Searing

Searing with the Large Spider

The Spider holds Big Green Egg's 13" small cast iron grid (Model 13CI).  Add the Large Adjustable Rig or Woo3 and you have a fantastic combination for searing and roasting the perfect steak.  

Producing that perfect steak is a two step process: sear/blacken and then roast.  The Spider/cast iron grid combo provides the means to sear inside the fire ring.  By searing closer to the lump, you can get the same char results but with lower temperatures than if searing on top of the fire ring.  When the desired char is obtained, you can either rest the steak or move it immediately onto the Woo3 or Adjustable Rig’s raised grid.  Here, you stop the searing process and basically roast the meat to the desired doneness.  This two step process, sear then roast, is akin to a chef searing on a stove top and sliding the pan in the oven to finish.

Using the Spider and CI Grid is a wonderful steak process when doing three or less steaks.  Three average size ribeyes or strip steaks fit nicely on the 13" diameter grid.  More than three, it can get a bit time consuming as you need to let the cast iron grid reheat between batches.  We recommend using 16" long tongs for handling food on the Spider/grid combo.  Hand protection is recommended.  We offer 16" Tongs and Welders Gloves in our Shopping Cart.

We recommend keeping the searing grid in place while finishing the cook on the upper grid.  Depending on the fire, a piece or two of your favorite wood can be dropped on the searing grid for smoke.  This keeps the wood from direct contact with the lump, so the wood only smolders.

The first picture on the left is Big Green Egg's small cast iron grid, 13CI , sitting on the Large Spider. The first picture on the right is a smoldering chunk of mesquite on the grid.  The remaining pictures are cooks, including sea scallops, ribeyes, beef tenderloin and a flat iron.