Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 Ladies and gentlemen, boys, and girls of all ages. Welcome to the most amazing interview show on the information super highway. Now zooming to you live and simultaneously from two secret studio bunkers in dual time zones, uh, located somewhere South of Alaska, East of area 51 North of Guantanamo. And if we give you one more clue, we'll all be in deep trouble. It's the amazing twin namesake separated at birth that two most famous guys, not in witness protection. It's coffee with Jim and Jay.
Speaker 1 00:00:37 Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the LinkedIn community. We are happy and ready for this eggs cited for today's episode. I'm not sure why, but I want to throw a shrimp on the Barbie. I want to throw up shoulder of something on the grill. Maybe catch a tuna in that ocean behind me and throw it on the smoker. Um, that will give you a little hint as today's exciting episode. And before we get into that as always my partner in crime, the one that is a ying to my yang right up here, Mr. James Cross, sir, James, how are you? This fine and beautiful day. And I'm hungry, Jimmy. And based on what I know about this episode, it's a good time to be hungry. Absolutely. It's it's obvious based on your cheesy intro as always today, we're going to be talking a little bit about grilling, a little bit about smoking with, uh, my new friend, uh, that we connected on LinkedIn. Mr. Matt, hold on. Uh, uh, wrote some notes on how to say your last name. All right. That's it from the big green egg company, Matt, this morning. I'm doing good guys. Good morning, morning. Listen. I'm an egghead. I, um, have been for quite some time now and I, Jim has no clue what you're mad about.
Speaker 1 00:02:05 He'll catch up he'll for Tim. Like he knows he's pretty good at that. He's been in sales before, but we're super pumped that you are here. It's an honor for me being sure. Well, the honor, the honors online. I appreciate you guys having me on I'm excited as well. All right. Well, we're excited. Okay. You guys are right. I am a naive barbecue grill or whatever you want to call it. So I would classify myself as a novice, but I want to become ready for this and apprentice. So with that, Matt, can you bring us into your world a little bit? Tell us about big green egg, your company, some, uh, give us some of the things that draw me in even farther so I can get my certificate. Yeah, absolutely. So when we're done here, you might be an expert on it. Um, see, there you go. Once you start. I like
Speaker 2 00:03:00 It, but, uh, so anyways, the bigger neck essentially to make it as simple as possible is the world's greatest charcoal grill and smoker. It's the most versatile outdoor cooker on the market today. Um, been around since 1974. So well-established, um, and it's just, it's just incredible, you know, as James can talk about the first utility and the food that you can cook, you can do low and slow at 200 degrees or Sierra tuna steak at over a thousand and everything in between. So pretty impressive. Ingres yeah, that'll get above a thousand degrees.
Speaker 1 00:03:35 Yeah. And it's, it's, that's one of the most amazing parts to me is the versatility of it. And to be able to cold smoke something really, really low, or, or take it to the extreme you haven't lived until you've cooked a steak in about 60 seconds and experienced on a big green egg or made a pizza or whatever it is at those high temperatures. Jim, it's not like you're your run of the mill, uh, grill, or even your run of the mill smoker. It takes it to a whole nother level. Um, Matt, tell us a little bit about the history of tinkering ed, because this is something that I recently learned as well, but, uh, I think it, it, it helps people kind of understand what makes big green egg a little bit different than a standard, uh, smoker or grill, but then also a little bit of the background to help them understand where the roots of it all kind of came from.
Speaker 2 00:04:36 Yeah, sure. So a big green eggs creator, uh, is a gentleman named ed Fisher. So he created big green egg, but he did not invent the style of cooking. So what the big green egg is essentially an ancient Japanese style cooking called a Kamado cooker where the shape of the cooker promotes convection. So again, the creator bigger neck at Fisher was, was in the military. So all these overseas, and actually when he came back to the States, he imported them, um, on a ship from, from overseas and into Atlanta, Georgia. So the first big green egg store was in Atlanta, Georgia in 1974. Um, and ed essentially has spent his entire adult life. Um, he's, he's a, he's an elderly man now, but he spent his entire adult life perfecting it. So they're no longer clay like they used to be. Now we use the highest quality ceramics in the world, which is what gives ag the versatility, um, the temperature control moisture retention, and then also the true lifetime warranty that the big green egg gets. It is a true lifetime warranty on your eggs. So essentially, unless you're buying multiples of it for a few different sizes, there'll be the last egg you buy more or less outdoor cooker you buy.
