Possible to buy a BGE in Houston? If so, how much $? If not, how much $ + shipping? And I can't tell from their web site, is there a water pan in that contraption, if not, how does one manage to get indirect heat?
Don't know about Houston, but here in Austin a place called Barbecues Galore has them. They appear to be a chain so you might check it out. They run about $700 for the large, I think, but then there are various "accessories" you can buy, which you pretty much need, like the cart which is called the "Egg Nest" and an adjustable vent top. I dunno - I want one but they seem a little overpriced to me. Not sure about the water pan, sorry. I don't think it had one, but it might be available as an option.
I got one, it is the medium size. There are lots of accessories you can buy for them. You adjust the heat precisely by opening the intake vent at the bottom and the exit vent at the top. Since it is thick porcelin and the top is completely sealed, you can set the temperature to with a degree or two. There are two racks, I think, in the biggest egg, so you could put a pan of water in one if you wanted. It shouldn't be necessary, though. Go to their website, where there are links to dealers selling the eggs, recipes, accessories, etc. I'm sure there are places in Houston that sell them.
Since you live in Houston, you might want to take a look at one of these as an alternative to a BGE. You can avoid the $160 shipping charge and just pay a $25 local pick-up fee in Houston. Grill Pod Ceramic Cooker on ebay Note that I haven't seem these in person or know anyone that has one, so I don't know how they compare to a BGE, Kamado, Primo or other ceramic smoker, but the difference is price makes it rather tempting to try.
Green Egg is a good product because it is a thick and heavy porcelin that heats up evenly and cooks evenly and consistently. By being able to control the temperature very precisely, you retain the juices in your smoked or grilled foods. It is based on a Japanese cooker, but claims to be superior due to the thick porcelin and quality of the seal between the two halves.
There is no water pan. People go indirect by a lot of different methods. The easiest two are (1) the BGE "platesetter," which is a ceramic insert with feet or (2) fire bricks. The platesetter has "legs" that it sits on that you can then put the grid on. With firebricks, you'll need an extra grate, but you'll probably want one of those anyway. You can get the platesetter from the dealer or online, and fire bricks are easy to find. You'll want to use split firebricks instead of whole bricks. I started with firebricks, but the platesetter was more flexible, and most importantly for us, worked a lot better for when we made pizza so I now use the platesetters instead of bricks most of the time. I don't know the best dealer in Houston. I know the people at the BBQ Galore stores here in Austin are clueless. I know far more about the product than them. However, if you go to biggreenegg.com and post this question on the forum, you'll get a good answer about who the best Houston dealer is. There are a lot of owners in Houston, including a guy who posts under the name SpringChicken that knows a lot. If you want to go online, you might try Hearthside Distributors. The forum members seem to give it good reviews. I don't think they charge shipping, and since you're in Texas, maybe not any sales tax either. The one caveat is to make sure that you'll get the lifetime warranty when you purchase through them. The other caveat is that you'll really have to examine it after delivery to make sure the shipper didn't damage it. As far as the flower pot and other alternatives, be careful. If you're going to be heating the grill up to 800-900 degrees to sear a steak, you ought to make sure that you're getting something that's not going to blow up on you. The BGE has a lifetime warranty, and pretty good customer service. In fact, I dropped a small part and broke it, called the headquarters to order an accessory and a replacement for the broken part, and they sent the replacement for the broken part to me for free. I love the BGE. I bought a medium a bunch of years ago, and last summer sold my weber genesis and bought a large to add to the stable. If you have any other questions, feel free to PM me.
Really like my BGE; got it last Spring and it can do it all, including a great brisket. I have the platesetter and it is really needed for smoking so you can get chips/chunks into the fire. I have a Large and now have a spare "Nest" for it since the boy and I built a big table to enclose the BGE. If you're interested PM me.
i hear great things about the BGE, but don't understand spending the money when a weber smokey mountain costs way less but KICKS ***.
No doubt the WSM is a good smoker, but it isn't in the ballpark in versatiliity of the egg. The egg's a great smoker. I can cook a pork butt for 14+ hours, never have to replenish fuel, and never have to adjust the air vents because the temp stays rock solid. I understand WSM is similar. But the egg can also sear steaks at 800-1000 degrees, act as a wood burning stove and cook pizza at 700-800, etc. All this plus a life-time warranty. If you're just looking for a smoker and want to save money, there's nothing wrong with the WSM. If you want more than a smoker, it's hard to beat a ceramic cooker.
To me, the best feature of my BGE is the grilling. If you are willing to remove (or in my case, mistakenly melt away) your felt liner, you can get it going above 1000 degrees and sear the hell out of a steak. I have not noticed much difference in the quality of smoked meats between my NB smoker or BGE, but the BGE certainly requires a lot less fuel.
I have a large BGE and it kicks ***. The great thing about the egg is that its porcelain, which traps and holds heat well like a kiln. I've had a brisket on the egg for 18 hours before and never once had to put any lump in the egg. It cooked the entire time on just one load of lump charcoal. I also use the BBQ guru which self regulates heat. So I can put a brisket on at 10 pm at night and sleep until its ready the next day without ever having to add lump or worrying about temperature control. I create indirect heat by using a plate setter which sits under the grid. You could also just use firebricks. As other posters have said, I typically like to sear steaks on the egg as well and can easily raise the temperature to 700+ degrees. I highly recommend the egg. On a sidenote, a couple of years ago my wife found my large BGE with the built in wooden cart at Salvation Army for $119! All I had to do was replace the slide vent and refinish the cart. Perhaps the best $119 I've ever spent.
