The Big Green Egg Fire Starters

Just about a week to go before Santa's Big Day. If you are still looking for some stocking stuffers for your Big Green Egger, how about these Big Green Egg Fire Starters? After all, there is truly nothing like a nice hot barbecue on those cold, cold nights!

The Big Green Egg Corn Holders For Christmas

Looking for a stocking stuffer for that hard-to-buy-for Big Green Egg fan of yours? Then how about these Big Green Egg Corn Holders? Guaranteed to pass the Maria "cute" test and they wont break the bank, either!

The Big Green Egg Cookbook For Christmas

Looking for a great Christmas gift, or stocking stuffer, for a Big Green Egg fan? Then how about the Big Green Egg Cookbook? Filled with all sorts of recipes and useful information on the Big Green Egg at a price you can afford. And there is even a Kindle edition. Check it out!



or, for the kindle version...

Have A Merry Barbecue Christmas!!

Have a barbecue or grilling fanatic in the family? Well, you don't need to rack your brains or fight the crowds to fulfill their Christmas wishes. Just check out our new Have a Merry Barbecue Christmas page and you'll find some great gift ideas straight from Santa himself!





In/outdoor barbecue grill with integrated I-pod holder & radio* In/outdoor electric grill/roast with build in speaker and amplifier* 370 mm / 14.6 in. hot plate with ribbed surface* 200 square inch cooking area* 16 cm / 6.3 in height high dome lid* Lid can be used as a wind shield; detachable for easy cleaning* Detachable non-stick cooking plate and grease tray are dishwasher safe* 300 - 425 F removable and thermostat controlled probe* Universal 3.5 mm jack for all MP3 players* I-pod holder* Radio with LCD display* 10 W reflective woofer* Can be used also as table grill without the base* Suitable for outdoor use (IPX/NEMA)
$199.99 at Kmart


Give the gift that continues to give all year long. With the gift of a Chicago Steak Company Gift Club Membership, you can show someone you care time and time again. Choose from many assorments  in 6 or 12 month plans. Convenient. Simple. PerfectGive the gift that continues to give all year long.  Steak Gift Clubs

A Kamado Made in the USA

While we love the Big Green Egg, we also recognize that there are a variety of Kamado cooker options on the market. This video made by askthechimneysweep.com and featuring Jerry Isenhour is a great introduction to one of them, the Primo Kamado Grill. The Primo is made in the USA (the Big Green Egg production takes place in Mexico) and is oval in shape, instead of round.

Jerry packs a lot of good information in less than 4 minutes (just the way we like it). And that's no baloney. But, Jerry does like to cook Bologna on his Primo Grill!

Enjoy.

In Honor of Our Troops....

One Mini Big Green Egg and a bunch of big hearts and dedicated souls.





You make us proud. Thank you for all you do.

Big Green Egg Digest 11/3/11

Wow, it's November already! Summertime barbecuing will be back with us momentarily, but in the meantime aren't you glad you can use the Big Green Egg all year round?



Can you take a Big Green Egg tailgating? Sure you can - well the Mini Green Egg anyway!Check out this video:






Not bad for a little romantic tailgate party for two....


Speaking of tailgating, Wilfred Reinke, one of our favorite bloggers has entered a recipe in the Football Nations Tailgate Recipe of The Year contest. Bacon wrapped meatballs - looks great!

Also check out this blog entry from Food and Fire on how to take advantage of your already heated grill after you have cooked your intended dish. The author cooks a steak and then has a clever idea on how to use up some chicken tenders. Our approach has been to cook dessert - baked apples or smores (with us, any excuse to make and eat desert)!

Meanwhile in twitter land:

@JJsBackYard - Happy Halloween everyone! Did anyone go as a Big Green Egg

Now we would love to see the reaction when someone opens the door to that costume!

@biggreenbistro - We’re pretty sure they were thinking about the #BigGreenEgg when they wrote “Trick or treat, trick or treat, give me something good to eat.”

Yes, that sounds eggsactly right!

Big Green Egg Digest 10/27/11

Crab on the Green Egg? Yes you can! Check out this mouth watering version from one of our favorite bloggers TheBigGreenAsianEgg.

As always, nice job, Roman!

Imagine, building a large Big Green Egg in under three minutes! OK, so maybe it's the video that's under three minutes, but watch this and you may be able to assemble your Big Green Egg in under an hour as they suggest.




