[jan-jaap]

Now I'm impressed!!! I've been looking at getting one of those!

I recommend it!

I originally wanted to buy a 'medium' egg, but ended up buying the 'large' model and didn't regret it one second. The 'large' egg fits all accessories, I can easily grill an entire beer can chicken without hitting the dome for example. The even larger models are more for cooking demonstrations and restaurants.

People who find out we have the egg often spontaneously invite themselves for dinner I think the most I've had on my garden terrace was 18 people (including several kids), and for a traditional summer BBQ (you have the time, you serve some salad on the side and put meat on the grill) the egg has plenty of capacity for such a crowd. When I make a meal just for my own family I often try to make everything on the BBQ, obviously that's not going to work for a large crowd.

One of the things that surprised me compared to a traditional BBQ is how efficient it is with charcoal. For example, I can make a pulled pork (this takes 18 hours), and then finish the evening with some more grilling, all without refilling the egg. That's 22+ hours of continuous use without running out and while maintaining the desired (and steady) temperature. After use, you shut off the airflow to extinguish it. Next time you simply add some charcoal if necessary and light it up again.

Insider tip: you can make great bread and pies in the egg! After dinner my wife often whips up a chocolate brownie, I let the egg cool off a bit to the desired temperature, and we have fresh, warm brownie for desert.  Have to stop now, getting hungry ...

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NB: these things are quite pricey and you're not supposed to move them around when they're hot. So if don't want it gone in the morning, you better have a solid fence surrounding your property. I also have security cameras. And a place to store it, of course.

[Irinikus]

That’s awesome!

I love uncompromised products, such as the egg, as I usually aim to only have to buy things once! 😎

To quote Nvidia: “The way it’s meant to be played”!

You get what you pay for!

Awesome!

[Raion]

I cooked a LOT of food over the last month or so.

Here's some of it:

   

Sichuan Dry-Fried Chicken. This is chicken stir-fried with pixian doubanjiang, a salty, spicy bean paste, and other spices including Chinese cooking wine. 

The rice is green due to pandan added. Pandan is a screwpine extract. 

Also on the plate are some caramelized shallots. 

   

Mini Calzone, basically just my normal pizza dough recipe with more olive oil. This was a lunch portion. 

   

Tudousi, or stir-fried peppers and potatoes. I added parsnip, chinese vinegar and a tiny bit of soy sauce. It was delicious. 

   

Bigger calzone, I shared this with my roommate. 

   

Pan pizza made in a skillet. 

And my crowning achievement:

   

A restaurant quality pizza. Homemade dough, a spicy tomato sauce, good mozz and arbol chile salami (basically a fancy pepperoni)

This is the image of it out of the oven, the next was after I "Dressed" it:

   

I added parmigiano-reggiano cheese, oregano, and a garlic butter over the crust. 

Pizza recipe is below:

Dough: 

I use a biga, which is a type of starter. There's many ways to make a biga, but I just mix water, flour, a few pinches of baker's yeast and a pinch of malt powder and put it in a warm, dark cupboard for a day, feeding it twice a day with some flour. It's not sourdough, but it produces a similar result. 

Pour about a half cup of mature biga (at least a day old) into a stand mixer bowl. Add 3 cups of AP flour, a 1/4 cup of vital wheat gluten, four tbsp of malt powder, 2-3 pinches of salt, and a good glug of olive oil. Turn the stand mixer on with dough hook, and adjust hydration by trickling in cold water until the dough starts to pull away from the sides, scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula. It should be sticky, but not pull any away with your hand. Let the mixer knead the dough for 4-5 mins on 5 setting.

Pull the dough out, form into a ball, put into a glass container brushed with olive oil and cold ferment in the fridge for at least 3 days.

Sauce:

1 can of san marzano
2 shakes of cayenne
1 pinch of Aji no Moto MSG
3-4 frozen garlic cubes or 4-5 fresh garlic cloves
Garlic powder, dried basil and oregano
2 pinches of salt. 
Neutral spirit such as vodka or soju
Olive oil

Get a shallow pan, pour in olive oil to coat the pan. Sweat your garlic for about 20 secs over medium heat, then dump in the san marzano tomatoes, adding some water to clean the can out. Add your seasonings, bring to a rapid simmer. As soon as it's simmering, pour in a few splashes of soju or vodka and break the tomatoes up with a wooden spoon. Let rapidly simmer for about 20 mins. 

Blend sauce until smooth, it should turn orangeish. This is normal. Cool and store in a sealed container in the fridge.

Assembly:

Pull dough out, cut it in half. Preheat oven to highest temp with a pizza stone or steel inside the middle rack. 

