How chefs use Big Green Egg
Get restaurant recipes for burgers, sandwiches, short ribs.
Since 1974, when founder Ed Fisher opened the prototype Big Green Egg store in Atlanta, the city has been the axis mundi for the evolution of the ancient earthenware kamado-style charcoal grill.
Nowadays, Eggs are everywhere — produced in seven sizes, from mini to 2XL, and available in more than 50 countries, with hundreds of accessories to satisfy the passions of the most die-hard of Big Green Eggheads.
But in addition to the ever-growing number of backyard enthusiasts, chefs have become some of most notable Egg users, utilizing the grills in restaurant kitchens to add smoke and flavor to all sorts of dishes.
In fact, Big Green Egg Culinary Partner restaurants are listed on the company’s website.
“It evolved, like many things here, by word of mouth,” says Jodi Burson, the director of brand enhancement for Big Green Egg.
“We joke and say we were viral at marketing before that was a thing. Because people would smell food cooking on an Egg in their neighbor’s backyard and lean over the fence and ask about it, then that person would go buy an Egg.
“So the same thing started happening in restaurants with chefs like (Atlanta chef ) Kevin Rathbun,
who were fans of the Egg at home, and then thought, ‘I can work this into the restaurant, as well.’ For years, he’s done beef short ribs on the Egg. But so many restaurants have a specialty dish or two that the chef uses the Egg for when they want that nice smoky flavor.”
Another longtime Big Green Egg devotee, Todd Mussman, the chef and co-owner of Muss & Turner’s in metro Atlanta, uses it to grill and smoke multiple menu items. But at a place known as a “deli by day and bistro by night,” sandwiches are perennial best-sellers.
“When we first opened in 2005, I was already a Big Green Egg guy,” Mussman says. “I really loved it, and I thought I’d love to cook on this thing in a restaurant, because it really produces a great flavor. So we’ve been using it for 13 years. We keep an XL on the line under the hood, and we have a 2XL out front.”
“I really believe that if there was anything I would put a flag in the sand and die on top of a hill over, it would be cooking that burger on a Big Green Egg. I just wouldn’t do it any other way.”