Page 28 - OCT 2020 Barbecue News Magazine

barbecue books
Mastering the Big Green Egg & Healthy Electric Smoked Cookbook
Doug Mosley
Resident Book Guru
doug_mosley@hotmail.com
I truly do love cooking on my Big Green Egg. It’s such a versatile cooker, there’s seemingly endless ways to cook with it. I’m also a parent so I completely understand the concepts behind how I must show my Weber Performer
equal love as well. But I have to admit, I spend more time and do more things with the Big Green Egg. Sometimes I think the Weber Per- former notices, but that’s a story for another day.
One thing about the Big Green Egg – let’s shorthand that to BGE, OK? - that I’ve yet to find for any other cooker is the community around it. There are many outstanding web sites devoted to BGEs as well as pod- casts, blogs, vlogs and even apps. Then there’s the whole Eggfest cir- cuit to go with it and the cult-like following that plans their pilgrimage to the king-daddy Eggfest in Atlanta, which is the home office of the BGE. BGE Nation is definitely thriving.
There’s a whole list of books dedi- cated solely to the BGE, although most of them do wryly offer that
their techniques and recipes could be applicable to other ce- ramic/kamado cookers as well. Former BBQN Barbecue Book of the Year honoree Dr. BBQ (aka Ray Lampe) once repped the brand
and. authored a very good book on using the BGE. Eric Michell, of the Yabba Dabba Que competition team, couldn’t fit all of his BGE expertise in one book so he wrote two, both of them excellent. With just those books alone, the bar is already set pretty high in the category so new authors better bring the best stuff if they want to get noticed.
Along comes Craig Tabor, better known as Big Green Craig, and his new book, “Mastering the Big Green Egg: An Operator’s Manual and Cookbook” ($21.99, Page Street Pub- lishing, 160 pp.). Tabor’s chops come pretty much like all of us have learned and progressed in the whole outdoor cooking category – he was confronted with an issue, he inquisi- tively found a solution, his curiosity led him to new discoveries and pretty soon he was hobnobbing with barbecue celebs all over the globe (I have a feeling that most of us, me
especially, have not yet achieved that last step). He lays out his personal story in the introduction, spends the next few pages talking about some BGE basics and then launches into his 40 re- ceipes. Yep, just 40. As you can imagine, an author hadd better be pretty confident of those 40 recipes if that’s all he’s offering. But in this case, it works. Tabor brings a wide range of creative recipes that makes this book a winner.
Smo-Fried Wings with Habanero BBQ Sauce, Maple Brunch Burger with Fried Egg and French-Toasted Brioche Bun, Nashve- gas Hot Grilled Chicken Sandwich, Pork Belly Bao with Asian Slaw, and Maple Bacon Oatmeal Cookies are a sampling of what Tabor includes among the recipes. Almost every dish is accompa- nied by a full-color picture and I will admit that I gazed longingly at the one for Seafood Paella. O who am I kidding here, y’all prob- ably already know the truth – I actually licked the page where
BarbecueNews.com - 28
OCTOBER 2020