Went to a new nice restaurant in town...

brownbw

Everyone has been RAVING about this place since it opened about 2-3 months ago. Thought I would try the flank steak. I was NOT impressed at ALL. Don't get me wrong, it was good, but I can cook flank steak 10x better than what that chef was doing. Also, my potatoes were slightly underdone. Definitely not worth the $40 I paid*. (*I got frog legs too). Plus I left hungry, though that may be due to my... "Healthy" appetite. All that to say, the egg is one of the best investments I've ever made. If any of you are on the fence about getting one for Christmas, just go for it. I've had mine for 3 years now and have not regretted it a single moment.

Scottborasjr

95% of the time you will prefer what you can prep at home as opposed to going out now that you have an Egg. Trust me it's cheaper and probably much healthier to prepare your own meals at home. If you can convince the significant other/roommate/ people who are consuming the food to do the dishes you shouldn't have to eat out much ever again.

caliking

It happens. once you learn how to cook, especially with something like the egg, eating out is just never the same. And usually not up to your standards either. I find that it motivates me even more to turn out good grub at home.

BYS1981

I go out and make sure when I get something it is something I can't make at home. I never get mad I had local sushi, etc.

I used to love fettucini Alfredo.. I then. realized it was butter and cream only. lol

Skiddymarker

As long as you don't mind the prep and tending the egg there is no comparison. Spend half on raw food of what a meal costs in a good eatery and you will drink for free. 

DMW

I go with the only order what I can't/don't make on the egg. Sushi/sashimi is my pick for dining out when I have a choice. Have a work event at a steak house tonight. Have a felling I'll just need to shutup about the egg during dinner so I don't look like a pompous @ss.

stantrb

Every time I've ordered steak out singe getting my eggs, I've been disappointed.

gdenby

Since getting the Egg, we almost never buy 'Q. We still try new places, but wins are few and far between. And by cooking on the Egg, I can afford to buy better quality meats, and usually do them as well as most restaurants.

Definitely has become harder to find places that are worth a trip. Even sort of hard finding places on days when you just don't want to cook.

Cymbaline65

gdenby said:

Since getting the Egg, we almost never buy 'Q. We still try new places, but wins are few and far between. And by cooking on the Egg, I can afford to buy better quality meats, and usually do them as well as most restaurants.

Definitely has become harder to find places that are worth a trip. Even sort of hard finding places on days when you just don't want to cook.

I normally am on the road 5 days a week and have to eat out for most all meals. Since I can eat out on my client's tab, I can experiment in the town I'm in and if the meal was crap, I'm not out anything. That said, I didn't think the Q in Kansas City was any better than what I can do on the BGE. Steak? Rarely eat it on the road and if I do, it's prime cuts that I can't get at home. Chicken? I'm happy with a high quality bird spatchcocked on the Egg. I've been home now for 6 months and the only time we eat out is when SWMBO demands it.

Seanr7

We are finding this out as well. I've had the BGE for three weeks and already restaurant meals are falling short of expectations. Plus it's much cheaper. I cooked steak and shrimp for five on Sunday and even with the bottle of wine we had way less then $100 in the whole meal. If we had gon out it would have cost us $200+, not counting wine! and the food wouldn't have been as good. I have my better half convinced we will pay the BGE off in less then a year on what we will save from not going out.

Little Steven

People don't take this into account when purchasing the egg. When you take out 5 or 6 $100+ dinners and 20 pizzas out of the equation the payback is minimal.

Cymbaline65

Little Steven said:

People don't take this into account when purchasing the egg. When you take out 5 or 6 $100+ dinners and 20 pizzas out of the equation the payback is minimal.

Especially the pizza, LS. We actually have a good pizza joint up the road but the kiddos still prefer pies off the Egg. Not to mention, my youngest's birthday party is in December and she's requesting my pizza for her party meal. Makes a papa proud...sniff...

BigWader

Better make this thread an "announcement".  Seems like it's got promo written all over it.

In all seriousness though I wish my household would come around to this logic a little more.  One of our diversions is frequent restaurant meals.  Usually we go for Indian, Sushi, Italian - but for anything grilled or roasted I'd rather have it on the egg.

Little Steven

Try Indian on the egg. You won't look back

Helmet

Wow, I JUST had this conversation with a bartender last night (while out eating sushi) about local restaurants, he asked me "If you are going to get a steak locally, where do you go?" and I replied "My house". I 100% agree though, unless it's something like what BigWader goes out for (even after only having my egg a few months) I'm still constantly disappointed my restaurant food now.

Cymbaline65

Little Steven said:

Try Indian on the egg. You won't look back

I LOVE Indian chow. Done Tandoori Chicken on the Egg but nothing else. What would you suggest?

caliking

Little Steven said:

Try Indian on the egg. You won't look back

Yep - egg works great for many Indian/Pakistani foods. Grilled meats are more popular in Northern India, so there are lots of kababs and such that are done well on the egg. Also slow-coked items can be done well also. I've made curries in a CI DO on the egg and they have come out well. I have not tried "dum" style cooking yet on the egg, but I've made "dum" style biryani in my drum smoker before. Dum pukht style is where the pot is sealed with a bead of dough to keep all the steam and flavors in. Sometimes you drop a lit piece of charcoal into a steel dish in the pot, pour a little ghee on the burning charcoal, and then seal it all up quickly. 

