On Monday morning, Sam, Gavin and myself gathered for our first lesson with the Big Green Egg (BGE). This is the ultimate BBQ and we are now stockists for the full range of BGE’s so we thought it best that we found out how to get the best cooking results.
The large BGE was assembled out of the box. It’s a remarkably simple bit of kit, but is made from high-spec ceramics (developed by NASA for their heat shields) that are durable and with outstanding heat insulation. The base holds the charcoal and grills (set to different configurations, depending on what you are cooking) and the lid keeps the heat, smoke and moisture in. You control the temperature by adjusting the air flow.
You can grill, sear, smoke, slow cook, bake and pan cook – in fact it will do exactly the same as any good quality domestic oven, but over charcoal. The result is food that looks and tastes truly epic. The BGE keeps all food remarkably moist as the restricted air flow does not dry out the food as it cooks as in a normal oven or BBQ.
You fill the Big Green Egg with charcoal to the correct level, add one natural fire lighter, and in 8 minutes it is ready to cook. We assembled the grill and started off with a small Côte de boeuf, seasoned with salt and pepper. You set the air flow until you achieve your desired cooking temperature and away you go.
In no time we had a beautiful, grass-fed, aged rare steak that was seared and caramelized on the outside, with a smoky, beefy flavour that was remarkable. We followed up with seared local squid and some prawns for a bit of surf and turf. Every Monday lunchtime should be like this.
We will be cooking Beef Brisket for this weekend’s farm shop party, and then experimenting with the whole range of cooking options this summer, before we take an oven into our new kitchen in August.
If you are thinking of getting a proper BBQ this summer, do come and have a trial run on our Big Green Egg, it is a seriously impressive bit of oven, and will transform your cooking habits.
There is more information on the Big Green Egg website, until we get our webpage ready – but come and see us if you are considering a purchase and we can go through all the options.