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Health & Fitness

On 'Cue

Celebrate National Barbecue Month: Grilling Season is About to Begin!

            May is celebrated as National Barbecue Month because as it gets warmer outside, folks begin to fire up their backyard grills. If you are a fan of our restaurant you’ll notice two Big Green Egg smokers at the entrance of Real Urban Barbecue. Many guests who come in ask if that is where we do all of our smoking. The answer is no- if we depended on the Eggs, we would be out of food very quickly. The Big Green Egg is not really a commercial cooker. Rather, it is both a grill and smoker in one, which is perfect for the backyard BBQ enthusiast. We smoke our limited-supply specialty items in them. On a given day or night at Real Urban Barbecue, you may find smoked pork loin, smoked prime rib, beer can chicken, smoked turkey, garlic, onions and more fired up on the Big Green Eggs.

 

Now the question becomes: why a Big Green Egg? The answer is easy. Flavor, flavor, flavor! There are many different ceramic cookers out on the market today. They range in price, styles, looks and quality. Some other ceramic cookers are The Kamado Joe and The Primo.

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I could write a book about the many differences between your average grill and a Big Green Egg. To start, the ceramic cookers use lump charcoal. Lump charcoal is burnt hard wood, and the flavor it delivers is truly amazing. Charcoal vs. gas grills… no comparison!  In fact 5 to 8 lbs of lump charcoal set at the right temperature can burn up to 12-18 hours. The average metal or stainless grills lose heat through the metal, whereas the ceramic cooker retains its heat for hours and hours.

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There are 2 different ways of cooking with a ceramic cooker: direct (over the lump charcoal or indirect (the use of a device called a plate setter added to the grill). By cooking with the lid closed and using a plate setter, the inside of the cooker acts like a convection oven. This method maintains moisture in your product and delivers more flavor. These ceramic cookers use a “daisy wheel” to control airflow inside the cooker. More air equals hotter temperatures.  Less air equals lower temperatures. That’s why you will hear the expression “low and slow” in BBQ.  It refers to cooking indirect for long periods of time with a low temperature.

 

The Big Green Egg has lots of versatility. You can do 15-hour smokes on it, you can grill on it, and you can even bake on it. I think one of the best uses for the device is wood fired pizza. When you put a pizza stone in these cookers, it acts as a wood burning pizza oven. I have baked breads, cookies, and cakes on them. We even made Thanksgiving a special treat with smoked turkey and topped it off with a smoked shrimp cocktail.

 

So as this summer season kicks off, make sure you have your tanks full, charcoal in house and lots of food ready to go. It really doesn’t matter what grill or cooker you use, as long as there is fire and smoke, you can’t go wrong.

 

Happy National Barbecue Month from all of us at Real Urban Barbecue. Now let’s get smokin’!

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