Cooking with the Char Broil Oil-less Big Easy Fryer

[gfweb]

What happened to Big Easy? Is now just another cooking method and not worthy of note? Or was it a passing enthusiasm?

[Dejah]

gfweb: Big Easy is still being used...just been too busy (lazy) to take pictures.  When it was lovely and hot a couple of weeks ago, it was great to help keep the kitchen cool.

 

Have done chickens with different seasonings, ribs, char siu, a rib roast, Getting ready to do the Thanksgiving turkey in there. As mentioned in the Dinner thread, s-i-l had been out and smoking the protein selections for our dinners.

 

Having said all of the above, I have to admit the enthusiasm has died down a bit. Being on a low carb watch has kept me from producing the naan that I originally got the Big Easy for!

[Dejah]

Picked up a 4-rib pork roast on the way home from work. Inserted skewers of fresh rosemary, slathered on whole grain mustard, and a sprinkle of Montreal steak spice.

 

Hooked a half rack onto the middle of the basket and "fried" the roast on high for 1.15 hours.

 

Crust was lovely, as were the small bones. Eaten with peas, ancient grains, and apple sauce (store bought).

 

Even though the meat was juicy, I still made a thin gravy just 'cos...

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Smithy]

Wow, dejah.  It isn't right that I should be hungry this early in the morning, but - thanks to you - I am now ravenous.    

[Dejah]

Thanksgiving turkey! 9.36 kgs. Brined and was done in 2.45 hours!

 

Stuffing was made in a roaster under 5 turkey backs and necks. S-i-l had made lots of stock from 3 turkey carcasses ( from collecting the legs and wings)e ha for the gravy. Great intense flavour! We leftovers as we gorged on smoked turkey legs and wings at lunch.

 

Edited October 12, 2014 by Dejah (log)

[Shelby]

I think that's one of the prettiest turkeys I've ever seen.

[Dejah]

Thanks, Shelby for your compliment on our Thanksgiving turkey.

 

Tonight: "Double Decker" chicken in the Big Easy. I recall someone once mentioning about adding potatoes to cook in drippings. I think it was when I made Chinese BBQ duck in the Big Easy.

 

So, tonight, I thought I'd try that with the chickens. They turned out well - crispy on the outside and soft on the inside ( of the potatoes, that is!)

 

I tucked springs of fresh rosemary under the skin on one chicken, and just seasonings and lemon wedges in the one on top. The top bird got crispier than the bottom one, but both were great - done in 1.15 on full blast.

 

 

[TMB]

Hi all, new to this forum but old dog when it comes to posting on cooking forums.  

 

Name is Tommy and I'm known on other forums as Mr. Big Easy & was a guest chef for their forum.

 

  Been cooking and learning about these units since 2007.

I even cooked in backyard comps with these units and finished high as 4th over all . 

 

I wanted to give ya' background of who I am so I can post pictures and learn from y'all.

 

Here are a few cooks under my belt   

 

 

[TMB]

Will add more later

[TMB]

Here is a set of butts in charcoal version SRG (Smoker, Roaster & Grill Big Easy)

 

Here is the charcoal SRG, two modified SRG's and the Pellet SRG all cooking butts for church

 

Here is one of the butts chopped up ready for serving

[Kerry Beal]

Back up in Manitoulin and cooking a lamb leg on the Big Easy here.

[lemniscate]

We've been using the Charbroil Big Easy at a remote site for meals when we are there.  So far this season, two chickens rubbed with Old Bay, hung by the legs and roasted to perfection.   Next up was ribs (Costco size), again rubbed with Old Bay (there's a commercial sized can there, so needs to be used up) and those were fantastic.  I overfilled the oven with the ribs, 4 racks around the edge and 2 racks hung down the middle, all were done to 195-205F in about 2 hours.  Juicy, tender, nice bark on the outside.  We ate good.

 

I'm going to get brave and try @Dejah's naan technique next.  Probably will do more whole chickens to go with the naan attempt.

