Serious barbecue pitmasters swear by charcoal. Though finicky and sometimes difficult to control, charcoal delivers a smoky flavor that is simply unmatched in the barbecue world. To that end, The Big Green Egg is a kamado style of ceramic grill and smoker that can even operate like an oven. Hailed as the “original American ceramic cooker,” The Big Green Egg borrows its design from an ancient clay cooking unit called the komodo. If you’re looking for the premier charcoal smoker-grill, The Big Green Egg delivers. It’s available in an impressive array of sizes, so you can cook for 1 or 100.
3 Ways to Cook on Big Green Eggs
Grilling is defined direct cooking over high heat. It’s the prime method for cooking delectable hamburgers, world-class steaks, a variety of seafoods, as well as other cuts of meat, like smaller chicken pieces (breasts, wings, and drumsticks), and pork chops. In fact, most anything you could cook on the stovetop can be done by grilling over charcoal (some might argue, better). The Big Green Egg features two dampers for super-accurate control of the grill. You can grill anything from your breakfast bacon to your turkey breast at lunchtime to your ribeye dinner.
Unlike direct grilling, which places the food directly over the heat source, indirect grilling places the food away from the heat, so the food cooks slower, at a lower temperature. The Big Green Egg uses a convEGGtor to indirect grill things you’d normally cook in the oven: breads, casseroles, pies, pizzas, and more. The Big Green Egg holds in moisture, as well as heat, so foods never dry out and always stay tender and moist. Try your favorite baked meals in there, like whole chicken or turkey, lamb, beef, and pork roasts, and vegetables.
Smoking is another form of indirect grilling, that combines the low-and-slow cooking technique with the infusion of smoke for out-of-this-world flavor. A good smoker-grill must be well insulated in order to trap in the smoke, so that it engulfs and penetrates the food. The Big Green Egg is ceramic, making it very well insulated, and making it possible to control the temperature with precision, even at lower temperatures. Meats are ideal for smoking, especially larger cuts of beef and pork. But don’t miss out on other foods that lend well to smoking, including turkey, lamb, chicken, and a variety of vegetables. Since smoking often requires extremely long cook times, The Big Green Egg can maintain a cook for up to 18 hours with no problems whatsoever.