Speaker 1 00:05:49 And Jim, that's the thing. Um, they got me a long time ago, you know, I'm on Reddit and some other. And so I'll follow a lot of people that, that are in the smoking scene. And that sounds bad to say, I don't ever know how to drugs or something, but, and some of, some of the stories that I heard firsthand were some of the warranty stories, you know, where, you know, something happened, you know, the lid came off, you know, whatever my bird, they were moving or, or something cracked and, uh, big green egg just took care of them every single time. And when stories like that happen in gym, we, we live in an industry that's, that's not too far fetched to, to understand, you know, when, when you have that level of customer service and it feeds on itself. Right. I mean, I bought it because I truly believed that I would never buy one again.
Speaker 1 00:06:51 And, uh, or I hoped right less probably now I'm going, man. I could really use the bigger one, you know, and the one above that. But when I took the leap and, uh, joined the cult, if you will, we, um, when I was telling my wife and a man that's expensive, you know, like, I'm sure everybody's whacked us. Um, and I said, yeah, but I'll never buy another smoker again. And she knew that because I had rusted out the bottom of plenty of offset smokers out now. Um, that's the truth. And, um, it's, it's something special when you can cook on something and no, no matter what, if something was to happen, that they're going to take care of the client.
Speaker 3 00:07:40 And that's an important thing. And we embody that in our industry. And you know, sometimes, uh, there's a huge value, you know, in our industry, we use a lot of tools and you can get many different grades of tools, right. Get the best tool. What happens, use it for decades and decades and decades. I definitely respect that. And I like that. I embody it. And, um, I'm getting closer to probably purchasing when guys go to James's house, take his, and then he has to buy himself. I'm good to go. So
Speaker 1 00:08:15 I know a guy, Jim, why don't you talk on customer service? Is that a big seller for you guys? Or is it I know too, because it's kind of a movement that a lot of people just come cause it's cool. It's flashy, but does that really get them? It does what it does. It separates us from any type of competition, whether it be other style of commodity cookers, or other style of grills, whether it be pellet, gas, charcoal, um, that lifetime warranty, you know, it's not a throw away product, you know what I mean? There's nothing to fail on it. There's no moving parts.
Speaker 2 00:08:56 It's not going to rust. Um, typically almost every other grill you get out there has a lifespan to it. And whether the warranty that that manufacturer gives you is 30 days, 90 days, a year, 10 years, eventually that life is going to run out where with egg. They said, we have, I have customers that have eggs that are 20, 30 years old and they're still using them. Now they're a little bit, you know, maybe a little bit different, the size and shape and all that have kind of stayed pretty consistent. But for the most part, they're still functioning and still working as they were on day one, you know? So that definitely helps seal the deal because it gives that person peace of mind, you know, when you're doling out that kind of money up front it's peace of mind to know that that's it.
Speaker 3 00:09:39 All right. Let me ask you to me being a novice, what's the most craziest thing that you've ever either of you have done on the egg or have seen done on a, I mean, cause again, I'm, I'm kind of a burger and steaks and, and hotdog and I need to graduate up, hit me up with your wildest one.
Speaker 2 00:10:02 Uh, so I guess for, for me personally is just when we do some of these rip fests or larger, uh, ag events that go on throughout the country, I've seen 61 racks or ribs all stacked up on a two XL. Um, so ag has seven different sizes. We have a mini and then all the way up to a two XL. That's our biggest, the ag itself weighs roughly 400 pounds. Um, it's, it's incredible. Um, and I'm at, I've also seen two 75 pound little piglets. So it's, it's, it's the, it's the mother load of, of that. Um, I typically don't get too crazy. Uh, you know, we do a lot of pizzas and at our house, my family loves to do homemade raw dough pizzas where we'll roll out the dough. My kids will put their sauce on and all that get the egg to about six 5,700 and cook them in five to seven minutes. It's it's awesome. It's great.
Speaker 3 00:10:58 You do it like, um, what's that called? Like a, uh, uh, um, like a pan, not a pan, but it's a clay thing that you would put in.
