Big green egg or other ceramic grills

[Sir Galahad]

Never had one, looking to buy one. I do a lot of grilling and a lot of experimenting in terms of barbecue and others. My question is, does anyone have one of these, are they worth the money and how creative can you get with one?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[btbones]

The Big Green Egg is what I have . It's worth it , you can make anything you can imagine

 

[btbones]

We make brick oven pizzas , chili , you name it

 

[btbones]

I do steaks at 650 degrees and they are amazing

 

[EweSeaEff]

I have BGE and love it. My buddy has one of those automatic pellet grills and he loves that. I was a little jealous of his at first, but then realized that there's skill in grilling, maintaining proper temps, etc. If I wanted to automate the process I would just order takeout or make steaks in the oven.

 

[Bob the Citronaut]

Waste of money IMO. It's more of a lifestyle choice. I can grill steak on my six year old gas grill in 10 minutes as well as anyone. If you're only grilling a few pieces of chicken/steak/fish for dinner it's not worth it. It's just not efficient unless you like spending hours cooking/baking/smoking. I hate that crap, I have zero patience for food prep. Let the insults commence.

 

[Sir Galahad]

I'm looking at a Kamando Joe classic 2. Bob, I do a lot of cooking and grilling but feel limited with the gas grill.

 

[SublimeKnight]

I have a large green egg I bought from a friend for about $400. The ceramic is made in Mexico. The Komodo Joe's ceramics are made in China, but considering this style of grill is a 2000 year old Chinese invention maybe that's a good thing.

Honestly I only do burgers on mine now. Steaks, chicken, and BBQ are all done with my sous vide.

I do like the pinwheel mechanism on the top of the Komodo better. But really there isn't going to be much of a difference between any of the brands, it's those kind of small differences. I've seen one in Costco that is the XL size for about $800 IIRC.

 

[fabknight]

I don't want one. I have a gas grill, charcoal grill and a smoker. I can cook, grill, or smoke anything I need with any of those three depending on how much time I have or what I feel like making. However, I have friends that have them and have heard nothing but great things about the BGE.

 

[MACHater02]

I have a large BGE, and I honestly use my gas grill more. Any grilling during the week I go gas, simply because it gets up to temperature so quickly. On the weekends I go BGE.

 

[barrister1602]

Google Hasty Bake grills and thank me later.

 

[fabknight]

Waste of money IMO. It's more of a lifestyle choice. I can grill steak on my six year old gas grill in 10 minutes as well as anyone. If you're only grilling a few pieces of chicken/steak/fish for dinner it's not worth it. It's just not efficient unless you like spending hours cooking/baking/smoking. I hate that crap, I have zero patience for food prep. Let the insults commence.

The same status oriented, money wasting people that own BGE probably own Yeti coolers, right Bob?

 

[Sir Galahad]

The same status oriented, money wasting people that own BGE probably own Yeti coolers, right Bob?

I don't think they are a waste of money if you what you're looking for is a way to either cook at 700 degrees or eight hours at 200 degrees. Unless you have a very expensive grill, chances are you an't control the temperature at those levels well. It's like anything else really, if you use it a lot it's not a waste of money.

 

[goodknightfl]

Waste of money IMO. It's more of a lifestyle choice. I can grill steak on my six year old gas grill in 10 minutes as well as anyone. If you're only grilling a few pieces of chicken/steak/fish for dinner it's not worth it. It's just not efficient unless you like spending hours cooking/baking/smoking. I hate that crap, I have zero patience for food prep. Let the insults commence.

yep, its not how fast you cook, but how well you cook fast..

 

[btbones]

I don't think they are a waste of money if you what you're looking for is a way to either cook at 700 degrees or eight hours at 200 degrees. Unless you have a very expensive grill, chances are you an't control the temperature at those levels well. It's like anything else really, if you use it a lot it's not a waste of money.

It's exactly that . I can cook a brisket for 18 hours at 225 then open the vents and cook chicken wings or whatever at 400 plus I'm a matter of 10 minutes . The efficiency is the key . It doesn't take much of the lump charcoal for a cook and what you don't burn up lights the next time and burns the same . No waste

 

[Bob the Citronaut]

The same status oriented, money wasting people that own BGE probably own Yeti coolers, right Bob?

Yeap, don't forget expensive rods and reels.

 

[UCFKnight85]

I have a Weber that I use to basically cook up turkey burgers, fish, and chicken from time to time. It's fine for that purpose. If I were serious about slow cooking meat that is supposed to be extremely tender (read: brisket or ribs) then I could see the value of a BGE.

We barely touch red meat so this would be a waste for me.

 

[Knightiac]

My father has a Komodo and it's fantastic. Bob does bring up a good point though, if I just want burgers and dogs, firing up a grill is much simpler. If I'm grilling out and not really worried about time, or getting a little fancier, I'd break out the Komodo for burgers and dogs. Obviously it serves a great purpose for smoking.

 

[Sir Galahad]

Thanks all for your input.

 

[tribbleorlfl]

I say this as a former chef, while the BGE will certainly give you good, consistent results, I do not believe the quality of the food produced warrants the price. I have no troubles with my infrared grill or box smoker.