As I mentioned previously, I had the incredible opportunity to cook on the Big Green Craig / Meat Church cook team at the 17th annual EGGtoberfest at Stone Mountain Park in Stone Mountain, GA the weekend before last and I had an absolute blast!
EGGtoberfest is an annual event that Big Green Egg sponsors which draws in excess of 3,000 hungry attendees every year. Cooks (and cook teams) are given one or more Big Green Eggs which they use to cook creative dishes of their choosing and at the end of the day, folks who purchased the grills beforehand, lineup to pick up their gently used eggs for a savings of $200 off retail! It’s a wonderful event and truly a win-win for both Big Green Egg and those who are looking to pick up a Kamado style grill on the cheap.
Our team had six Big Green Eggs that we used to cook all kinds of awesome creations including:
- Maple Bacon Cookies
- Spanish Paella
- Corn Dog-battered Brisket Bites
- “Just Da Tip” Sushi Roll (more on that in a minute)
Incredibly, our tent had a line all the way to the entrance to the event for the majority of the day.
We cooked over 150lbs of delicious beef tri-tip. It was reverse seared to ensure a perfect medium-rare on the inside and a perfectly crispy crust on the outside.
This was also my first time seeing the Ceramic Grillworks two-tier swing rack that you see on so many Big Green Eggs these days. I can tell you these things are super solid and I’m thinking of picking one up soon for my Kamado Joe. Word has it that they’re currently testing a new and improved version of the swing rack that provides easy access to the Kamado fire box, so I’m trying to hold out until that one becomes available.
The reverse-seared tri-tip was out of control and honestly, my favorite thing we served. It’s so difficult to find around here outside of Atlanta, so it was a real treat to get to enjoy so much of it.
Big Green Craig is a Big Green Egg master and his Paella is evidence of that. Although I didn’t get a chance to try it myself, I heard from many folks who did and they simply raved about it. If nothing else, it’s a gorgeous work of culinary art.
As I mentioned above, here’s our picture of our recipe content entry and the brain child of Big Green Craig and Meat Church: the “Just Da Tip” Sushi Roll. That’s right, I said sushi.
We took Nori (seaweed paper), coated it in cooked white rice and then topped it with the reverse-seared tri-tip, grilled asparagus, and fried onions and then rolled it into a sushi roll and topped it with a Sriracha Mayonnaise. Not only ultra creative, but delicious as well!
Oh yeah. It also won 2nd place out of 60+ teams in the recipe contest! Not too shabby!
Here’s the recipe from Big Green Craig.
The reaction from the attendees was awesome. Everyone who came by was just shocked to see such a creative menu and the true passion that our team had for making incredible food on the Big Green Egg.
The Maple Bacon Cookies were another one of my favorites. While they were relatively simple from an ingredient standpoint, they were just downright good, especially when coated lightly with icing. A perfect Fall dessert if there ever was one.
Yours truly, loving life at EGGtoberfest 2014:
Huge thanks to Big Green Craig and Meat Church for reaching out to me and inviting me to be part of such an epic event and team! Here they both are being interviewed by Big Green Egg’s media crew:
And last, but certainly not least, here’s a video recap of the entire event, produced by Big Green Egg, complete with interview of the Big Green Craig / Meat Church cook team!
Huge thank you to Melissa Zanone Photography for the EGGcellent pictures as well as all my new EGGhead friends that I met at the event. Cannot wait for next year!
Leave a Reply