A bit about the results
Poultry
Guinea fowl and chicken are succulent and practically perfect either on the grate or on the vertical roaster. The roaster is preferable with the small bge as it uses less space. Turkey legs are fine, can't get the hang of duck legs yet, but whole duck works very well, needs a drip pan under it. Duck breasts cooked on the griddle, skin down for about 45 minutes at 150°C ish, quite possibly the most succulent that I have ever eaten.
Game
Brilliant for pink foot goose,
took about 45 minutes
mallard,
grouse and partridge,
leg of venison,
it's in the chicken cooking thing, injected with a secret blitzblend of garlic, juniper berry, black pepper, coriander seed, red wine vinegar, rapeseed oil, various herbs. The leg is a bit too big so there's a drip pan underneath. The strips of bacon fat were originally for the garden birds but this need was more pressing; they're nailed on with cocktail sticks. After the photo', it was dusted with sea salt and black pepper then the leftover blitzblend was poured over the top.
Two hours later
and it's back in the kitchen with a suntan.
Joints
Perfect lamb shoulder, leg, rack, beef silverside, pork leg, loin....
Steak
I don’t barby steak as a rule, it always comes out dry so I prefer to fry it. This was the first attempt in the egg, spuds and corn were cooking inside and all the smoke was going to waste so I parked the meat over the vent on one of those collapsible colander thingies.
The idea works and I am going to patent it.
Anyway, the steak had about 4 minutes a side, which was a trifle too long but the meat was still succulent inside.
The top plate is what I brought the steak in on, the juices are natural, there was no baste. Corn & spuds were brushed with high cholesterol butter, the beer was Spitfire.
This is the MkII,
the bottom of the pot has been removed and a steamer sits on top of the food.
Pizza and bread
The best pizza in the world is from a beach bar in southern Sardinia, the second best comes from Ruislip. The egg will achieve a temperature higher than 300°C and the high thermal capacity of the ceramic allows the pizza to cook properly in a few minutes rather than struggle in a conventional oven. The standard gasket was damaged by the first load and totaled after the second.
After the first go
After the second it's back to the brick in places and the gasket is goosed.
Proper gaskets from Island Outdoor, LLC - New York, cost £24 for enough to do it twice.
Best idea is to replace the gasket straightaway with one rated for the temperature, these are NOMEX®, as a totaled gasket is a swine to remove.
Baking bread benefits from the high temperature and the heat capacity of the ceramic. A standard oven baking stone had been used many times at Mk6ish (220°C) in the oven but cracked at 300°C in the bge. I sewed it back together with stainless wire
but it went again. Plan 'B' was an Ikea splash screen with the handle removed,
just drill through the spot welds.
It's excellent sitting on the platesetter with legs down and it's easier to remove than using a peel to get the food off a stone. Remember where you saw it first.
Extras
The platesetter is more or less essential for indirect cooking although I think that the version for the small egg is too big and restricts the airflow when used legs up which increases the warm up time. One of these days I'll take the angle grinder to it.
The radio thermometer has two probes so both food and oven temperatures can be monitored from a place of comfort. Don't get the probes wet or leave out in the rain. If you do you'll get an LLL error signal which you might be able to fix by putting the probe in a low oven, increase the temperature to just above 100°C, wait a few minutes and hope for the best, it worked for me.
Cast iron griddle
which I’ve never got along with in the kitchen but works rather well in the egg after an attack with the angle grinder to make it fit.
Chicken roaster is very effective,
much better and more hygienic than a beer can.
A pizza peel
from a thin ply offcut and a few minutes on the bandsaw, don't laugh, it works.
A meat injector is an absolute must,
I've had the red one for ages and it's been used, err, twice. Be careful with an injector, a fair old pressure builds up and as you withdraw the needle the liquid can spurt out. In fact it can cover spectacles, microwaves, trousers and cookbooks. I think that was all.
The gun is a Roux Revolver from my sheep rearing days.
Smoke generator, another original. Adding smoky wood to a Weber is easy, adding it to an egg is a pain especially when using the platesetter so I dreamt this up.
I used a machine screw with 3 nuts, a circular piece of steel which is a bit dished, a stainless steel jug and a grid from a potato ricer. The bottom plate from the egg with the holes is made from a soft cast iron which is easily drilled. Anyone that needs detailed instructions probably shouldn't go too near fire. ;-)
Fill the jug with chips, top up with water and put the grid on. The grid's not essential but prevents hot charcoal going into the chips if you dump it from a chimney starter.
Dampening the wood is a waste of time with a Weber; the wood won't smoke whilst it's wet so you just delay the inevitable, it doesn't make the chips smoulder for longer either, the trick for that is to pack them in metal foil and punch some holes in it. However, with the egg, the water prevents wasting the chips before it's up to cooking temperature and they're needed.
This is the first one in the world.
Tony Jefferies, who won
Ray Pickrell, came second
Rodney Gould, came fourth