Coat dough in cornmeal, and then cover your work area with cornmeal as you press and shape the dough out. If it starts to fight, cover it with a clean kitchen towel and let it rest for about 10 mins. Get it as wide and thin as you can with a tiny cornice on the outside.

Transfer dough to a cornmealed peel. Quickly add sauce, a layer of shredded parmesan cheese, freshly shredded mozzarella cheese (not FRESH Mozz, you need low moisture!) and any other thin toppings. Shake the pizza gently on the peel to ensure it'll release and move into the oven. 

Open the open, pull the rack with the steel/stone out with a mitt and then shimmy the pizza onto it. 

Bake until the cheese is melted and browned, and crust has risen slightly. 

Pull out onto a cooling rack for 5 mins, and then season with more parmigiano-reggiano, dried oregano, and garlic butter on crust (recipe below)

Garlic butter:

Get a small knob of salted butter, a brush, and some garlic powder. Melt the butter in microwave, and, stirring rapidly, add about 2 tsp of garlic powder. 

Notes:

Pizza is not quite any style, and I know it could probably be **better** if I use precision. I just don't care to. I'm lazy. 

Bottom will get crispy with a bit of leoparding if done right, and be light and airy inside. 

Whole wheat has more gluten, so omit the vital gluten if using whole wheat. 

Your toppings need to be thin enough to cook quickly and not mess up the crust/cheese around them.

[Irinikus]

This was luncheon today:



Tripple cheese: Mozzarella, mature cheddar and fetta!
Topped with: Bacon, banana, fresh garlic and avocado!

Together with this great Belgian beer:

[Raion]

Cheddar on pizza doesn't work well because of it's melting properties. Generally, you want to stick to one of the following for the best texture:

Mozzarella
Provolone
Oaxaca
Brick Cheese (that's a Wisconsin specialty)
Provel

Three of these are called pasta fillata cheese, which means they're rolled and stretched like taffy or pasta dough and this makes them melt well. Oaxaca, Provolone and Mozz are.

Brick Cheese is a local delicacy in Wisconsin, it's unaged, and sold in large bricks and cut into pieces on Detroit style pizza. if you want more of a cheddar flavor this will get you it while preserving the texture that you want for pizza.

Provel is a processed cheese similar to American but it's made with provolone and swiss cheese along with liquid smoke flavor. It kind of sounds gross but it's actually not bad and goes well on St Louis style pizza. Because it's procsssed, it has no issues with melting, browning, stretching or snapping.

A cheese like cheddar or Colby generally will squeeze out a greasy layer and the cheese won't stretch or snap.

Feta doesn't melt but it and other mild cheeses like Queso Blanco are good more as a topping on an already cooked pizza.

In my experience Swiss or Muenster melts but doesn't have the right flavor and as it cools it gets tough.

Generally I stick to mozzarella, maybe a bit of aged or smoked provolone, with a nice mix of Asiago, Romano and Parmigiano-reggiano cheeses for topping.

[Irinikus]

I have run multiple experiments here, and it works very well if you add considerably less cheddar than mozzarella. I love the taste of mature to vintage cheddar and in my opinion, it really enhances the flavour of a pizza. Of course this is only my opinion.

I understand texture, when it comes to food extremely well and this works!

[jpstewart]

Interesting.  I've never seen banana on a pizza before.  Is that a personal thing, or is it common in your part of the world Irinikus?  (Or anybody else's for that matter.)

[Raion]

A savory banana (plantain) could be tasty on a pizza. I would probably slice it thin, briefly fry it, and then put it on the pizza to bake.

[Irinikus]

Interesting.  I've never seen banana on a pizza before.  Is that a personal thing, or is it common in your part of the world Irinikus?  (Or anybody else's for that matter.)

It’s a pretty common combination over here!

The sweetness of the roasted banana complements the bacon! As pork is a sweet meat.  (Also try glazed cherries wrapped in bacon!)

Its not necessarily to everyone’s taste, but I love it.

Give it a try!

[hamei]

Interesting.  I've never seen banana on a pizza before.  Is that a personal thing, or is it common in your part of the world Irinikus?  (Or anybody else's for that matter.)

They put corn and peas and other evil vegetables on pizza here. What's that stinking one ... durian ? Ugh.

But speaking of cheese ... Italy place nearby has one with blue cheese. I had to put on the brave suit and gird the loins to try it, but actually tastes really good. It's not the major cheese flavor but a portion of blue on a non-sweet pizza turns out to be pretty good. And you can get revenge on the cat by breathing in his face