Cooking on a Big Green Egg

[Kerry Beal]

And finally there was a draw for a few odds and ends including a mini BGE.  Anna didn't win the mini - but she did win two other prizes.

 

 

[rotuts]

Excellent

 

thank you so much for the pics etc

 

and congratulations to AnnaN for Some Luck !

[rotuts]

BTW  did you do all of that one one 'load' of charcoal ?

 

did the winery off a 'taste' to the 'workers ?'

 

[MelissaH]

I'm quite envious of Anna and her loot!

[Kerry Beal]

BTW  did you do all of that one one 'load' of charcoal ?

 

did the winery off a 'taste' to the 'workers ?'

 

The eggs were not loaded to the top - I had to add a bit more to one egg before the last item.

 

The winery was offering tastings to the paying guests - and they would have to the rest of us if we'd had time to go in!

[rotuts]

suggest 'tag team' next time.

 

must stay hydrated and lubricated.

[HungryC]

Poor top browning is the main problem I have when "egg" baking.  I've solved it by 1)brushing the tops of whatever I'm baking w/butter or egg wash to encourage coloring, 2)baking as high in the dome as possible; and 3)not opening the egg, if at all possible, while cooking.  I "peek" through the top vent while standing on a stepstool & use a flashlight when necessary.

[MelissaH]

Would the judicious application of a blowtorch help with the top browning problems? Or is that anathema to this kind of event?

[Kerry Beal]

Would the judicious application of a blowtorch help with the top browning problems? Or is that anathema to this kind of event?

It wouldn't bother me!

[mross]

My son asked me to cook him some ribs to take to work for a pot luck supper. Here are a few pictures showing the result.

 

Smoking at 225 degrees.

 

Rubbed with my homemade rub.

 

Loaded in the BGE

 

Finshed after 5 hour.

[weinoo]

Nice job.

[Kerry Beal]

Niagara Eggfest at Hernder Estates Winery again this year. We decided to keep the number of dishes down this year - and I think it was a good choice. 

 

 

Anna's daughter helping get things started before the hordes descended. 

 

 

We were housed next to Celebrity Chef's Michael and Anna Olsen. They had a bushel of jalapeños that actually had a bit of heat to them. They were making stuffed jalapeños, a pork sirloin taco with peach salsa and s'mores. 

 

 

We started with ham and cheese rolls. 

 

 

A sausage and green chili frittata.

 

 

Bahn mi - under construction - layer of pork pate, siracha mayo

 

 

Pork loin - sous vide, then browned with caramel sauce - a little more caramel sauce on the top, pickled veg, cilantro (just about killed me to put that on there), a little more siracha mayo. 

 

 

Brazilian cheese puffs - must have miscalculated on the amount of tapioca - they weren't really puffs - but they got eaten anyway!

 

 

Peach summer torte - our most popular offering today I'd say. 

 

 

Second batch ended up a little dark on the bottom - Anna's daughter trimmed it up and it went just as well as the first batch. 

 

 

 

We had a couple of peaches left over and decided to grill them - people seemed a little annoyed when they asked when we were serving them and we said we weren't - they were the cooks treat!

[Deryn]

Wow! And that is 'keeping the number of dishes down'! It's a new math thing, right?

Everything looks absolutely amazing as always.

[MetsFan5]

What size egg do you use?

[Kerry Beal]

I have a large and a mini at home - I have a mini up north. We cooked on 2 larges for the eggfest.

[Ashen]

My wife and  I just drove past a sign that was still up for the EggFest earlier today.  My wife asked me if I thought the Olsen's had been at it.  I will show her your pictures, and she will be so jealous. She has a serious Girl Crush on Anna. I don't envy you being next to so many eggs on sunday though, it was such a  drop down hot day . 

[Kerry Beal]

There was a rather nice breeze though. 

 

Michael Olsen was telling me that his latest kick has been finding old metal platters etc and getting them powder coated with food grade coating. He get's some really nice looking stuff out of it - his stuffed jalapeños were served on a lovely platter. 

[Kerry Beal]

Dickson's Eggfest in Toronto yesterday. It was held at a new venue - the Evergreen Brickworks. It is an old brick factory that has a roof high enough that you can BBQ indoors! It was a treat not to lose napkins to the wind.

