New Big Green Egg in my yard!

Last month, we visited our Son's house for a UFC pay per view fight night. He was smoking a rack of ribs on a small Big Green Egg Kamato cooker in his back yard. I had noticed the egg before, but it was small and sitting on the ground it looked like a challenge to use it. When the ribs came off of the Egg, they were remarkable! They had a dark bark, nice smoke ring, incredible moisture, and great flavor. I was a believer. Blair told me he had found the egg on Craig's list and that many people buy them, don't learn to use them and sell them on Craig's list. I looked for a couple of weeks and didn't find anything reasonably priced. I decided to go look at a new one and see what they were all about. Susan went to her trusty Ipad and found a dealer in Gridley, CA It was an Ace Hardward store. They were very knowledgeable about the cooker and we went home with a Large (18") Egg.

Assembly is a bit challenging as the Egg is very heavy. It is constructed mostly from fired clay ceramic components. I built the "nest", which is what they call the rolling stand for the Egg. It is just bolting metal parts together to form the stand that holds the egg at working height and gives it the mobility to roll it around. Once the nest was finished, I unpacked the box and laid the components out on the lawn. It is much easier to handle the heavy parts one at a time. after about an hour of assembly, I rolled the Egg into the back yard.

The first cook was a beef tri-tip roast. I had read about a technique by which you cook a tri-tip like a brisket. I set up the cooker for a 250 deg. cook and placed a pan of water on the conveggtor under the stainless steel grill, and cooked the tri-tip roast to 198 deg. I was very pleased with the results. The big advantage is that you get brisket like beef without having to wrangle a 16 lb. brisket for 12 hours.

My most recent cooks were a 17 lb. prime rib, bone in roast and a 7 lb. turkey breast. Both cooks exceeded my expectations. The controls on the Egg make it very easy to set up a consistent temperature cook. Low and Slow has never been easier. The big advantage over my Traeger smokers is the smoke. Using lump charcoal and chunk smoke wood gives the food a very distinct smoked flavor. I have used Hickory and Cherry so far. I am looking to find a discarded peach tree in my area and cut some peach smoke wood. Even though the Traeger cooks very consistently with hardwood pellets, it just does not impart the smoke taste I like on my barbecued meats. I have tried several brands of pellets that claim to be 100% hardwood. They do not seem to be any better than the Traeger pellets which are hardwood mixed with Alder. The Treager always gives me a great smoke ring, just not the smoke flavor. The Egg and chunk smoke wood gives a much more pronounced smoke flavor. The Traeger s still my pit of choice when smoking several brisket. The Egg has a much smaller grill surface area.

My Large Big Green Egg set me back over $1000.00. That is comparable to the high end gas grills on the market. Traeger grills start at about $600, but, when you move up to larger pellet grills the price goes way up. In my yard, I have a 5 burner gas grill, a Traeger XL commercial smoker and the Egg. All three have a purpose. The gas grill is perfect for searing a steak, grilling vegetables, or grilling a few quick hamburgers or hot dogs. The Traeger XL can easily do 4 briskets or about 6-8 tri-tip roasts. Both the gas grill and the Traeger start up easily and quickly, an advantage when you are short on time. The Egg takes a bit longer to setup and start, but the taste it is worth the extra time and effort to use it. The meat seems to retain more of its moisture and the smoke flavor is delicious.

Feel free to leave questions or comments.