[Rhodes22-list] Big Green Egg

[Richard Smith]

Let's get our terms straight....

Broiling = high heat (700+) and FREE air circulation around the cooking food
(no lid).
BBQ = Long, slow, low heat (200) in a dry environment.  The food is flavored
by spice rubs and the combustion products of the fuel.  Fuel is hardwood
lump charcoal or small wood logs previously burned down to embers in a pit
of some find.

No gas fueled covered grill can successfully broil a steak!!! Covered grills
can at the best bake them at high heat  The only cookers available to the
home cook which can truly grill are infrared grills (TEC) or the cheap
charcoal fired non covered.sheet metal affairs available at largish hardware
stores.

BBQ... No gas fueled covered grill can sustain the low temps and smoke
circulation needed to properly barbecue.

  The options are...
1:  Offset smokers (New Branfules etc).  Professional favorites because of
large volume.  They require constant attention and are heavy, ugly, given to
cold and hot spots very difficult to clean and consume fuel in vast
quantities.
2:  Bullet smokers.  These use a water pan to moderate the heat of the
burning coals.  The generated water vapor removes them from the traditional
BBQ definition above.  Not to say they won't produce wonder "Q"!  The Weber
Smoky Mountain is an excellent cooker and can produce wonderful smoked food.
3:  Ceramic ovens Here we come to the BGE and the Kamado.  These rather
grotesque devices are large, heavy and limited as to the quantity of food
they can cook (even in the larger sizes).  A Kamado can maintain a 200
degree temperature for 24 hours with little attention and no refueling.  By
opening the top and bottom vents, because of the draft effect (fuel at
bottom - chimney at top) extraordinarily high temperatures can be reached.
A Kamado can get hot enough to melt it heavy stainless steel grate.  That's
approaching 2,000 F!!  The ability to reach high temperatures coupled with
the mass of the unit allows it to soak up the heat and function as a brick
oven.  Wonderful pizza and breads.

BUT... BGE's and such, despite what the manufacturer would claim are not the
proper devices  for broiling (see above).  Lot's of work around's published
but they (eggs) are inherently not suited for fast high heat cooking.

4: Combination units.  A Weber kettle (wonderfully engineered product)
fueled with chunk charcoal can broil and smoke rather well.  The cost is
less then $200.  The Hastybake is a terrific grill/BBQ oven.  But, its
expensive and because of rapidly accumulating grease a filthy machine.  That
aside it smokes and grills wonderfully ($700 and up)  The medium size is the
one to get.

When I refer to charcoal I mean hardwood lump charcoal.  It burns hotter,
longer with less ash then Kingsford and the like.  It can also be relit.

For what it's worth I have owned and discarded Charmglow and Ducane covered
grills.  A Weber Kettle and Smoky Mountain.  More recently a Hastybake which
burnt out from constant use.   Presently I own a TEC Cherokee used for
grilling and a Kamado #5 for everything else.  It's a tough call between the
Hastybake and the TEC/Kamado.

Richard Smith