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Product Review:

Big Green Egg (Small) BBQ

 

By Jason Gillard

(Most images are of a large Green Egg)

 

                    
                                                   
When I am not reviewing Blu-ray movies or tech gadgets, you can find me in the backyard using the BBQ.  I have had my eye on a Big Green Egg for quite awhile.  I had heard the hype, it could keep consistent temperatures, could be used as a grill and as smoker, and I could bake a cake in it if I wanted too!  It all sounded too good to be true! So I have been trying for quite some time to get one for a review.  Finally I was able to get a Small Green Egg to use for my review.  Green Eggs come in a variety of sizes: Mini, Small, Medium, Large, and Extra Large.

The Big Green Egg is made of Space-age ceramics and its double-wall construction make the Big Green Egg durable and fuel efficient.  The Big Green Egg uses charcoal.  If you ask any BBQ fanatic what tastes better: food cooked on charcoal or gas, the overwhelming response is charcoal.  There is just something sort of primal about cooking over a natural flame.  My experience with charcoal cooking had been minimal at this point.  I have a Weber Smokey Joe Gold that was a mini charcoal grill, that I take when I go on my annual fishing trip.  I always had a problem getting the right temperature with that grill.  So I was anxious to get started trying out the egg.

When my Small Egg arrived it came with these eggsessories:

20lb Bag of Big Green Egg Natural Lump Charcoal
Ash Tool
Ash Pan
Fire starter
Grill lifter
Nest
DVD
Instruction Booklet and Recipe Book
                                             
       
Eggsessories
                                           
       
     
V-Rack
        
Vertical Roasters
    
       
   
   
Ash Pan
                 
Plate Setter
        
                                 
         
             
3-Tier Grill
                      
                                             
I would suggest if you're new to charcoal cooking or the egg in general it would be a good idea to watch the DVD.  There are a lot of useful videos, that detail the process of lighting the egg, maintaining temperature, smoking etc.

In the list of eggsessories it listed something called a nest.  This is a stand that will hold your egg about waist height making it easier to cook on, it also has wheels on it.  You don't have to use a nest, you could place the egg right on the ground with the included ceramic feet.  But the nest certainly makes it more convenient.

Once I got my egg to the backyard I was ready to try it out.  With my Smokey Joe I found the best way to light the coals was in a chimney starter.  For those of you who don't know what that is, it is a metal cylinder that your pour the charcoal in.  You stuff some newspaper underneath and it lights the coals much faster.  When they are starting to ash over you just pour them into the BBQ.  The only issue I had with this is small hot coals would bounce off narrowly missing me.   With the egg it's a much simpler process.  Your pour the lump charcoal in, stick some fire starter sticks in the middle and light them.  Since air travels down through the bottom vent, then up through the top vent, it acts like a chimney feeding the fire.  So at this point I let the fire burn with the lid open for about 5 minutes. After 5 minutes I closed the lid but still left the bottom and top vents open.  A little tip for you charcoal newbies like myself, make sure the smoke coming out of the egg is not a white colour.  If you start cooking with smoke that is this colour you're going to end up with a piece of meat that smells and tastes like a tailpipe.  The colour of smoke you are looking for is blue or clear.  Once the lid is closed I looked at the thermometer and waited until it got close to the temperature I wanted.  Then I closed the bottom vent leaving it an inch open and I closed the top vent to a quarter of the way open. 

What really surprised me is how well it stayed at the temperature I had set it to.  The other thing that surprised me is how quickly it started heating up when I first lit it.  Since this was my first test I was not going to cook any meat I was just playing with temperatures to see how it worked.   The other tip I would give is, when you're aiming for a certain temperature it is a good idea to keep an eye on the egg.  It is much easier to heat up the egg then to try to cool it down.  After playing with the temperatures for the afternoon I closed both vents and snuffed out the fire.  This is another big advantage of the egg when you close the vents the fire goes out immediately making the charcoal that is left available for your next cookout.  After snuffing the fire out I came out 2 hours later and the egg was still at 250 degrees.  This shows you how efficient the egg is keeping the the heat in.

The next day I was going to try my first real bbq on the egg.  I was going to start with something easy and that was hamburgers.  I lit the egg and brought it up to around 400 degrees.  I put the burgers on the grill and cooked them for around 6 minutes a side.  Of course it's difficult to describe in writing how wonderful they tasted, but all I can say was they were juicy, and super tasty.  I was able to maintain the temperature I wanted and really didn't have to do much at all!  The following night I decided to cook a whole chicken and do it Spatchcock style.  If your not sure what that is "Google" it.  I cooked the whole chicken for about an hour and when it was done it was the juciest chicken I have ever tasted.
                                                     
                 
                                 
                                                     
So as you can see doing meat on the egg is a no brainer and can make anyone look like a super chef.  Clean up is also super easy, it can burn off any grease at a high temp just like a self cleaning oven.  The other big advantage when you buy an egg is the community that comes with it.  There is a fantastic forum at www.eggheadforum.com that is available to help at a moments notice.  I was able to post a question and within minutes had the answer from multiple people.  Everyone was very helpful.  I also came across a website called www.nakedwhiz.com.  This site has all you need to know about cooking with a ceramic cooker.  It also has cookbooks that you could download that has recipes designed with the egg in mind.  I am looking forward to trying out some other types of cooking on the egg.  I really want to try to smoke a pork butt for multiple hours on end and I want to cook some pizza in the egg.  This brings me to my only complaint about the egg. 

There is an eggsessory called a plate setter.  A plate setter has two uses.  It can be used to cook food indirectly putting a barrier between the fire and your food or it can be used to hold a pizza stone to cook pizza.  For me I think this should be included with the egg.  There are many foods that need to be cooked indirectly and calling the egg the worlds best smoker and grill and it is, it should be able to cook all types of meat in all situations.  Including the plate setter would achieve this.

Overall I give the egg my highest recommendation.  If you like BBQ'ing and want a truly versatile cooking appliance, look no further than a Big Green Egg.
                                                     
                               
                                                     
    Specs:

  • XLarge 205 lbs – 24” grid
  • Large 140 lbs – 18.25” grid
  • Medium 95 lbs – 15” grid
  • Small 65 lbs – 13” grid
  • Mini 30 lbs – 9.5” grid

Pros: Moisture Retention
             Easy to Start
             Easy Temperature Control
             Easy Clean Up
             Year–Round Use
             Comes with a DVD

Cons: Should include a plate setter