Meanwhile on the twitter front @TallahasseeREAL posted this:

What A House And A Big Green Egg Have In Common http://bit.ly/pg5IIX

Bravo, a well thought out and well written article!


And @GaryDickenson posted this:

And the chicken is done #biggreenegg it looks amazing http://yfrog.com/nvjhbkj

And then this:

OMG this is the most amazing moist chicken I've ever had. #biggreenegg

Yes Gary, it sure does look amazing and with cooking on the Big Green Egg it usually is!!

Time For Tailgating

A Blender on steroids! This unit is gas powered so take it and use it anywhere.



Be the hit of the party with the Daiquiri Whacker gas powered blender! The Gas Powered, Go Anywhere, Party Starter! We bet your jealous neighbor doesn't have one of these. Whip this baby out, fire her up, and control the mixing with the twist grip throttle and we guarantee there won't be an unsmiling face in the crowd!

This Week's Video Highlight 10/20/11

Is the lid on your Big Green Egg out of alignment? If you have been pulling your hair out on how to resolve the problem (or worse yet - our favorite - ignoring the problem), this video might be of some help. Boy are we glad there are a lot of clever people out there with video cameras!





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This Week's Video Highlight 10/13/11

As we get into the fall season, it's never too early to start planning your Thanksgiving Barbecue on the Big Green Egg. And Pecan Smoked Turkey is amazing (we did one ourselves for Christmas a few years back and everybody loved it)! This neat little video makes it look easy - and has some catchy music to boot. And we love the gadgets. Bravo!







Outdoor Sale - Unbelievable deals while supplies last!

This Week's Video Highlight 10/6/11

You may remember The Grateful Griller from our 8/18/11 video highlight. Well, here is another of his videos and if you are thinking of buying or selling a used Big Green Egg, you've got to watch this first (also, check out the link to his site on the left side of our blog). Enjoy!

This Week's Video Highlight 9/29/11

Did you know that you can cook with the Big Green Egg year round and in any kind of weather? Don't believe us? Check out this video!






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This Week's Video Highlight 9/22/11

This week's video highlight sings the praises of Lump Charcoal and shows that you you can use it on barbecue's other than the Big Green Egg. WARNING - for those that are squeamish - it also gives a breakdown of what is in those conventional "charcoal" briquettes. Now if the authors get a Big Green Egg, well, then they would have it "Made in the shade"!









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Huli Huli Chicken on The Egg

We first heard of Huli Huli chicken from a song called, of all things, Huli Huli Chicken, by the Barefoot Natives. We loved the song, and for that matter, the whole album, Slack Key Circus. The more we listened to it, the more we wanted to try this intriguing Huli Huli Chicken thing. So we looked it up on the Internet and found lots of information and recipes for Huli Huli Chicken, most of them quite similar. The magic ingredients are soy sauce, brown sugar, frozen pineapple juice, catsup, rice vinegar, fresh ginger and garlic.

We decided to try Huli Huli chicken - on the Big Green Egg, of course, to see if it measured up to its reputation. And, of course, it did. Simply the best chicken we've ever tasted! That was awhile ago, so we thought it was high time we tried it again - which we did on Labor Day.

"Huli" is the Hawaiian word for "turn." Ernest Morgado "invented" Huli Huli chicken in 1955 when barbecuing a batch of chicken for some farmers using his mother's marinade recipe. It became such a hit that he registered the trademark with the Territory of Hawaii in 1958 and with the US Government in 1965. Morgado cooked the chicken between two grills and when one side was done someone would shout "Huli" and the grills would be flipped over.

We mixed up a batch of marinade, let it soak into a cut up chicken, fired up our Big Green Egg, tossed on some soaked mesquite chips (the other secret ingredient), and turned and swabbed the chicken every five minutes. You have to "huli" (turn) your chicken every five minutes to prevent the brown sugar from burning. 

As luck would have it Wilfred Reinke (Oshawa Ogre's Views, News & BBQ's Blog - an excellent blog, check it out!) had done a review of the Grill Star BBQ App for the iPhone and we decided to try it out on the Huli Huli chicken. It's a cool App and at 99 cents it is well worth the investment. With a little bit of a learning curve on how to use the flip timer serially (OK, when Gary broke down and read the directions) we were faithfully notified to turn the chicken every five minutes. The only downside is that the App only works with Maria's iPhone 4 and not Gary's iPhone 3 working on its ossified operating system.

