The Big Green Egg

History

The Big Green Egg is commonly referred to as a kamado barbecue because of the origins of the basic design that lie in southern Japan.

The word "mushikamado" means "steam cooker" (from "mushi" meaning "to steam", and "kamado" meaning "cooker, oven, or kiln") The mushikamado was a device designed to steam rice and used by Japanese families for ceremonial occasions and took the shape of a round clay pot with a removable domedclay lid. It was also distinctive in that it featured a top damper and bottom draft door. The mushikamado first came to the attention of the Americans after World War II when US Air Force servicemen would bring them back from Japan in empty transport planes.^[1] It wasn’t until the late 1960s that manufacturing started in the Americas. The Big Green Egg Company was founded in 1974 by Ed Fisher and is based in Tucker, Georgia in the USA. Production of the Big Green Egg takes place in Monterrey, Mexico by the company Daltile.

Fuel

The Big Green Egg is a charcoal barbecue - the manufacturers recommend lump wood charcoal because alternatives such as charcoal briquettes contain many additives that can contaminate the flavour of the food.^[2] The sealed design of the grill results in a slow burn that uses small amounts of charcoal compared to a regular grill, and lump wood charcoal also creates little ash.

Uses

Big Green Eggs can be used for smoking or grilling and with the addition of accessories one can also bake bread or cook a pizza.^[3]

Big Green Eggs come in 5 sizes with the largest being able to cook either, 2 20-pound turkeys, 24 burgers, 11 whole chickens, 12 steaks or 14 racks of ribs vertically

Source

Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License