I live in Houston, but may have to get the Smokey Mountain just to smoke. I would have to store the Green Egg in the garage and move it a couple of steps every time I want to use it. If its that heavy I don't want to risk cracking a $1000 grill. But I did want to use it to sear steak also and can't get my gas or the performer upto 800 degrees.
wow...thanks for the help! i want something I can smoke, sear and bake pizza with. But I just don't know about spending a $1000 on a charcoal grill. Think you may have convinced me to start looking though.
Fajitas ala Big Green Egg Skirt steak Fajita seasoning Pineapple juice Lime juice Worscheshire sauce Onion Season meat then marinade in 3 parts lime juice and 1 part pineapple splash of the Worscheshire sauce the longer the better.. heat grill to medium high ~450-500 Grill over open flame 4 mins per side, remove to rest wrapped in tin foil. Add cast iron skillet to grill and bring up to temp add sliced onion and a tbs oil. Sauté until soft. Add sliced fajitas to cast iron and finish with onions. Enjoy.
That's the biggest criticism about them. You have get the XL to get the same space as a Weber kettle. I would love to have them for pizza.
That's the only size they had. I was at the Richmond location yesterday and they had three or four boxed up.
Wait, why do you need an egg for steak? A kettle will sear a steak in 3-4 minutes. Load up a full chimney or two of lump charcoal. Seriously, I am much more interested now why your performer cannot sear steak. Are you using just the built in burner to light the coal? No chimney?
The whole problem with pizza is getting the air temp high enough so the top and bottom cook equally, and it is critical because pizza cooks so fast. Unlike steak you can't flip it so tons of fuel won't help much in getting your toppings cooked. What I am getting at is any "pizza oven" that involves opening the top like a kettle or BGE to put the pizza in, has a major design flaw. All of your hot air is gone when you put it in and when you rotate. Your stone will be hotter than the air for a significant percentage of the cooking time. Anyways not to bag on the egg, but for serious DIY pizza cookers you need a hacked weber or a real brick pizza oven.
Are there instructions on how to make the frankenweber. I've been looking for one because I don't make pizza enough to justify building a dedicated oven.
It looks like the designer just topped off his kettle with a cupola that he grabbed right off the old Maginot Line.
Glad you enjoyed it. And I completely forgot to take a photo of any of the 6 pizza's I made so here's a photo of my bird dog that decided to try to catch the birds in the tree 10 feet or more up an oak tree while I was cooking.
Everyone makes them differently so if you DIY it will likely be a combination of whatever ones you found that you liked. This one is really low tech http://backyardpizza.blogspot.com/2011/03/frankenweber-is-in-full-on-construction.html but it just comes down to your cast and refractory cement recipe. If you don't care that much you could buy this http://www.kettlepizza.com/ It won't be as good as a cement top but it will be better than opening the top.
Anybody have the Kamado brand? Costco has the large version for $569 and the medium BGE is $579. Same type of grill and about 30% cheaper.
I think they have BGE "fests" year-round at different locations where they discount BGE's. Not sure how those work, but there's one happening in Austin in a couple of weeks (probably not worth the drive, but there may be one in Houston).
Even if the quality is the same the owner support and "eggcessories" pale in comparison. Can we get back to why you cannot sear a steak on a weber kettle? I checked this thread for a while looking for that. The Performer is an awesome grill and is a steak making dream.
you mean stable when slow cooking or when searing steaks?I don't do much slow cooking on the kettle, but the best simple tip I can give you is to put more lit fuel than you think it needs and then throttle it back with the top vent with very small adjustments. Keep bottom wide open at all times. Always easier to hold back a strong fire than to get more from an under fueled one.
Don't think I said that a Performer or Genesis can't sear steak. I'll put my steak up there with anybody. I mean't I want something that is easy to use for searing steak, smoking and baking a pizza. And now I've read that the Green Egg can be used as a tandoor also! My dilemma is that my balcony is kinda small. I'm going to saw off the left side of my Genesis so it fits perfectly on one side. Can't get rid of my gas grill as I grill 3-4 times a week. And no way am I lighting up charcoal that many times. On the other side of my balcony I think I have just enough space for the BGE. Might be coming home with one this weekend.