 

I kept forgetting to take pictures - I have some taken with my cell phone (not one single one taken before the dish was invaded however). I am waiting for a few more pictures taken by Anna N's son - perhaps he caught a few pre serving. 

 

 

 

 

 

We shared our space with a lovely family - their 6 year old daughter was making their sign when we arrived - and I quickly recruited her into making ours as my penmanship leaves something to be desired! Told her the first dish was PB&J rolls - all day long people kept asking what PBNJ rolls were!

 

 

 

So our PBNJ rolls - basically cinnamon bun dough with crunchy PB and strawberry jam. Will I make them again - NO!  They didn't do anything for me - but of course they got eaten.

 

 

A lone egg burned away untended - a memorial to our very own @Mr Holloway who died last year.

[Tri2Cook]

2 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

So our PBNJ rolls - basically cinnamon bun dough with crunchy PB and strawberry jam. Will I make them again - NO!  They didn't do anything for me

Sorry to hear that. I was kinda excited by the idea. My attention is usually grabbed at the mention of peanut butter.

[Kerry Beal]

 

Our little location at the beginning of the day.

 

 

 

The Garlic Monkey bread - made with no knead dough - a big tough - I'd use a less lean dough next time around.

 

 

Mac and cheese - very popular as always - made for the kids - eaten by the adults!

 

 

@alleguede's baguette

 

 

Anna N's Mezgaldi Onions

 

 

The rib cap - sous vide for a couple of hours and browned quickly on the egg.

 

 

Assembled baguette, a bit of juice from the onions, a smattering of onions, a piece of rib cap. 

 

 

Roasted cauliflower and gruyere frittata.

 

 

Served with kimchi cream.

 

 

 

Sausage rolls.

 

 

Meanwhile - Marc (a friend who is the producer of Cluck and Squeal rubs - knows how to build anticipation - lineups happened at his booth overtime something was approaching done.

 

 

There's always someone doing porchetta. 

Edited June 13, 2016 by Kerry Beal (log)

[MetsFan5]

Well that makes the chicken and potatoes we did on the BGE look beyond simple. 

 

But out of curiousity, why not do things that are completely made on the egg? Genuinely no offense but I'd rather use my oven to bake than my egg, which I cannot get any better results from other than grilling. Like this pork loin or ribs? Or the chicken. 

 

[Tri2Cook]

2 hours ago, MetsFan5 said:

But out of curiousity, why not do things that are completely made on the egg? Genuinely no offense but I'd rather use my oven to bake than my egg, which I cannot get any better results from other than grilling. Like this pork loin or ribs? Or the chicken. 

I'm probably not the right person to answer that since I don't own or even want a BGE but I have followed the adventures at BGE Fest for as long as Kerry and Anna have been posting here about it and I think part of the fun is seeing what can be done with it. I don't think whether or not it might be easier or more efficient to do it another way is the point. You get to see a lot of creativity and, probably to the benefit of those who sell the BGE, it plants the seeds of what can be done in the head of non-owners. If I had a BGE sitting on my deck and the power was out for a few days, I could do a whole lot more than just grilling some meats and veggies if I wanted to. If I had one at a summer cabin that didn't have an oven, I could still bake things while there if I wanted to. That sort of stuff. But mostly, it looks to me like the participants just plain have a lot of fun. And that's the best reason of all.

[rotuts]

I love BGE tests.  thanks for taking the time to share  

Edited June 13, 2016 by rotuts (log)

[Kerry Beal]

What Tri2Cook said!

 

Several people asked at the eggfest this year 'what do you get out of cooking at the eggfest?' - that's the first time that I've ever been asked there. It's really all about bragging rights - proving that you can do things on the egg that nobody else is doing. It's not about the money for sure!

 

Anna and I spend time planning, coming up with ideas - if we see a recipe that looks intriguing throughout the year we add it to the eggfest list. And then in the weeks leading up to it we determine which can be done with the minimum of difficulty - we've learned a lot over the years about what is such a colossal pain in the ass that it isn't worth trying and how to efficiently cut up the servings with a minimum of aggravation for the cutters. We spend time thinking about how best to assemble what we are making to overcome previous year's issues. Anna has talent with that - I'd happily go off half cocked and discover I hadn't thought it through! 

[MetsFan5]

Thanks for the explanation-- I think I was a little confused about what the Eggfest is all about!