Speaker 2 00:11:08 Yeah, so we use it, uh, so ag has their own ceramic accessories. So we use a baking stone, which is made of the same ceramic that the egg is. So it can withstand high, high temperature. Some of the ones that you get, other brands are meant to go in your oven and if you get them above 400, four 50, they might crack or knees, you know, if you're at 800 degrees cooking pizzas or doing something it's they withstand that heat, but you're right. Yes. We cook them on a pizza stone or a baking stone. There you go. If you're familiar with what the big arena looks like, um, again, I'm a nerd, so I've, I'm in all these groups and stuff. So we all steal from each other on how to do our best. And
Speaker 1 00:11:54 So I've got a couple of bricks that to bring it up higher into the dome, and then I've got my pizza stone on that. So it's almost like you're cooking it in one of those, um, you know, brick oven style item next to the, to the surface. Really, really. So I've done that. Um, but I think Jim said, what was the craziest thing? So this is I'm going to go another direction, like stupid, crazy. So there's a movement about, uh, three or four years ago where people started smoking. Um, so they would have, you know, have, have a brisket on and have something on smoking and they would take things like Cheez-Its and Cheetos and stuff born in there and smoke them for, you know, an hour while that was going on for them. And it, it is kind of crazy how good it is.
Speaker 1 00:12:46 Yeah. It's wild. I would have never done it. Somebody did, uh, the, the other one is right now, people are here in the last couple of days, actually on this group that I'm on, um, on Reddit has started doing CAISO. So they'll, they'll put all the ingredients. If you know, one of the, the foil, you know, uh, container, they just put, you know, the cheese, all the different cheese, the meat they're gonna use the peppers, all of it in that container, not mixed up, they'll put it in there. It catches, you know, a couple hours of smoke and it's enough temperature to start mixing it. And they pull out this smoky case of it's amazing. That's my next on my list of crazy things to do, but what I've probably cooked a little bit of absolutely everything on there. Um, you really can't go wrong. I've never gotten any of the baking, uh, other than cooking, you know, uh, pizzas, but as far as a lot of people make like cobblers on it and pies and cookies and stuff, I've never went that route, but for no reason, other than I just, my wife won't let me smoke every meal. So that's, that's really the only thing holding me back. But Jim, what about you? What's the craziest thing you've smoked on your end?
Speaker 3 00:14:07 Well, I, I don't have my own egg, but my son in law has one and you know, and, uh, uh, lives in Nashville, Tennessee. And I am a pork chop guy. I love pork and
Speaker 1 00:14:20 Tennessee a lot. They smoke on a lot of Hickory.
Speaker 3 00:14:28 And so we did some really good pork and I tell you, I was out there now. He became like, you guys like an officiant auto. He bought like gloves and digital thermometer with the, with the wire going in and, you know, he's adjusting things. It goes, I needed just a little bit more and I mean, you know, he's like perfect, you know, and he's going at it. He goes, we'll check it in 17 minutes. I'm like, all right, we'll set our clock and that's fine. And, um, you know, it's given me, you know, like I said, when we think about the energy industry, everybody loves to barbecue grill in the energy industry. And I could see, you know, in the back of my pickup truck, you know, tied one of these often here with it, there was something like that. So, um, no, that's, that's, uh,
Speaker 1 00:15:15 It is a slippery slope. I will tell you that I've, you know, the cool thing about the egg it's, you know, there's more accessories than you can imagine now, especially, you know, not, not even just a big green egg ones, but a lot of people have jumped on the bed, a big green egg bandwagon, and begin to supply different things for it. But the funny thing about it is I always find myself stripping it right back down. You don't really meet a lot on the egg. You know, I have one of the, I think barbecue guru or one of, one of those where you hook up the fan to the bottom, he can regulate the heat a little bit better. Um, I think there's a big green egg equivalent even, um, um, uh, man, it feels like cheating. I mean, it feels like I'm cooking in an oven because I can cook on the same set of calls for 18 hours and not, you know, uh, which is amazing, but
Speaker 3 00:16:17 It's serious James, 18 hours.
Speaker 1 00:16:19 Oh yeah, no doubt about it. That's what I'm saying. It's wild. Isn't it.
Speaker 3 00:16:26 So when I go ahead back, go ahead.
