How to Load & Light your Big Green Egg

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Getting started

The EGG is so easy to get going. Simply fill your EGG with lumpwood charcoal, place a firelighter in the centre, and you’re off.

Oak & Hickory 100% Lumpwood Charcoal

Pour the charcoal

Add the charcoal to your Big Green Egg, Stop pouring when it reaches 5cm below the rim of the Fire Ring. This will provide the right amount of clearance beneath your cooking surfaces.

Make a well, make a teepee.

Open a little indent in the centre of the pile for a firelighter to nestle in the charcoal. Light the corner of the firelighter, place it in the coals, then build a little teepee of charcoal on top.

Leave it to light

Leave the Dome fully open for 5-10 minutes to get the fire going, then close the Dome for 10 minutes more to allow the internal temperature to build. Keep both vents are fully open.

Put in your surfaces

When the EGG’s ceramics start to feel hot to the touch and the thermometer is 10°C away from your recipe’s target temperature, it’s time to put in your chosen cooking surfaces.

Whether you’re adding your ConvEGGtor and Stainless Steel Grid for indirect cooking or a Cast Iron Searing Grid for grilling, your temperature will drop slightly. Don’t worry: the temperature will come back up.

Once the target temperature is reached, begin to adjust the Draft Door and rEGGulator in tandem. Make these adjustments in small increments for precision. Once the temperature has stopped fluctuating, you’re ready to cook!

Add your surfaces

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