The Big Green Egg! What?

No I am not cooking big green eggs, but I have to tell you I am going to start cooking on a Big Green Egg! So I am driving around running errands couple of weeks ago and I hear an add on the radio for Asiens Appliance in Santa Rosa, they are selling a BBQ called the Big Green Egg and are inviting anyone that wants to (test cook) on it to just call so I did. Chris and Paul the owners of Asiens called me back and one thing led to another, they tell me the Egg cooks pizza great and I tell them ok I have to see this! and cook on it! I love a challenge and after cooking on the best wood fired oven in Naples Italy I was curious as to how good this Egg could be (see pic) you see BBQ pizza is nothing more than a pizza cooked on a grill instead of in an oven? but is it good? and can anyone do it with success? good question huh, I am going to answer them for you, and everyone else out there who truly wants to cook a great Pizza and a lot more!


So I make an appointment to cook on it, Chris and Paul fire it up to about 550 to 600 degrees, I make a nice pizza dough from my house made mother dough (this is dough I have made by allowing the natural fermentation process to take place instead of adding yeast, the dough takes on local characteristics in flavor and complexity) like San Francisco Sourdough bread does! my beautiful daughter Jacqueline took these pics :) so the Egg is fired up, the pizza stone has heated up along with the BBQ and I am spreading tomato sauce on the pizza in prep for cooking.
What happens next is very surprising to me

I open the lid and put the pizza on the stone, the air damper on top is wide open so I can see the pizza cooking, the dough rises fast and forms a great crust in about 45 seconds! as the cheese melts and the Olive oil begins to bubble I realize this is no ordinary BBQ, the Egg is cooking the Pizza just as the wood fired Cirigliano Forni Ovens in Naples Italy did, charring the outer crust and cooking the cheese to a perfect temp, in this picture you can actually see the char on the crust but what you do not see is what has happened inside the pizza! oh and the pizza cooked in 2 min 45 seconds!

Take a look at this crust, see the light airy texture? check out the gum line (where the crust is crisp on the bottom and there is no uncooked dough) its as close to perfect as you can get, and all on a BBQ? I was impressed to say the least. the possibilities are endless with The Big Green Egg. Paul, Chris and the staff of Asiens Appliance are great people because they really care about their customer's and the experience each one has with their products, especially the Egg, after all what guy does'nt want to cook food to perfection on the BBQ and be the toast of the patio party! but there is more to this story.

Chris and Paul are going to be arranging a cooking demonstration, a hands on cooking demo, I will be there, showing everyone how easy it is to cook great pizzas on the Egg as well as slowed cooked meats, and perfectly seared steaks, the great part about this (cooking party) will be that everyone will get a chance to see and learn about the Egg, in fact the employees at Asiens Appliance are the biggest fans of the Egg as they cook on it too!

I am excited about being there and participating in this demo, I will have some award winning Pizza recipes to give to anyone that comes over and I will be happy to answer and show you how easy it is to BBQ great pizzas, and it really comes down to the fact that next to an Italian built Cirigliani Forni wood fired oven the Big Green Egg is a very close second, and the only BBQ that cooks a pizza to a quality that even the Italians would appreciate!

We will let you all know when the Big Green Egg cooking demo is, until then give Chris, Paul or any of the staff down at Asiens Appliance a call at 707-546-3749 or go down and take a look at the showroom at 1801 Piner Road Santa Rosa, CA 95403

Cheers,
Chef Glenn