Speaker 2 00:16:28 Just to kind of tear off what James was saying, one full load of charcoal on a, or an extra large, if you're smoking something, you'll get 18 to 20 hours easy. So that's a very common question. We get people will be like, well, how do I add fuel? You know, like how do I add charcoal? And it's like, you don't need to, if you start with a full load and you're cooking it, you know, smoking at a good temperature, anything that you cook under normal circumstances, you don't need to refuel. It's incredible. It blows my mind every time I see it. How little charcoal these use. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:17:01 I didn't, I didn't know that. And that is really cool because I'm like old school normal dumped the bag of charcoal in and then like two hours later, it's all Ash and we're okay. Add more, move the meter.
Speaker 1 00:17:14 Yeah. So that, that part is, is something else. And, you know, with the little cheater that I just talked about, being able to regulate that temperature, um, and set alarms and things like that. I, uh, there's plenty of times that I put something on and go to bed, like go to sleep and wake up in the morning and finish it. Where back in the day, that was the best part. You know, when I was young, when I was younger, those are the nights you would stay up all night, drink and feed the fire. You know, somebody had to take care of the fire all night, I'm old and I'm like, I can put it on and go to sleep and wake up and take care of it. So that's really pretty awesome. Yeah. Well, cool. Well, um, Matt, what, you mentioned some of the things that you cooked, but if you had to choose a favorite, favorite item from, from, you know, pulling off the, what would it be?
Speaker 2 00:18:18 Sure. So it's, I also, you know, my favorite thing is, is the pizza it's, it's just delicious. You know, like you mentioned, the brick gets your brick oven pizza cooker that people go out to eat to have and cooked in front of. And we do it a lot. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that it's, it's very delicious, but I love the family aspect to it. It's just, you know, it's the lifestyle and the kids love it and that just makes it all worthwhile. So
Speaker 1 00:18:50 He ever did pizzas, uh, was in 4th of July, probably about five or six years ago. And my whole family came over and I, I actually worked at a pizza place when I got right out of high school. So I knew about dough and how to make really good dough and things like that. So I proved this dough for a couple days and for a minute and all this stuff anyway, uh, I've never cooked pizzas that were that good. I've been chasing the drive and ever since, but, um, but the family part of what you talked about, being able to the kids get in there and make their own and design their own. And you can part of it, right. Because I mean, that's what we do or for,
Speaker 2 00:19:37 Right.
Speaker 1 00:19:39 I, I, you know, uh, the pro you probably can't go wrong with almost anything you put on it. But, um, when I, when I talk about smoking, um, I really enjoy putting a pork butt on there. Um, you know, big bone and pork shoulder or something like that, that, that, uh, I can put, put on there, catch all the renderings and reintroduce it later. Um, that's probably one of my favorite for sure.
Speaker 2 00:20:12 Well, yeah, I agree with that completely
Speaker 1 00:20:15 In Texas, we do a lot of brisket, um, and you can't go wrong there either. Um, I probably don't grill on it enough. That's the one thing I don't do because I do, I have a gas grill too, but sometimes that's, that's the plus, right. I can fire gas fuel up and, um, you know, have it done and wrapped up in no time, but I probably should grill on it more. But honestly, that's probably, that's probably my biggest shortcoming. You guys helped
Speaker 3 00:20:48 Me for a second. I know we're getting close to getting some final thoughts from Matt, but we, and I'm being very serious. We talked about grilling smoking barbecuing, and again, I'm a novice, I got the smoking idea that it's low and slow and hood down. Is there a difference? Is there something I need to know between grilling and barbecuing or there is, there are other terms that I need to know.
Speaker 1 00:21:13 I mean, you know, barbecue and smoking probably fall somewhat in the same area, but it's a matter of where you're from and what you say. Some people just think if you've got a grill in front of you, it's called barbecuing. Exactly. But, but, um, you know, grilling's definitely different, right? So steaks pork chops, you're throwing something on there, putting some heat under it, like hamburgers, hot dogs, stuff like that. But if you want to put some smoke in something, then obviously you're going to be taking a lot more time with it. Okay. That helps me. I've probably the biggest different ended I'm off base. Matt, you're the expert. I agree completely grilling is going to be a higher heat for a shorter period of time. And then your smoking is going to be lower and adding additional, like smoke chips, cherry pecan, that sort of thing, to get that additional smoke flavor longer.