Meanwhile, back at the Big Green Egg, the chicken took about an hour to cook at about 300 degrees and turned out every bit as good as we remembered it! And we had a blast listening to the Barefoot Natives on Maria's iPhone and shouting "Huli Huli" every time we turned the chicken (honest; we did: every time - we are that goofy). If you haven't tried Huli Huli chicken, then give this recipe a try on your Egg:

One cut up chicken (we got ours from Trader Joe's)
1/2 cup frozen pineapple concentrate
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup catsup (again, Trader Joe's)
1 piece of fine grated ginger
3 cloves of crushed garlic
3 Tablespoons of brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon of rice vinegar

Mix up the ingredients and use about half to marinate the chicken for at least an hour. Reserve the remainder to baste the chicken when it is on the grill. Heat the Egg to the 300 to 350 degree range, apply your presoaked mesquite chips and proceed to turn and baste the chicken every 5 minutes until it is done. Oh, and don't forget to shout Huli Huli when you turn the chicken!

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This Week's Video Highlight 9/15/11

This week we found a very nice video by Jeffrey Saad of making pizza for the Big Green Egg (well making a pizza to cook on the egg; so far as we know the Big Green Egg just cooks them, it doesn't eat them). This has a great primer on getting the most from the crust. And the toppings and sauce look very yummy, too.





Pizza on the Grill - All the tools you need to get that fire-roasted flavor!

This Week's Video Highlght 9/8/11

In our never ending quest to bring you quality video entertainment Big Green Egg style (after all, there is so little worth watching on all those TV channels these days) we present this slick flick by Chef Kevin Rathbun on cooking chicken on the Big Green Egg. The man certainly likes his spices. And we love his old school way of checking if the chicken is done (well, Gary does anyway: Maria always opts for the meat thermometer)!

This Week's Video Highlight 9/1/11

This week we found a video that attempts to answer the question "Gas or Charcoal"? Well, sort of anyway. For those of you who think it is kind of a "dead issue" to begin with this may be right up your alley.



Well. at least you have to admit the Zombies have good taste - in grills!

And if you like the short, then you will love the full length feature:

Big Green Egg Dealer Links

Need a Big Green Egg (or two or three)? Well, there are no authorized internet Big Green Egg Dealers (we know 'cause we read it on the Big Green Egg website - right there on the front page, no less). But fear not, there are tons of Big Green Egg Dealers of the brick and mortar variety (just don't hit your Egg on the brick on the way out of the store). And some of those dealers even have websites so that you can window shop from the comfort of your own computer.

And, wouldn't you know it, we started a list with at least one dealer in each of the 50 States! Now, that's what we call puttin' all our Eggs in one basket! We will be adding more as time permits, but if you know of any not on the list, just e-mail us their name and link.

Big Green Egg Dealer Links

This Week's Video Highlight 8/25/11

Need a little motivation to get out there and fire up the ol' BGE? Then take a quick look at this well-made video from Big Green Egg Europe. Should do the trick and maybe give you an idea or two for your next backyard party. And we love the music, too!

Top Ten Reasons Why We Love Our Big Green Egg

Reason 1 - Because it is Green!

Yes that lovely shade of green and the pleasing egg shape look great on our patio.


Reason 2 -  Lump Charcoal is so primal.

Those other briquettes are OK, but once you have worked with lump charcoal, there is no going back.


Reason 3 - Smoking with wood chips.

Oh all those lovely aromas and wonderful tastes. And it feels like you are connected to the earth.


Reason 4 - It bakes;  yes, really!

Pizza, bread, even pies.


Reason 5 - It sears, as in steaks.

It's got, like, gears. You can smoke at low temperatures or sear at high ones.


Reason 6 - The lid, it opens, it closes.

Covered cooking. Makes it easier not to burn things.


Reason 7 - It's cool, as in ceramic.

We still wouldn't advise putting your hand on it when it is cooking, but the ceramic stays cooler than metal.


Resason 8 - The nest has wheels - zoom!

The things we take for granted. The egg is kind of heavy, so having the nest with wheels is really handy.


Reason 9 - Accessories; love da bling!

So many extras to choose from, made just for the egg.


Reason 10 - It's cute, so says Maria!

In our household, it's gotta pass the cute test. Cause you know, a happy wife makes for a happy husband.

Why do you love your egg?

This Weeks Video Highlight

This weeks video highlight is a nice overview of Kamado cookers, including the Big Green Egg, by the Grateful Griller. We think its a great overview and we like his expertise so much, that we have added his site to our links list!

