Tips for Smoking on the Big Green Egg

The Big Green Egg is great for smoking your meat to perfection. Here are some tips to get you started on your journey to smoking mastery.

 

Use a ConvEGGtor

When smoking on the Egg, indirect heat is the key to achieving the perfect result. Place the convEGGtor inside your Egg before your begin so you can achieve the low temperature needed for smoking while protecting your dish from the heat of the charcoal below.

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Wood Chunks

Smoking with wood chips or chunks with give you a better result that sawdust or smoke chips. Big Green Egg offers a variety of flavors for you to explore with your smoked dish. From apple to mesquite, you can impart wonderful flavors on your dish and wow your guests.

Step-by-Step to Smoking

  1. Fill the EGG with charcoal and starters and ignite the starters.

  2. If you plan to smoke using Wood Chips or Wood Chunks, soak these in water for a while beforehand and sprinkle them over the charcoal as soon as it starts glowing. The longer you intend to smoke, the more Wood Chips or Wood Chunks you will need.

  3.  Heat the EGG to a temperature of between 100 and 150 degrees Celsius. Smoking is done at low temperatures of between 60 and 90 degrees Celsius, but the temperature in the EGG will drop when the convEGGtor is placed.

  4. Position the convEGGtor in the EGG with the feet facing upwards, place a Drip Pan on it and the Stainless Steel Grid on top of that. The drip pan will catch the juices and proteins that would harm the ceramic surface of the convEGGtor. Add some water to the drip pan to create a small amount of steam to help your dish cook evenly. Take into account that the temperature in the EGG will drop slightly due to the placement of these accessories.

  5. Once your Egg has reached the desired temperature, you are ready to place your dish inside and start smoking!

  6. Limit the air flow in the EGG by slightly closing the draft door in the ceramic base and the dual function metal top on the ceramic lid. This will ensure a constant temperature in the EGG.

  7. Check whether your dish is well smoked and properly cooked using one of two methods. You can either time the cooking (smoking) process or you can measure the core temperature of the food. The smoking times and core temperatures depend on what you are smoking and its weight, as well as your personal preference. This leaves a lot of room for experimentation! In order to measure the core temperature of a dish you could use, for example, the Digital Pocket Thermometer, the Dual Probe Remote Thermometer or the Instant Read Digital Thermometer.

  8. Remove your dish from the Egg and dig in!