Burnside Endorses: The Big Green Egg

One of our wedding presents, and a very generous one at that, was a Big Green Egg.

Over the last year at the grocery store, I got into the whole foodie thing. Working around great food will do that. I was fortunate enough to work with a guy named Phil. Phil was some sort of barbecue Grand Champion or something or other in the State of Oregon. The point is, he was good at barbecue. He was from North Carolina, too, for all you purists.

The point is, I wanted to start smoking some meats. I even tried smoking a chicken at Don’s house on a homemade smoker left behind by the previous tenants. It was basically two terra cotta pots stacked on top of each other with a hot plate plugged in at the bottom. It did not work very well, and my drive to become a BBQ expert was unsated.

Then, after the wedding, I found out someone was getting me a Big Green Egg, and I was overjoyed. Supposedly, they’re the best smokers out there, but they also work equally well as a grill (you can stoke it easily to 700 degrees) and you can even use them as ovens. The Eggs are marvels of heat-retention and control.

As the delivery date neared, I got more and more excited. The day it was to arrive, I had a chicken coated in rub, applewood chunks soaking overnight, and a whole bag of lump charcoal ready to go.The Egg, however, was not as ready. I cracked open the box and it was shattered all to hell.

Fast forward three weeks later, a replacement finally arrived. I even went to the shipping center here in Phoenix just to avoid the risk the delivery driver might subject it to.

This is getting long, so I’ll just get to the endorsement:

I figured cooking on the Big Green Egg would yield terrific results. I figured I’d gnaw on a savory chicken thigh and experience a marked improvement on my previous attempts to smoke chicken on our gas grill. I figured there would be a noticeable improvement.

It was the best chicken I’d ever had. Period.

Hyperbole? Probably. I have an issue with that. But it was still awesome. The next day, I smoked some ribs and those were amazing, too. The Big Green Egg is awesome, and while no physical object can bring true happiness, you’d have a hard time convincing me after inhaling a tender smoked morsel of babyback meat.

Big Green Eggs are up there in price, but if you have an itch for true barbecue, Phil would suggest a Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker, which are priced around $200.