We got our Egg 6 or 7 years ago. It’s amazing. Because it’s just the two of us, we decided to go for the small version – this gives us a 33cm grill which is perfect. We’ve had garden parties with 20-odd guests and always had enough room to cook, albeit with some forethought and planning around what needs to go on when. I have cooked pretty much every meat, fish, seafood and veg,. I’ve grilled, cooked low n slow, high temp, planked, hot smoked, cold smoked, done caveman style and made pizza.
I love it.
It’s big decision to go for any Kamado style grill as there’s going to be a considerable cash outlay – ours cost £850 and that is the low end of the market. For our money, we got the Egg, a “nest” with wheels, the plate setter, a pizza stone, the cast iron searing grid, the normal grill, and a grill gripper. We got it from Dart’s Farm near Topsham and they chucked in a couple of bags of charcoal and some firelighters.
So why get one? It’s think it’s probably fair to say that you can kind of replicate the way an Egg works with a decent kettle BBQ for less than a quarter of the price, but there is no doubt that there is there is just something “more” about the results when you’ve set your fire and closed your ceramic lid. It’s easy to light, gets up to temperature quickly and it’s really easy to control. It’s incredibly efficient and I find useable charcoal left over even after an 8 hour cook. In my view, the plate setter is a must as it’s this ceramic heat deflector which makes your Egg truly flexible; stick it in and your Egg is a responsive charcoal oven for baking and roasting. Take it out and you can grill over Mount Doom temperatures. Unlike a kettle BBQ, you don’t have to faff about with water pans and 2 zone cooking, although I for Weber owners I guess this is all part of the fun.
There have been a few occasions when I’ve wondered whether we should have gone for the next size up. I’d love to have a crack at doing a full brisket or a massive Jacob’s Ladder of beef ribs, but they just won’t fit. When we’ve got a load of folk round (remember those days?) it would be handy to be able get a few extra burgers on the go so there’s less of a wait. I won’t ever be able to do the Christmas turkey in our egg. Christmas chicken just doesn’t have the same ring to it. Despite all of this, the small IS the right size for us. I think if you’re a family, particularly if your children are teenagers you’d want to be looking at the medium at least.
BGE have replaced the old small size with a version called the MiniMax. It has the same grill diameter as the small and is 15kg lighter at 35kg comes with a kind of carrying frame which makes it way more portable. If we were in the market for one now, this is what I would go for. I think.
If you decide to take the plunge, I don’t think you’ll regret it, but you may well have to send one of the aforementioned teenagers out into the world of work or sell a non-essential kidney or two to finance it all.
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