[rotuts]

Im pleased the B.E. has not been forgotten.

 

Its one of the few things I know I would have enjoyed

 

using one , and putting it through its paces.

 

I was working w a 3 burner weber , ...  grill grates .... pellet tube smoker

 

I did vertical chicken that way , and could not envision 

 

changing around the gas connection .

 

more or less 

[lemniscate]

I get great results, for the way I like "bbq'd" meats.  I don't like smoke being the predominate flavor in bbq meat, I don't like the sauce or mop being the predominate flavor nor do I like a 1/4" layer of rub crust being the predominate flavor.  I like the taste of the grilled meat/fat/juicy with a bit of seasoning.   The B.E. just does the right way for me for what may or may not be considered bbq meat.  And it's a very easy cooker to setup and maintain (and store).

 

 

Edited December 13, 2022 by lemniscate
added pic (log)

[rotuts]

@lemniscate 

 

Excellent !  

 

pls postnwhen you can

 

w pic os your set-up?

 

[Dejah]

Nice to see this topic brought back up. My unit is put to sleep for the winter.
Will look forward to all your posts!

[gfweb]

Seeing the Big Easy makes me feel young again. 😉

 

[lemniscate]

Leg of Lamb.  Whole Foods had a sale and I bought the monster one, 10+ lbs.

Rubbed with a spice mix that included Old Bay.

Took about 2.5 hours to 145F-150F target.

Excellent.

My naan though was a executional failure, dough too loose.  I used a wadded up cotton towel for a naan pillow to slap dough to the wall.  If my dough was drier I think it wouldn't have been such a struggle.  We ate it anyway, kind of more like a lahvosh.  I'm not giving up on naan yet.

 

 

[DesertTinker]

On 12/18/2022 at 4:52 PM, lemniscate said:

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for this idea! I’ve just been grabbing a half sheet pan for holding the BE basket. I have that Guardian Service pan, it never even crossed my mind that it might be right size for the BE basket to sit on.

[lemniscate]

$42 USD of Costco chuck roast double-decked in the Big Easy.   A pie pan piled with diced carrot, parsnip, celery root and red radishes roasted underneath it all.  A loaf of premade garlic bread was warmed across the top.  Sadly, this is the only pic I got of the cook since this got hectic with setup and serving.   We made a radish greens/cucumber sour cream salad.  The meat was rubbed with worcestershire and old bay mix.   It was good outdoor food and provided lots of leftovers.  

 

It took a 2+ hours to get the roasts to 135-140F, longer than I anticipated, so lunch was late.

[gfweb]

I love hearing about the Big Easy. Makes me feel young again 😉

[Duvel]

Everytime I see this I think Döner skewer: stack, roast, shave off, roast more, shave off more …

 

Would that be doable ?

[rotuts]

the Big Easy is the very best thing

 

I dont own.

 

@lemniscate 

 

please keep posting your results.

 

@Duvel 

 

Id think a skewer stack would be doable 

 

w some sort of system to keep the stack vertical

 

and in the middle .

[lemniscate]

6 hours ago, Duvel said:

Everytime I see this I think Döner skewer: stack, roast, shave off, roast more, shave off more …

 

Would that be doable ?

 

Someone on r/bbq did al pastor, which I believe is the same technique as döner.   I'm going to look around (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) or maybe design/build the structure.   

 

@Duvel  How would you do a döner to your liking,  ie meat cut and spicing?   I've never had one.

 

I have an accessory that is a kebab holder but its design is useless to me.  Maybe I can use that as a base for a structure with some ingenuity.  Stay tuned.

[lemniscate]

Another cook on the Big Easy.   This time was 6 whole chicken legs (with thigh) and some chicken heart yakitori.  This was an experiment on the yakitori and I think it turned out really good.   So not only can you cook on the inner of the Big Easy, the escaping heat out the top does a nice job as a yakitori grill.  The chicken legs are hanging under the yakitori mesh.

 

Edited June 25, 2023 by lemniscate (log)