Then of course there is tandoori chicken, which turns out pretty good on the egg. 

Little Steven

caliking said:

show previous quotes

Little Steven said:

Try Indian on the egg. You won't look back

Yep - egg works great for many Indian/Pakistani foods. Grilled meats are more popular in Northern India, so there are lots of kababs and such that are done well on the egg. Also slow-coked items can be done well also. I've made curries in a CI DO on the egg and they have come out well. I have not tried "dum" style cooking yet on the egg, but I've made "dum" style biryani in my drum smoker before. Dum pukht style is where the pot is sealed with a bead of dough to keep all the steam and flavors in. Sometimes you drop a lit piece of charcoal into a steel dish in the pot, pour a little ghee on the burning charcoal, and then seal it all up quickly. 

Then of course there is tandoori chicken, which turns out pretty good on the egg. 

Cali, I'm partial to curries and gravies on the egg. The smoke makes it taste more authentic.

ChuckChampion

Since I picked my egg up a few months ago I have went out and ate at a restaurant for dinner twice.  If my wife wasn't working at the hospital till 11pm every night I think I may have to eat out a little more, but its just me (and a couple of friends who stare at the egg and drool) that I have to cook for at supper time.  I do enjoy the meals off the egg more than going out, but for me its more about learning and trying new recipes at this point. 

In the first week I was trying so many different things and dirtying up so many dishes my wife went out and bought us a dishwasher just to keep up with my egging!  We never needed one before because we ate out every night.

Mauch5

My wife was a little skeptical about the egg when I brought it home.  She is now a true believer.  On the downside, the egg has ruined countless restaurants in town.  I can no longer eat BBQ from any other place except my backyard.  The egg has also ruined all but one steakhouse that we frequent. 

SWVABeanCounter

We won't go out very often now, but when we do I'll either order:

A.  Something I know I don't want to make at home.  Or

B.  Something I want to make at home and am looking for some inspiration.

bicktrav

There are still some meals I'll pay good money for, but if it's steak or any version of BBQ it's happening on my egg.  I can't justify paying $50 for a filet at a steakhouse when I can cook one just as good at home, and have a great time doing it.  But when it comes to getting an amazing pasta, I can't compare with some of the better Italian restaurants around.  Likewise for sushi.

ajoseph21

I couldn't agree more. I almost never order steak out anymore since I got my LBGE. Most of the time I go for fish or something that I just can't make that well. Good thing is, we spend less $$$. Keep grilling and smoking man!

Little Steven

Cymbaline65 said:

show previous quotes

Little Steven said:

Try Indian on the egg. You won't look back

I LOVE Indian chow. Done Tandoori Chicken on the Egg but nothing else. What would you suggest?

I've done biryanis, chili paneer, rogan ghost, curry goat. Here are some

Spices for fish curry before toasting and grinding

Aromatics and green chile in ghee

with spice and tomato ready to be cooked down

with clam broth and clamatto added. chunks of halibut and shrimp first and sea bass (not chilean) added after a few minutes

Started the Aloo Gobi spices with ghee and chili garlic paste


cooked the cauliflower and chilis, added par cooked potato pieces and added peas at the end
started the onion and spice for palak paneer

added the cilantro, ground spinach and fresh spinach

Started sauteeing the chicken pieces for butter chicken

added the sauce

cooked the naan

Everything served

Fish curry

Basmati

Butter Chicken

Aloo Gobi

Palak Paneer
 

Searat

Highest praise is when college boy says, "Dad, you've ruined eating another good meal." BGE is slowly reducing items he'll order in public.

BigWader

I count at least four enameled cast iron pots there!!! 

Do you sautee all spices before making any curry?  Is it always Ghee or do you go veg oil for that part?  I'd love to cook more authentic Indian at home since the flavours are so deep but getting it all going is a bit intimidating...

Little Steven

I dry toast them and then break with a mortar and pestle. Once you start toasting or frying whole spices it's really hard to stop. The aroma of the toasted spices is amazing.

 I generally use vegetable ghee mixed with canola. Sometimes a little mustard oil mixed in.

http://www.vahrehvah.com/

Watch a few of Sanjay's videos and you can see how he uses whole masala in his gravies and what he does for pastes. Worst part about the Indian stuff is I always want to make a whole buffet instead of a single meal. 

caliking

LS - I'm speechless. That is a damn impressive spread you turned out!

@BigWader - sauteeing the spices is important. The onions, garlic, tomato etc must cook down a bit, until the oil separates just a bit from the mix. Ghee is not necessary (veg oil will do), but ghee adds a depth of flavor that's hard to describe. Go easy on it though, your arteries will thank you You can also use mainly veg oil, with a dollop of ghee for depth. Some things are regional - e.g. mustard oil. It isn't used much for North Indian dishes, but I love the flavor. Chicken curry made in mustard oil beats veg oil IMO. 

Little Steven

Cali,

See how close the pics are to the counter? The damned kitchen looked like a bomb went off. At the Toronto fest a few years back I made a rogan johst. Indian guy takes some and stands there and eats it. I'm like looking at him going like "Well?". He says "It's better than my mom's man". I think that was the best compliment I ever had.

caliking

Steven - that is a compliment you can take to the bank. One thing - its "gosht". If you make it so well, you have to teach your device how to spell it!

Little Steven

It's spelled the other way in Chennai