Restaurant Egg (Part 2)

cmac610

A while back I posted about using Eggs in a restaurant setting and got mixed reviews…to say the least. 

Fast fwd to this weekend and we kicked off a culinary “partnership” between my BGE distributor and my buddies restaurant here in town, Crave Bistro! We’re not talking cook to order, or even cooking during service, but we’ve come up with a bunch of amazing and executable menu items to add to add to their Spring/Summer lineup. 

First up was a simple pork butt cook for pulled pork sliders. We smoked 6 butts on their new XL and launched, with great success, the sliders as a “special” last night. More to come…

JohnInCarolina

Those sliders look great! Your pics are always on point.

So I gather the pork is smoked and pulled ahead of time, and then maybe reheated for the sliders?  Any details you can share would probably be appreciated here. 

GrateEggspectations

Love the story and the result. Pic #1 says it all. 

WestAusEgg

Nice work mate, looks good 👍 

cmac610

JohnInCarolina said:

Those sliders look great! Your pics are always on point.

So I gather the pork is smoked and pulled ahead of time, and then maybe reheated for the sliders?  Any details you can share would probably be appreciated here. 

Thanks John! And you’re right on about the process. We turbo’d the butts on Thursday, pulled them in two batches, let them cool and I. To the walk-in they went. Chef Timmy and his team then reheated, with some liquid, covered in the oven until the pork was back up to around 150° and ready for service last night. His plan was to finish them with their house made Crave bbq sauce, slaw and serve on brioche slider buns. I woke up early yesterday morning and texted him that they need a little pile of pickled red onions on the side and that was the “cherry on top”. Beautiful little presentation and they sold out last night. 

As ya’ll know, pulled pork is pretty darned forgiving with a reheat…so some of the “next up” dishes will be a little more challenging. I’ll continue to update on what we do…

lousubcap

Way to conduct experiments and achieve great success.  

Buckwoody Egger

the anti-egg restaurant critique is centered on cook to order and is a weird dismissal of a multi-purpose tool. has anyone ever heard of a cook to order lang smoker restaurant?  

best wishes for the effort

GrateEggspectations

I should have thought to include this earlier, but there’s a little place not far from me that regularly cooks on an XL and has done so for years and years. The BGE is chained outside of the restaurant and I’ve passed it several times this week alone. 

The place is https://bistrocoqlicorne.squarespace.com/.

Will try to get a photo.

(Tagging @paqman because I suspect he may similarly be familiar with the establishment. Only place I’ve ever had horse.)

Begger

I thought about this many years ago.   
Cooking to order is probably 'out'.

But I you have a VERY high end chef?     Cook for 2 seatings daily.  And have a pre-set menu with limited choices.   
Sat and Sun?     A noon seating and a 6pm seating..........M->F?   have to consider the market.

cmac610

Buckwoody Egger said:

the anti-egg restaurant critique is centered on cook to order and is a weird dismissal of a multi-purpose tool. has anyone ever heard of a cook to order lang smoker restaurant?  

Agreed! And yes, the plan was never to do cook to order. Come up with some interesting specials that we can utilize the Egg and get creative. 

Now I will tell you that as a California native (now living in MA), I’m a huge tri-tip guy. And I made a “mistake” reverse searing some tri-tips as I trained the Chef on the ins and out of the BGE. He loved them so much that he ordered a case of them to do next week’s special. Whoops! So…this should be interesting. I’m thinking that we’ll par cook them indirect up to maybe 100° to get a little smoke on them and then cold hold until service. Then they can finish on the grill station. This one will be interesting and I’ll put up a Part 3 with the results!

cmac610

Begger said:

I thought about this many years ago.   
Cooking to order is probably 'out'.

But I you have a VERY high end chef?     Cook for 2 seatings daily.  And have a pre-set menu with limited choices.   
Sat and Sun?     A noon seating and a 6pm seating..........M->F?   have to consider the market.

Kind of a cool idea! Wouldn’t work for this restaurant and would probably need a couple more Eggs to pull it off, but I could imagine this as a pop-up restaurant concept. You’ve got me thinking…which is dangerous! 🤯💥🤯

JohnInCarolina

Buckwoody Egger said:

the anti-egg restaurant critique is centered on cook to order and is a weird dismissal of a multi-purpose tool. 

Just as a counterpoint to this, perhaps there are a few reasons such an awesome multi-purpose tool isn’t found outside every restaurant offering some form of Q on the menu?  These things aren’t exactly ubiquitous at restaurants.

Lots of different ways to skin the cat, and many more establishments that don’t make it unless they’re a combination of both lucky and good.

Buckwoody Egger

there are more scenarios where an egg does not work for a restaurant than where it does. 

tri tip offering sounds fun, looking forward to hearing about it. 

JohnInCarolina

Buckwoody Egger said:

there are more scenarios where an egg does not work for a restaurant than where it does. 
 

And many scenarios where it can work but there are better, more efficient tools for the same job.  It is a multi-purpose tool for sure, but one that was designed primarily for individual use.  

Begger

Glad to be a bad influence.     It is obvious to me that 'cook to order' is not the forte' of the egg.     
Unless you put a small one on (MM)on each table and let the customer cook!

But making large items, roasts or turkey or large TriTip may work.   I think the seating idea as part of it is critical.   So you can time your kitchen output TO the peak (they all came on one bus, so to speak) of demand.

I'm certain the air pollution people will stick there fat fingers into THIS pie.    I just think back to the Del Mar (San Diego) fair and the Mountain of charcoal in 90lb bags which go the run-of-fair......and produce the air output of a medium sized forest fire during the run.....

Buckwoody Egger

JohnInCarolina said:  It is a multi-purpose tool for sure, but one that was designed primarily for individual use.  

i don’t know man. when i was in Japan 3,000 years ago they had a couple kamados at Burger Emperor and were reaaaaally slingin the patties. never saw a spatula- they flipped them with those wooden sandals. obvious precursor to the wooden paddle grate cleaner. when McDatsuns introduced the flat top over fire it was not only less smoke it was easier to flip patties with some broad samurai blades. not an improvement!  maybe it’s just american bravado blocking the productivity parade. 

JohnInCarolina

Buckwoody Egger said:

JohnInCarolina said:  It is a multi-purpose tool for sure, but one that was designed primarily for individual use.  

i don’t know man. when i was in Japan 3,000 years ago they had a couple kamados at Burger Emperor and were reaaaaally slingin the patties. never saw a spatula- they flipped them with those wooden sandals. obvious precursor to the wooden paddle grate cleaner. when McDatsuns introduced the flat top over fire it was not only less smoke it was easier to flip patties with some broad samurai blades. not an improvement!  maybe it’s just american bravado blocking the productivity parade. 

You might be onto something here.  Or, just… on something.  It’s one of those.

YukonRon

It is a wonderful and workable offering, congrats on the success!