DN article: BGE...has a cultlike following. DUH!

Big Green Egg: Odd ceramic grill has a cultlike following

11:22 AM CDT on Wednesday, September 1, 2010
By TINA DANZE / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/lifetravel/stories/DN-nf_eggjump_0901gd.State.Edition1.132fd3e.html

Big Green Egg: Odd ceramic grill has a cultlike following

11:22 AM CDT on Wednesday, September 1, 2010
By TINA DANZE / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

You could divide outdoor cooks into two camps: grillers and smokers – but that would overlook the Eggheads, a rather zealous subgroup. Egghead is a nickname for fans of the Big Green Egg, a ceramic, egg-shaped smoker-grill with a cultlike following.

The Big Green Egg's appeal isn't obvious: It looks like an alien spaceship; it comes in one color – forest green; it's insanely heavy; and it's not cheap. (The most popular model weighs 140 pounds, and its starter package costs $899.)


JOHN F. RHODES/DMN
Ches Williams (left) and neighbor Kurt Hagen checked on the salmon and shrimp Williams cooked on his Big Green Egg, a ceramic smoker-grill with a zealous following. "I've gotten 15 people to buy Big Green Eggs," Williams says.
So what's the big deal? After all, the Egg's not the only ceramic-clay cooker on the market. Fans of the Egg say the cooker's versatility and performance won them over. Camaraderie with other Eggheads, both online and in person, fuels their fervor.

"Without question, there's a cult following for the Egg," says Ches Williams, a Dallas businessman who recently teamed up with friends to cook on five Eggs in his driveway. He cites the Egg's ability to both cook at extremely high temperatures and to sustain very low cooking temperatures for 18 hours as reasons behind the fanaticism.

Williams bought a Big Green Egg seven years ago, after tasting ribs that a friend had prepared on the cooker. "They were phenomenal," Williams says. "I didn't know anyone who could make ribs like that."

He and his friends have mastered those ribs, as well as pork tenderloin, rib-eye steaks, pulled pork, salmon and brisket. "I should get a royalty check from the guy who owns the company; I've gotten 15 people to buy Big Green Eggs," Williams says. "They taste the food and see how much better it is than with a normal grill, and then they buy their own."

Once they own an Egg, the shopping continues. You can buy Egg accessories for specific dishes, such as a hammered- steel wok, a rib rack or a vertical chicken roaster. There's a cypress wood cart-cradle (on casters), for housing the Egg. And of course T-shirts, caps and "I'm an Egg head" bumper stickers.

There's even a new cookbook for Egg devotees: Big Green Egg Cookbook (Andrews McMeel, $50), a collection of 160 recipes tailored for cooking on the smoker-grill.

If you've never seen anyone cook on the Egg, tune in to The Cowboys' Kitchen. It's an outdoor cooking show on RFD-TV, hosted by local chef Grady Spears and sponsored by the Big Green Egg Co. On the show, Spears cooks exclusively on the Egg.

Egg enthusiasts say the cooker is easy to use once you master the basics. For cooking advice, they often turn to the Egghead Forum (www.eggheadforum.com), an interactive website sponsored by the Big Green Egg Co. Site users post recipes and questions; fellow Eggheads weigh in and share their cooking triumphs. Some exchanges are simply shout-outs to friends on this vast cybernetwork.


Griller community

"It's a very good community," says Robert Nobleman of Dallas. "The people are real friendly, so it's a good place to go if you're looking for guidance." He says postings commonly center on "how long did you cook this, and at what temperature?" as well as new recipes and debates on techniques such as brining. Recipes aren't always written with attention to detail, though; ingredients lists are thorough but instructions can be sketchy.

Nobleman says his favorite postings are from a user known as Elder Ward. "He's a character, and a god in the ceramic-cooking world."


JOSH BIRNBAUM/DMN
Mack Yarbrough shares some chicken he cooked on the Egg with Melissa Amick. Yarbrough teaches grilling classes at Barbeques Galore on Lovers Lane and gives lessons privately. Recently, a posting about the death of Car Wash Mike, an Egghead Forum regular, generated a long string of tributes. That's the soft side of the Egghead community. But there's a tough-guy image on the site too; many users choose macho-sounding names, such as Celtic Wolf and Mad Max Beyond Eggdome.

No doubt about it, the Big Green Egg is one macho grill.

"You can get that Green Egg up to 750 to 1,000 degrees and cook a good restaurant-style steak, where it's seared with a dark-brown crust on the outside," says Mack Yarbrough of Plano. A nationally ranked outdoor-cooking champion and co-owner of Maudee's Cafe and Tea Room (which serves no outdoor cooking), Yarbrough teaches grilling classes at Barbeques Galore on Lovers Lane, as well as privately.

"The Egg also does a better job with low and slow cooking because it holds the moisture in," Yarbrough says. He explains that the design of the Big Green Egg and its thick walls create a moist cooking environment, ensuring that foods don't dry out.

Newcomers to the Big Green Egg should study up before firing up, Yarbrough says. "The one thing you should learn is how to set and control a fire."

Yarbrough's own education was baptism by fire – really. Years ago, he didn't follow the instructions for opening a hot Egg and ended up igniting his sweater.

Yarbrough cautions that the Egg lid should be "burped" or opened in stages – first 1 inch wide, then 6 inches – before opening completely. "Otherwise it will ignite in a blue ball of flames and singe your eyebrows and mustache," he says. "You only do that once, and you learn."

Setting the Egg's grill vents properly helps maintain a low temperature for long, slow cooking. Nobleman says he has successfully smoked big cuts like brisket while he sleeps. But there are forces of nature that even the most skilled Egg users can't guard against.

"Once, I put a brisket on the Egg to cook overnight. Sometime between 1 a.m. and when I got up in the morning, a squirrel or bird opened up the top vent, and the temperature shot up from 200 to 375," he recalls. "That thing came out black and hard like a rock."

Undeterred, Nobleman made another brisket the next weekend "to make sure I could do it," he says. It was perfect.


Eggfests

Eggheads who enjoy cooking all day – and for a crowd – can register to cook on demo models at an Eggfest, a day of cooking demonstrations organized by the Big Green Egg Co. In May, about 400 people descended on Lake Travis for the Texas Eggfest. Paul Denison of BBQ Outfitters in Southlake estimates that more than 50 North Texans attended the event.

Eggfests attract both newcomers and advanced cooks. They swap recipes and tips, while sampling food and checking out the Big Green Egg and its many accessories in action. Prospective buyers can buy the demo grills (used only once) at a discount, in advance of the event.

"You buy the [Big Green Egg] starter kit, and you end up adding a lot of things to it," Denison says. "It's the Harley-Davidson of grills."

Nobleman says he has all the accessories he needs. Still, he's eyeing a pizza stone and has even pondered buying a second Egg. "Then you could have a party and do both brisket and ribs at the same time."


Tina Danze is a Dallas freelance writer.