Intermediate Big Green Egg Cooking Class Notes

Intermediate Big Green Egg Cooking Class Notes

Intermediate Big Green Egg Cooking Class Notes

Intermediate Big Green Egg Cooking Class Notes

Today’s recipes

The Big Green Egg Cooking Class delivered the following recipes:

All my recipes are either on this site, at www.nicwilliams.com or copied on the Big Green Egg web site.

Setup & temperatures

  • Slow cooked pork belly with skewers – First part, plate setter and stainless steel griddle – 110°C indirect, second part cast iron griddle, 180°C direct.
  • Roasted cauliflower with a black sesame, truffle and soy dressing – plate setter feet down, 180°C.
  • Reverse seared picanha and tri-tip – First part, plate setter and stainless steel griddle – 110°C indirect, second part cast iron griddle, 250°C direct.
  • Flat peach tarte tatin – First part, stainless steel griddle, direct cook in pan – Second part, plate setter with stainless steel grid, 180°C, indirect.
  • Roasted beetroot and celeriac cooked directly on the coals – 150°C directly on the coals.
  • Hay baked chicken – Plate setter and stainless steel grid, indirect at 180°C. Cook the chicken in a Dutch oven

Contact Details

Email: nic@meatsmokefire.co.uk
Twitter: @Fatb10ke & @MeatSmokeFire

Questions and Answers

What temperature should I cook my meat to?

The following chart from AmazingRibs.com is a great reference. Take a look around their site too because it is a wealth of knowledge.
Cooking_temps

How long should I cook a shoulder or pork?

The cook time will obviously depend on how big your joint of meat is. The shoulder is safe to eat once the temperature is above 65°C but it won’t be succulent and moist. Muscle groups that have worked hard in an animal need to be cooked longer and slower in order to break down the connecting tissue. This doesn’t really happen until the meat reaches an internal temperature above 88°C but it’s safer to go for 90° or even 92°C. This is the same for brisket, pork ribs, beef short ribs…

As a guide I normally cook a pork joint for almost 20 hours at 110°C.

If you need to speed this up then cooking at 120°C will cook the same joint in 12 hours but it’s not going to be as nice.

And remember to rest your meat wrapped in foil and covered in towels in a cool box. I rest my pork joints for about 4 hours.

How often should I clean my Egg?

I make sure I rake all my charcoal every cook. I tend to pull the older stuff to the sides and fill the middle of my basket with fresh charcoal.

I rake out the ash from the bottom of my Egg every 5 or 6 cooks.

I take out the whole of the insides of the Egg and clean down with a dust pan and brush about every 10 – 15 cooks. Any smaller pieces of charcoal can be saved and added to the top of fresh charcoal.

How long will my Big Green Egg cook for one one load of charcoal?

Your Large Big Green Egg can cook up to 24 hours on one load of charcoal if it is run at 110°C.

At higher temperatures it will burn the charcoal much faster so may only go for 2 hours at 400°C.

What are the white plastic things with two holes in for?

The white plastic things are hinge retainers as shown in the picture below. You’ll need them when you replace your gasket as it’s much easier to do with the dome of the Egg off. Put them in place before you undo the bands to stop the hinge opening.

 

Hinge retainer

Setting the temperature on your Egg

Recommended equipment

The Super Peel

In my opinion the best pizza peel for putting pizza’s onto the Big Green Egg. You can make several on your work bench and then pick them up one at a time and put them onto the Egg.

I use the Big Green Egg aluminium pizza peel to get the pizza’s off, it’s thin blade gets under the pizzas really easily.

You can buy the Superpeel from Bakerybits.co.uk.

The video on the right shows you how it works.

Ingenio Pans

Tefal Ingenio is the range of pans I use on my Big Green Egg. Amazon sell them as do John Lewis. I have a stainless steel set which are really heavy duty and work really well.

Ingenio Pans

Thermapen

The Thermapen is my handheld thermometer of choice. It’s probably one of the quickest reacting thermometers on the market. The latest version (Version 4) has a backlit screen that also turns to the orientation you are holding the thermometer making it really easy to read.

Thermapen

Maverick 732 – Wireless BBQ monitor

This is a great wireless monitor that acts a bit like a baby monitor and allows you to take one unit inside with you while the other unit has two probes monitoring your Egg.

The first of the probes is used to monitor the temperature of your grill and the other is pushed into your meat and will tell you what temperature it is cooked to.

Remember to put the leads out over a plate setter leg otherwise they will be subjected to too much heat and melt. Don’t use these with direct cooks as the temperature will be too high and melt the probes.

Amazon have some great deals on these:

Pro Q Cold Smoke Generator

Have you ever thought about curing your own bacon, smoking your own cheese or perhaps smoking some salmon or other fish?

The Pro Q Cold smoke generator is an excellent device that allows sawdust to smoulder and the smoke permeate your food. I use it all the time especially for bacon and smoked salmon.

It’s available in the UK from HotSmoked.co.uk and you might be able to use the following code at the checkout to get a 10% discount MP10.

 

The Uk's largest repository of recipes designed for the Big Green Egg

Garlic Bread
Rotisserie Recipes
Vegetables
Vegetables
LetzQ Spit with pork
Pork
Apron
Beef
French trimmed rack of lamb
Lamb
Venison Wellington
Game and Poultry
Spatchcock Chicken
Chicken
Seafood
Fish and Seafood
Rasperry and almond cake
Desserts
Garlic Bread
Breads and Pizza
Seafood
Drinks

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General class information

  • Group classes at our base just outside Cambridge.
  • Private classes where we come to you.
  • Focused purely on the Big Green Egg.
  • Hands on, you're cooking.
  • Established in 2015.

Group Class Details

Group classes

Private Class Details

Emma and Matt Willis

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