I'm not an expert picking the right type of smoke flavor, so I usually just go with regular old oak - seems to go with everything. I'm really just kind of average when it comes to cooking steaks, but I like filets anyway and those are impossible to screw up. Just get them somewhere between bloody and burned to hell and they are delicious. I really like slow roasting stuff - I'll put my tritip to the test with anyone's.
Ah, very cool. I looked at the XL but ended up with the L, mostly because I prefer to store mine in the garage and the L was a bit easier to roll around. The egg cooks a lot different than what I'm used to, but I really dig it. With my old offset, I'd just get some coals going and add regular old seasoned hardwood. Of course this makes a pretty hot fire, but you can direct as much or as little of the heat into the roasting/grilling area as you want. With the egg it's all about getting the coals to their happy place and they will maintain their temp pretty much forever. My pulled pork recipe takes 18 hours, and with my old setup I'd have to get up several times a night. With the egg I just set it and forget it.
Funny you said that. I got a Green Egg too (the XL version), and it's great. I used to use a really old metal grill, and I can safely say that I don't see a real difference in quality of the meat (besides the fact that the Green Egg cooks them faster and can reach higher temperatures). I can cook up carne asada, all sorts of chicken, bacon-wrapped dogs, pulled pork, tri-tip, ribs, and my specialty is steaks. I'm addicted to smokey flavors, so I tend to use hardwoods like apple and oak to get a really savory flavor going, mixed with some coal briquettes and charcoal to keep the fire burning nice and hot.
Hey there! It appears you and I need to compare notes on barbecuing. What kind of setup do you use? I had an offset smoker a while back but just this year got a Green Egg and I love the thing. I'm solid on tri-tip, pulled pork, and beercan chicken - I need to add brisket to my repertoire soon.
