[deadie]

Smoked pulled pork this weekend!

Getting ready. 7lb cryovac pork shoulder from Costco + Mesquite rub

Rub on

I'm seeing double! Rubbed, tied, and headed for the Egg.

The Big Green Egg (medium)

Hardwood charcoal lit and ready for pecan wood

They barely fit!

8pm, cover closed, smoke on, temp probe in

12 hours later, ready for wrap and rest in cooler

Pulled, sauced, and ready for NOM NOM NOM

I tell you, the Egg is just crazy expensive, but after having cooked pizza, ribs, steak, chicken, and now pork shoulder, it's worth every penny.

The heat retention, radiation, and temperature control with this thing is just incredible. I've gone through smokers and grills and webers galore, and nothing holds a candle to the Egg.

Once I equilized the temp to 240 degrees last night using the bottom and top air vents, it stayed there for the entire 12 hours. No getting up to add more charcoal!

And it's incredibly efficient. Once you're done, just close the air vents, the lack of oxygen shuts down combustion, and the fire just goes out, leaving the unburned charcoal ready for the next grill session.

I love it.


Gratuitous butterflied chicken shot

 

[G-man]

I sense a cooking equipment-fi coming along...

Still i am sure you enjoyed that (I am vegetarian so lets not go there)

But i really want to cook a pizza in there. I went to Italy and my cousin's friend had a proper Italian pizza cooking oven thing (whatever the hell that is called). She taught me the best way to make pizza, but only works in that *thing* tried it at home, and well, it just flopped. but i digress.

That thing has got to be a fuel whore though. 12 hours... bloody hell. Meat takes too long to cook.

 

[jbusuego]

 

[TheMarchingMule]

Very very nice! And pics too! That looks a ton better than what Patrick tried to do with his pizza (and we all know how that turned out!).

 

[Icarium]

That's awesome I'm sold. I think I'll pick up an XL and put it on my balcony. Though indoor use looks doable too?

Is there a good place to buy online? Also the "nest" i.e. legs and stuff are optional? What options/accessories do I need. I'll probably just go XL for size.

 

[Spareribs]

That's great and thanks for posting that. Many people don't realise how wonderful smoking with real charcoal and wood is. I use apple wood chips a lot. I don't have the green egg but would love to get one. Right now, I use a Brinkman smoker wich is great because I can also use it as a regular grill as well.

Smoking is real BBQ. Many people out there think gas grilling is BBQ but it's not as deep in flavor as the authentic way of doing it. Try smoking a turkey for Thanksgiving. I do it every year and the famliy is blown away by how great it is.

 

[deadie]

Re: fuel amount, believe it or not, but I had a load of unburned charcoal left.

Because you can regulate the amount of oxygen the Egg lets in, you can achieve very low, slow combustion. Out of the cubic foot or so of charcoal that I started with, I probably only used about 1/2 of it in 12 hours!

Pizza and steak are both awesome b/c you can reach 800 degrees in the Egg, but you need to modify your thinking / cooking procedures.

To get that high heat, you need to have a decent amount of fuel, a ripping fire (lots of oxygen, both vents wide open) and the let the egg heat up for a long period of time to let the ceramic absorb the heat.

For pizza, I found that you can't just use one pizza stone, b/c the stone will get too hot from the fire below, and you'll burn the crust way faster than you'll cook the top ingredients.

I've found that you need to have a buffer, maybe another pizza stone, between the fire and the pie. You'll place the pizza in there, close the lid, and the radient heat will bake it in 3 minutes.

Same thing with steak, only you don't need a buffer. Just get it blazing hot, steak on, close lid for 2-3 minutes, flip, close lid, and shut it down by closing all the vents. Continue roasting for 4 minutes or so until hitting 120 degrees. Let rest for 10 mins then eat. Awesome awesome steaks this way.

Re: the XL egg, I'd say to make sure you really need that monster. It's 200 lbs and over $1k. It also behaves quite a bit differently from my Medium egg, due to the much more significant thermal mass, so the learning curve / procedure is different.

I cheaped out and didn't get the stand / nest nor the side tables b/c they're an additional $100 each and I was already spending enough on the Egg!

But by all means, get at least the Large. I've been frustrated for years trying to achieve satisfactory ribs and shoulder, and with this thing, it was super easy and the results are fantastic!

Oh, and as far as buying online, no go. The Egg company only sells through authorized B&M dealers. And remember that these things weigh a ton, so shipping would probably negate any savings anyway!

The only accessories I'd recommend are the "plate setter" - used for indirect cooking and the Green Egg brand charcoal. It's seriously good stuff, and no sense cheap out buying crap fuel if you've already paid this much for the Egg!

 

[Arainach]

<obligatory green eggs and ham joke here>

 

[breakfastchef]

The pork looks outstanding. 'Low and Slow' is the way to go!! Do you originally hail from the south? For the most part, folks from Tennessee tend to pull while those from the Carolinas are choppers.

 

[G-man]

Quote:

Originally Posted by breakfastchef /img/forum/go_quote.gif The pork looks outstanding. 'Low and Slow' is the way to go!! Do you originally hail from the south? For the most part, folks from Tennessee tend to pull while those from the Carolinas are choppers.

After the first sentence i understood no part of that comment. you americans need to speak English.

 

[slwiser]

Quote:

Originally Posted by G-man /img/forum/go_quote.gif After the first sentence i understood no part of that comment. you americans need to speak English.

It's a southern thing here in the USA; i.e, either pulled pork or chopped pork is how it is taken off the bone and served.

 

[G-man]

Quote:

Originally Posted by slwiser /img/forum/go_quote.gif It's a southern thing here in the USA; i.e, either pulled pork or chopped pork is how it is taken off the bone and served.

ok, that must be a meat eater thing. i didn't even know there was a difference. I was wondering what the title meant.

 

[deadie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by breakfastchef /img/forum/go_quote.gif The pork looks outstanding. 'Low and Slow' is the way to go!! Do you originally hail from the south? For the most part, folks from Tennessee tend to pull while those from the Carolinas are choppers.

No, but I once stayed at a Holiday Inn...

I'm just a food lover at heart from Hawaii, having done a boatload of practical and book research over the years.

I'm not sure if I have a particular preference for pulled or chopped, the latter would certainly be easier given that you could just hack the stuff up, rather than laboriously shredding it with a fork / fingers.

As for the sauce, I scored a South Carolina mustard-based sauce recipe from Egullet that combines apple cider, mustard, sugar, chile powder, and is then finished with butter. It's tart and rich and perfectly complements the fatty, smoky pork.

I think the next time I do this, to try and get yield even yummier, crunchier bits, is to pull the skin off and render the fat under a convection grill. Smoked pork cracklins baby!

 

[krmathis]

Someone else can have the pork... while I take the chicken.

 

[breakfastchef]

Quote:

Originally Posted by deadie /img/forum/go_quote.gif I think the next time I do this, to try and get yield even yummier, crunchier bits, is to pull the skin off and render the fat under a convection grill. Smoked pork cracklins baby!

Cracklin good! Keeps ER's in business.

If you do not have a copy of Smoke & Spice by Jamison and Jamison, pick one up. Lots of good recipes. Maybe a local library has a copy on the shelves. Cheers.