I just inherited a BGE and have done awesome chicken wings (Costco) that came already rubbed, a porter house steak nd ribs. We need to practice on the ribs. What are some other meats that are easy for a beginner.

Also, do I begin with a large pile of charcoal for a long smoke or just keeping adding as time passes?

Pork butt.

Most forgiving thing to bbq. It would be a much longer cook than what you’ve done already though. I don’t know much about fuel loads on those but they hold heat better than anything (obviously). Expensive and effective tool to cook with congrats!

Wait....just dawned on me that may not have been a proper suggestion for you if you’re staying kosher.

Plate ribs (beef)
Beer can chicken
Whole cabbage
Whole cauliflower

Screw it... do a smoked brisket. It's easier than everyone says.

Just get a good 12-14 pounder and cook it at 275 for an hour per pound (if you don't wrap or foil). Problem people have with brisket is undercooking. It takes a long damn time to get through the stall. When you can insert your thermometer and it goes in very easy... in a few places... it's done. If you get any resistance, keep cooking.

Overcooked brisket just falls apart, but it still tastes awesome. Undercooked is like chewing on your shoe.

I do not keep kosher and love barbequed and smoked pork.🇨🇮

Do I begin with a large pile of charcoal for a long smoke or just keeping adding more as time passes?
What are some brands of charcoal I should try?
Where do I buy decent charcoal? Costco, Walmart, Ace Hardware...?

I got one around 12 lbs that I'm wanting to do but ordered one of these

https://bbqguru.com/info/DynaQ 

because I can't stay up all night cooking and playing with the dampers on my smoker (Char-Broil Kamander). Haven't hooked it up but hoping I get close to enough smoke time with one full load of coal, in the past my longest smoke was probably 8 hrs and it was just about out on me at the end of it. Pain in the azz loading it up while cooking too, have to remove everything to get down to it.
I would only worry about drying the meat out, was thinking a drip pan would help without covering it to keep that bark on it.


By the way pork butt a nice amount of time to smoke and also the easiest to do imo. Ribs 1-2-3 method works pretty good but I generally do 2 hours smoke and 2 hours wrapped with apple juice and they turn out good.

Robert,

BGEs like lump charcoal. Not sure what is available in your area, higher the grade & less ashing the better. Typically BGEs you load for the whole cook at the beginning and adjust your vents from there. Skip the cheap stuff, one of the neat things on the BGE is that it's very heavily insulated, so you actually don't need as much charcoal as other cookers, it holds temp very well and it can get silly hot if you need it to, like 800F (think pizzas). You might want to start with a bag of the BGE lump just so you get a baseline.

Here's a good site for ceramic cookers and lump charcoal tests:
http://www.nakedwhiz.com/ceramic.htm 

Cooking in an insulated insulated smoker is a little different and takes a bit of experimenting to get the hang of. Be warned, you might never touch your other grills/smokers again after getting the hang of a BGE...

^ the expert.

Good seeing you post azz hat!

smoked latkes!

Cook by temperature, a Thermapen is a really handy tool.

Pork loin smoked until it's just done, 145 degrees, don't over cook.

As mentioned above the digital controls make it much easier to manage.

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Robert, your imagination is the only limiting factor when it comes to cooking on the egg.

There is a wealth of knowledge on the BGE Forum. Great place to start.

TG is correct on the use of lump in the BGE. I prefer Rockwood which seems to burn longer than other offerings that I have tried.

Some of my go to cooks are chargrilled oysters, cedar plank grouper topped with lump crab, pork butts and more recently beer can burgers.

I don't have a BGE or Kamado Joe (yet) but I did buy an Akorn earlier this year and I absolutely love it. It doesn't have quite the thermal sink mass of the real ones but it will hold low temps as well as get up to 700+.

I love doing chickens and turkeys in there more than in the smoker because its easier to smoke at higher temps and get that nice crispy skin. In my smokers the skin tends to stay rubbery since 275-300 is about the max they can hit. Ill hold em at 275 on wood in the Akorn until the meat's around 140, then open the vent a bit and let it creep to 400 or so then take it off.

Burgers are great if you add a cast iron plate and press. Ball up some seasoned ground beef, get the plate to 500ish (I use an infrared thermometer to check) and put the balls on. Let em sizzle for a minute or two then smash the hell out of them with the cast iron press plate. One hot press plate can do 3 balls before its too cold, so I heat two. Once pressed give em a minute, flip and then smash em again. Use 70/30, roll the edges down when pressing and immediately cheese em. Once cheese is done burgers are done. Its a pretty intense cook but from balls to burgers is like 5 minutes. Wonderfully sweet caramelized beef crunchy bits on the edges, melt in your mouth centers.

I do pizzas too. Make a flatbread or pita dough and bake it on the burger/griddle plate with a mild smoker wood. Then add sauce and toppings of choice, put back on until theyre done.

I use it as an oven often, if I want to add some wood fired/charcoal flavors to things. I think the versatility of this style grill is great. Does every cooking but deep fry. Ive even put a Dutch oven in there to make soups/chili.

The other stuff like ribs, butts, chucks, brisket etc I prefer in the WSM. I think the higher airflow in there gives a better smoke. But totally acceptable finished product in the Akorn.

I have a Kamado Joe Big Joe. Love it. Wife loves hot smoked salmon, chicken wings and spatchcocked game hens finished in Alabama White Sauce. I did our turkey last year and it came out great. You will want to check out www. Amazing ribs.com. Meathead Goldwyn looks at the science behind the cooking. The site is much more than just ribs. Great books on Amazon too. Project Smoke by Steven Raichlen and BGE cookbook by Eric Gephart come to mind. My neighbor bakes his bread on his BGE.

Shaun, I have the DigiQ DX for my Weber. Works like a charm.