Cool New Accessories.

I wanted some new accessories. I wanted more surface area for my cooks. This system allows for a great variety of set ups. Everything was purchased from This store. We could not be happier with the products. Fit and finish are top notch. Better than most of the BGE accessories. The system performs better than expected. Should last for years to come.

Unboxing 2 set ups. One for me and the other one for my brother in law.

This looks confusing but it is not. I will break it down component by component. Sorry for the long post. 

This is called the spider.

The spider sits on the fire ring and it can do a few things for you. It will hold a Wok if you like to stir-fry. It also sits closer to the lump so you can put a grate on it to get a good sear, at the heigh temperature by the coals. The other thing you can do is put a stone on it to use it as heat deflector. This creates the indirect heat you need for great BBQ. 

This is the cast iron grate I use to sear my steaks on. 

The Grate is from a small BGE.

Sitting on the spider. 

The stone is from the store listed above. Great heat deflecto. Heavy duty. 

My dirty drip pan. Still full of solidified dripping from last cook. Sitting atop the stone. Some will add a spacer between the stone and the drip pan. Like 1/2 copper elbows. 

This to the mane peace of the system. It is called the adjustable rig.

Those notches hold bars that you set your grates on. 3 adjustable heights. 

Adjustable rig sitting on the fire ring.

Rig with original grate. Notice it sits well over the felt line.

Nice so you do not have to reach down into the BGE to tend the food.

This is what is know as the sliding grid. It holds a grate.

What is a little different is that it allow an oval rack to slide out.

Oval grate on sliding grid. Only the oval grate will slide out.

Grate slid out. Only works on highest setting of rig.

This is called the rig extender. (Sitting on to of the rig)

It moves the top rack higher. This is great for pizzas. It also provides more room underneath for larger cuts of meats. 

Good view of the extender on top of the adjustable rig. Notice that both grates are oval in this set up. The reason is if I am doing meat I may want to rotate grates. Just pull on out and slide it into the others place.  No need to remove meat from the grate.  Also the rig is set at the highest notch. This allows the grate to slide out without lifting the whole rig out. I can cook 4 racks of ribs at the same time with this set up. Lying flat.

Almost the same set up. The lower grate is set at the lowest point now. This is the way I do my pork butts. Depending on the butt size I can fit 2 to 4 no problem.  I prefer to do 2 butts that are about 10 lbs.

This Lower edge of the D-grate runs along the top of the extender allowing it to slide back into the dome to allow access underneath it.

This is the D-grate in standard position. Notice the front edge is flat. The allows access to items underneath it without moving it much.  It is also a good way to add more wood to the fire without removing the whole setup. 

2 pics of the d-grate slid back into the dome. This is nice if you have a full grate on top. Just slide back the top grate, tend whatever you are cooking on the lower grate, then return to normal cook positions. 

Sea Turtle Eggs

These have been done before but the recipe I followed was from Here. It is a good appetizer alternative to Jalapeños  poppers. 

The ingredients are :

1 lb Jimmy Dean Sage Breakfast Sausage, cut into 10-11 slices
1/2 cup cream cheese*
1/2 cup shredded colby-jack cheese
2 jalapeno chile, de-seeded and finely diced
1 1/2 tsp your favorite BBQ rub (divided)

Instructions 

1.  Preheat a charcoal grill set up for indirect heat to 250f.  Add a chunk or two of cherry, hickory or whatever smoking woods that you have on hand.
2. Mix the cream cheese, cheese, jalapeno and 1/2 tsp of BBQ rub together.
3. Place about 1 tsp of the cheese mixture on each slice of sausage.  Pull up the edges of the sausage and seal, forming it into a round, golf ball sized "egg".  
4. Season your "eggs" with the remaining 1 tsp of BBQ rub.
5. Smoke the "eggs" for about 90 minutes. 

I take no credit for this recipe. Info in the link.

Turned out really well.

These were a hit at the party we attended. 

A Few Observations

I am tired of maneuvering my BGE ( big green egg) out of the garage. So I came up with this until it warms up to build a proper table.

  It is a stone set on a furniture dolly. 

The egg does not get that hot but the stone is stamped concert so the little heat is not a problem. It is a little top heavy so when I move it I have to take it slow. Just like BBQ

The other thing I noticed is that in these winter months I was BBQ in the dark at 5 pm. So I came up with this ugly assistant. 

She ain't pretty but she is mine.

It hold the light and all my accessories while I cook. It stays in the garage where it won't offend my neighbors when not in use. 

First Cook

The first cook was a quartered chicken. We used some dizzy pig rub on it. It cooked at 275*.  I do not cook by time but to temperature.

Turned out well for first cook. 

The chicken was so juicy my wife thought it was undercooked. I had to prove it to her using an internal temperature reading. 

Truth

What does it burn

For those that do not know the Big Green Egg does not burn gas. It burns charcoal. Well not actually charcoal. You should use something called Lump in it. Why use lump? Lump vs Briquettes sums it up well. But the key thing is it does not use any binders. It is pure wood. No chemical taste. It will not give off a smokey flavor. You add ( in addition to the lump ) raw wood if you would like smoke flavor. It burns even and lights easy. No need for lighter fluid. I can usually have my BBQ fired up a couple of minutes longer than my old gasser took to get up to temp.

This is what it looks like.

What it looks like lit. 

The brand I am currently using.

All stocked up. 

Finally Assembled

It seamed to take forever to get the time to assemble my egg.

This is it with the lid down. Once assembled I used a dollar to check the correct fitment. I inserted bills around the point where the gaskets touch. The bill should pull out but with some tension. Not to freely. Notice the clip for the thermometer is on the outside not the inside of the dome where it should be. More on the reason for that in a later post.

This is lid up obviously.

I have not built my table for it yet. I have some ideas for the table that should be unique if I can pull it off.

The Big Green Egg

Never in a million years did I think I would ever get a Big Green Egg. My brother-in-law and I each got one for Christmas this year. Coolest gift ever.