat recipe)
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tbsp salt
1tbsp pepper
1/2 tsp cheyenne pepper

mix well and dip away!!!!

 

[mustangwatkins]

I use the 3/2/1 method on my ribs as well. Nothing like wrapping your meat (no pun intended).

I wrap almost everything, brisket, ribs, pork butt. I don't wrap chicken, the cook time is too short, I do brine it though.

We used the 3-2-1 in the competition. It works well. I cook hotter with the gas smoker than we did in the competition though. I go about 250 but we cooked at around 210 in competition. I could not tell much of a diff TBH

 

[Cali Steel]

You guys are heavy duty into it.
The thing I like about the Treager is it's ultimate ease of use.
Haven't had a bad meal off of it yet.
It has a led temp dial that you just set, and it will feed the pellets to stay within 5 degs.
There are other brands that are basically the same, but they can get pricey.
Mine ran about $700.00
The flower pot thing sounds rather interesting though.......

 

[ladyrockess]

My dad looks at smokers, but he's never used one so he's not sure if he actually wants to buy one. We have three grills - two wood/coal ones (Weber) and a large gas one. Dad prefers wood grills, so my parents use the gas one if it's like a Wednesday and they don't want to cook, and they just throw some fish or chops on it and zap some veggies and there's dinner. And it's useful during hurricanes too.

Dad prefers wood too, he builds this chimney looking thing out of wood, fills the square in the middle with charcoal, and lights it and lets it burn down that way. Food tastes smokey/woody, and not charcoal-y and the grill has an even/longer-lasting heat than it would with just charcoal.

 

[KansasSooner]

I've never got into the smoking craze. I want to taste the flavor of the meat not a dead tree. Did enough of that while camping as a Boy Scout.

 

[Cali Steel]

I've never got into the smoking craze. I want to taste the flavor of the meat not a dead tree. Did enough of that while camping as a Boy Scout.

When done right though, you don't really over power the meat with smoke flavor, but you keep a great deal of moisture in the piece.
And rocks, I agree with dad, the gas is the go to grill when you want to fire something up real quick.

 

[ladyrockess]

When done right though, you don't really over power the meat with smoke flavor, but you keep a great deal of moisture in the piece.
And rocks, I agree with dad, the gas is the go to grill when you want to fire something up real quick.

Yeah, ever since they found non-stick fish baskets for the gas grill they have had mahi mahi like twice a week. Me, I prefer salmon...haha

 

[Cali Steel]

Yeah, ever since they found non-stick fish baskets for the gas grill they have had mahi mahi like twice a week. Me, I prefer salmon...haha

Doing some wild king salmon on my Treager with some alder smoke. Ha

 

[ladyrockess]

Doing some wild king salmon on my Treager with some alder smoke. Ha

My parents really like the cedar planks. They've been ordering them off Amazon for awhile now, but they're wondering if the cedar boards from Home Depot (sawed into appropriate lengths, of course) would be cheaper and better. Mom's just afraid they'll have chemicals on them that'll get into the fish.

 

[Cali Steel]

Could be a problem?
I know with the pellet grills, the wood used is "supposed" to be all free from binders and additives etc.
Would have to think a cedar board is just a cedar board..........

 

[ladyrockess]

Could be a problem?
I know with the pellet grills, the wood used is "supposed" to be all free from binders and additives etc.
Would have to think a cedar board is just a cedar board..........

I sure think so, but you hear such awful stories these days about chemicals and additives turning up where they're not supposed to.

Heck, even patented GMOs are sneaking into food that is supposed to be GMO free.

 

[Cali Steel]

And for sure if it's from China........

 

[ladyrockess]

And for sure if it's from China........

Are cedar planks from China? I didn't think China exported trees/lumber.

 

[MISKO]

I dont think cedar is treated it is naturally resistant to bugs and weather .. thats why its good for decks and anything that is out doors