Cool Stuff For Hot Barbecue

We love window shopping (we love buying too, but we can afford more window shopping than we can buying). It's fun to look at the latest gadgets out there, even if it is just to envision how things could be. So we decided to share our passion (some would call it an afflicition) and create a page to showcase the cool things we run across in the barbecue world.

Check out our new Cool Stuff For Hot Barbecue page and you never know what we might come up with! And leave us a comment if you run across something you think is cool and might like to share with us.

Maria & Gary


Holy Sam Spade Batman, this looks like just the thing to get those family, friends, and neighbors to start coming to your barbecues again!





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Heatin' Up the Coals!

Maria:  Hi Everyone!  I'm Maria.

Gary:  And I'm Gary.

Maria: Welcome to our Big Green Egg Blog!

Gary: Maria is a little shy, so I'll go ahead and tell you a bit about what we are trying to do here. As you can see from our description in the "About Me" section of our blog, we are really just two grown up kids who love our toys. Some of them strike such a chord with us that we want to tell everyone else about them too. That's why we started our blog A Package at the Door http://apackageatthedoor.blogspot.com/

You can see below our post on why we love the Big Green Egg. OK, so we could stop there, but where would be the fun in that? So, we thought, why not give the "Egg" a blog of it's own and let the whole community of Big Green Eggers join in on the love-fest? We could all have fun and maybe learn a thing or two from each other in the process.

Maria: It's true, I am a little shy, but I also like to have fun and share my toys!  We've been intrigued by the Big Green Egg ever since we first researched it and then bought it.  But as we've gotten to know it better, and use it, we've also had some questions.  Even though we are "older" kids and did not grow up with the internet like our nieces and nephews have, we always turn to the internet first for answers to our questions.  And that's what we did when we got our Egg.  What recipe should we try?  How do we get the temperature back up after adding wood chips?  Can you really bake a pie on an egg (ok, I'll admit, that was my question, not Gary's!)?  So, we hope by creating this Egging community we can share ideas, ask and answer questions and just have some fun!

Gary: Pie on the egg?!! Well, you have my attention. I love pie! Actually, that's one of the reasons that the big green egg caught our fancy in the first place. I mean, who would ever think of using one of those other grills as an oven?

Maria:  So glad you like the pie idea, dear!  It's summer, so maybe a nice peach pie would be just the thing.  Yum!  I can almost taste the juicy filling and the crust with a hint of wood chip flavor.  But, yes, a lot of what attracted us to the Big Green Egg is its versatility.  You can grill your steaks, ribs and chicken, but you can also bake a pie, make a pizza, and fire the temperatures high enough so that it imitates a tandoor.  We haven't tried tandoori chicken yet, but it's on the list!  And the ceramic is sturdy enough to hold up even in extreme temperatures of heat and cold.  We don't get snow where we live, but it's nice to know we could even grill in the snow if we had to! Plus, you know, it's so pretty....

Gary: Ah yes, it more than passes the Maria "cute" test. Well, you know why we love the Big Green Egg. Post a comment here and tell us why you love the Big Green Egg. And if you have an idea for an article you would like to post on this site and share with others, please e-mail us at APackageAtTheDoor@Gmail.Com.

Why We Love the Big Green Egg

Gary: It's summer, the weather is warm and barbecues are fun. I have nothing against gas grills and Weber kettles, but a Big Green Egg, well - it is just in a different dimension! Not only does it look cool, it is one serious piece of cooking hardware that allows you to smoke foods at low temperatures or sear them at really high temperatures. And it uses lump charcoal-slower burning and more aesthetically pleasing then the standard stuff you by in the store.


Maria: I remember when we were looking for a new grill and we came across the Big Green Egg. We both thought, "how cool!" I couldn't wait to "meet" one in real life, and when we did it was love at first sight. The basic design goes back to the ancient Japanese kamado. This type of clay oven grill apparently came to the attention of Americans after World War II. We were intrigued by it not just because of its looks - beautiful dark green color, thick clay walls and round shape - but also because, as Gary mentioned, it uses lump coal rather than briquettes. The pros and cons of one over the other is a hotly debated topic, but for us is was a definite plus.


Gary: It's also fun to be able to use wood chips and smoke food. Our Pecan smoked turkey was a big hit a Christmas dinner a couple of years ago and alder smoked salmon - yum!


Maria: Gary and I took a walk this lovely warm evening, and the scent of a neighbor's smoking wood chips came wafting through the air. I can't wait for the 4th of July two days from now! We are planning to fire up our Big Green Egg and grill something delicious!