Good eggs gather for annual outdoor cooking fest

Unique grill draws aficionados to event

Friday, May 9, 2008

During the annual Waldorf Eggfest last Saturday in the parking lot of Seasonal Distributors, backyard chefs and devotees of the Big Green Egg smoker and grill gathered to celebrate the cooker while showing off their culinary skills.

Crab soufflé, bananas foster, scrambled egg casserole, cookies, apple cobbler, pizza — anything can be cooked on the Big Green Egg, a grill based on a design that dates back 3,000 years in China.

About 300 people attended the May 3 Waldorf event hosted by Dale Kelley (known as Da Mayor by others on the Big Green Egg Web forum) and his wife, Rona (Mrs. Da Mayor), who own Seasonal Distributors and Tri-County Hearth and Patio Center.

Eggheads from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Oregon, Tennessee, Pennsylvania and Illinois were among those cooking on a variety of egg-shaped grills, which range in size from the mini (perfect for tailgating) to the extra-large.

Guy Hillier and his wife, Leizel, along with their 8-month-old, George, came the longest distance.

The family, who lives about 30 miles outside of London, was introduced to the Egg when Hillier worked for an enthusiast.

While they don’t own one of the grills yet, it is only a matter of time.

‘‘My wife is from South Africa,” Hillier said. ‘‘They are big meat eaters ... big into their barbecue.”

While the grill’s design originated in China, the Japanese adopted it, calling it ‘‘kamado,” which translates to oven, stove, heater or fireplace.

Following World War II, servicemen returning home brought along the odd-shaped cookers that kept food moist and tasting like it was meant to.

Eventually, the Big Green Egg — which can retail from $250 and up, depending on the size — was designed with ‘‘space age” ceramics, and users call it the ‘‘world’s best.”

John Kovasckitz was always into ceramics and is a potter. One Saturday, while visiting a ceramics store he noticed someone cooking on ‘‘this funny little thing.”

Every weekend he would return to the store just to get something to eat. Soon, he caved and bought an Egg.

Eventually, he found other backyard barbecuers and started competing in contests. Kovasckitz joined up with Chris Capell’s Fairfax, Va.-based team ‘‘The Dizzy Pig,” which is also the name of Capell’s company that sells a variety of rubs and spices.

‘‘I was always into cooking,” said Capell, who used to have a gas grill. ‘‘I got the Egg and the food was just better. When people like your food, [cooking is] kind of addictive.”

Eggfests are not competitions, it is just a way for Egg addicts to get together, swap recipes and enjoy each others company.

Brian Schlining of Hanover, Pa., is a recent convert. Introduced to the Egg by friends Greg and Kim Smith, Schlining was hustling his stuffed pork with homemade barbecue sauce Saturday.

‘‘I used to cook on a Weber,” Schlining said. ‘‘Now, I’m an Egghead.”

The corporate offices of the Big Green Egg started Eggtoberfest in Atlanta about 11 years ago with other Eggfests hatching around the country. The Waldorf event is in its ninth year with other gatherings taking place in Texas, Florida, San Francisco and elsewhere.

Sally Breeden of College Park and her husband, Wess, attend about three Eggfests a year.

The festivals are a family reunion of sorts.

‘‘You get on the forum and talk to them all year,” said Breeden about Eggheads. ‘‘Then you get to see them at the Eggfests.”

The Breedens were turned on to the cookers by a friend.

‘‘Now we have five,” of the grills, Sally Breeden said.

Her daughter, Christy Armstrong, has been cooking on the Egg for almost four years.

At this year’s event in Waldorf one of the items she served up was bacon and chocolate chip cookies with a maple glaze.

‘‘It’s teaching people you can cook things other than hamburgers and steak,” on a grill, said Dale Kelley, who when first introduced to the Big Green Egg at a trade show didn’t think there would be much of a market for the product.

Now, ‘‘It’s the hottest product we’ve ever sold,” said Kelley, who sold 60 of the grills Saturday, including four to one buyer. ‘‘It’s cultish.”