Why top chefs love the Big Green Egg

As every foodie knows, there has been a cooking revolution in the UK. However, one area that seemed neglected was the world of barbecue. For too many foodies, barbecues are still synonymous with undercooked and burned meat, the stress of getting the coals going and a meal that is more about the spectacle than the end results. I have always been against gas barbecues on principle and I found that my standard barbecue was only used on rare occasions, with ingredients requiring lots of pre-cooking to get the flavours right.

Then a few years ago I came across Big Green Egg. I had seen chefs like Daniel Clifford (who owns over seven!), Simon Rogan and David Everitt-Matthias using them (they're also used in forty Michelin-starred kitchens and 300 other restaurants across the UK), American friends of mine had mentioned them and when I tried a steak cooked on the Egg at a super-hot temperature, I knew I needed one. ‘The Big Green Egg’ might sound a bit weird, but this barbecue-meets-oven instantly opens doors for any committed foodie. If you want to stun your friends with your barbecuing prowess at home, this verdant metal orb is the key to unlocking next-level cooking with fire.

Whether you’re slow-smoking a pork shoulder to pull apart and serve in sandwiches, looking for the perfect sear on a thick, juicy bone-in rib-eye, want to go the whole hog and cook an entire pig over the course of twenty-four hours or just like to have a controlled flame over which you can cook anything you like, the Big Green Egg can do it all. It’s a world away from normal barbecuing. It’s also incredibly easy to get going – just a few firelighters lit twenty minutes before you want to cook is all that’s needed.

I use my Big Green Egg whenever I can, and might even be described as an ‘Egg bore’! I have cooked fish, meat, veg and even pizza on it. It is hard to describe how good asparagus is when you throw it on the grill with a dash of quality olive oil and salt. The results have been impressive and every time friends come round for dinner they always want to know about it. My wife told me last September that we were using the Egg too much!