New BGE XL Today - gasket blow out first use

Not too many BGE dealers up here in the northeast, especially in western ma where I live. I was traveling today near Boston and did a quick search on my blackberry and found a dealer. Ended up leaving with an XL and nest. When the wife came home I gave her a hug and kiss and said thank you. She said "for what?" and I said my fathers day present. She said "oh great, how much did I spend?" I told her that "she went all out". Not sure how she puts up with me. Anyway, brought home, set up and got the seal and everything all set. Went to store and got a couple oversized porterhouses. Fired up egg and waited until 650 degrees and put steaks on. Boy is that hot to cook on!! When I opened to flip steaks after a few minutes, the lid was stuck and the gasket came off and caught on fire. I remained calm and realized the most important thing is to finish cooking the steaks. By the time I got the probe in the steak and closed the vents the steaks were done.

Please help, what did I do wrong to burn out the gasket on the first use?

thanks kev

Steaks

JD McGee said:

Yep...that was a hottie right out of the box...no worries bro...the mothership takes care of all her chillin's...:biggrin: How was the steak?

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Flavor was great, but I am picky with steaks. I like them medium rare/rare and these came out more medium. I was definitely not prepared at how fast these steaks would cook on a really hot egg.

On the brighter side, I am really excited about the new egg. After cooking on a traeger for so long, I was looking for something I could sear steaks with and get more smoke flavor with and this seems like it will accomplish both.

Rick's Tropical Delight said:

you are going to love that egg. the gasket is considered a maintenance item and there are a whole lot of people that cook without gaskets at all.

some say keep the temp low the first few cooks. there are others that say "let er rip" and they do not believe in the "set the gasket adhesive" theory. i say what could it hurt?

*what happened to the original first response to this thread? i was interested to see the responses to that comment*

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Thanks, Rick...So far I love the egg. I cooked a prime rib and a beer can chicken on it tonight and had a blast, food turned out great...much better than traeger cooking...