Speaker 1 00:22:09 It's pretty, pretty simple. Yeah. It's fascinating when you really get into it, you learn so much about, you know, the different types of wood. Uh, you know, um, one thing I do like to do on the egg is I, I really liked I'll, I'll put some smoke on some ribs. Um, once I get them close, I like dry ribs. I think that if you do a really good job, then it kind of speaks for itself and you don't have to cover up a barbecue sauce, kind of deal. A lot of people like barbecue sauce, right. Because that's all they've known their whole life. So I usually will have some dry ribs that I pull off and set aside and wrap up, but then I'll pull, pull my grip, pull my offset out, put, and just play on that thing up and, and, uh, slap some ribs back down on it after I've sourced them and just put some layers of flavor on it, caramelize everything outlet, just mouthwatering. And I'll just lay it and slap it again and let that fire touch it and really caramelize that on there. Um, man, again, just being able to go from a smoke set to something more of a grilling instantly and quickly bring a new layers of flavor on there that people just kind of take for granted. But one thing here, James, I challenge you. I don't know if you've ever done it or not, but, uh, to do a steak and they call it caveman style. I don't
Speaker 2 00:23:46 Know if you've ever seen it or tried it directly on the coals. Yup. So you get them lit and you put them steak directly on the charcoal. No. Great. I've heard about it really. Yeah. And I don't understand it because I'm sure I'm sure Jim you're questioning. How does it not just get covered in Ash and all that? Exactly. That I don't know the answer to that, but I know that it doesn't and it's delicious. Just Google search it and it'll blow your mind.
Speaker 1 00:24:15 I've watched it. I'm a nerd. I know.
Speaker 2 00:24:20 Um, well I did that one time, like five years ago, but it was a mistake. The staff all full of Ash. I had to throw it away in the middle of the woods there.
Speaker 1 00:24:33 So I got one question for you, Matt, and we'll jump thoughts, and this is just personal thing. Um, so I've got a big rename. Some of my friends are like, well, you got an egg, I'm going to go a different route. You know? So I've got, um, brother-in-law mods just picked up, uh, uh, you know, a pellet of pellets as well. Um, which I think have, has their place. I mean, I should, I'm not going to fight it because once I put my attachments on my mom's pretty much an oven and can program it and do whatever I want to. Um, you think there's a place for both in this world or you mean the big green egg guy? You're like, I can't answer that question, but you know, there's curious, there's purists that are out there with, you know, post Oak in an offset smoker, you know, doing their thing and I'm not gonna listen, man. I'm an equal opportunity, barbecue person, man. I'll leave it. All right. But, um, and then you've got this new, I'm not going to call it a fad that sounds bad. But this surge of, of pellet smokers, is that, is that impacting you guys or is that something that you think there's plenty of room out there for?
Speaker 2 00:25:44 Well, you know, it's, it's definitely, uh, you know, when, when all these different types of categories and you're chasing after that one griller. Right. Um, and, and pellet has really come on strong in the last few years and, and they're, and what they claim right. Is just ease of use, you know, really twist the knob and walk away and it lights itself and that sort of thing. So there's definitely a place for that. Um, I think it's more of a entry level and I don't want to offend anybody. Right. But it's, it's, you, you turn the knob and you, and you, and you walk away, um, you can't walk away completely because you have to be there to feed it with pellets. You know, there's moving pieces. So there's things that can fail on them. They don't last as long. They're not as fuel efficient.
Speaker 2 00:26:30 Um, but it's, it's a good, because I can understand where that consumer is coming from because with the big green egg, it appears to be an intimidating, right. Cause they're big, they're hot and they're heavy. Right. And you have to light it. And it's, it's intimidating at first. I can tell you with absolute certainty that once you use it, once or twice that goes away, my nine-year-old son, we have a mini maps that he thinks is his, that he lights and he does it all his own. Um, but there's, you know, there's room for everybody to play. Right. And I just think that those people who get into the lifestyle of smoking eventually will be like, well, there's gotta be something better. Or what's, what's the next challenge out there. And that's the big green egg, you know, and it'll be the last one they buy, they won't need to replace it.
Speaker 1 00:27:16 That's right. Oh, you would think we have to ask for finals thoughts just
Speaker 1 00:27:23 For sure. And I think there's a place for, for it. Um, I, I'm not, it's not, I'm not in that place. I'll tell you that I've taken the leap, but I enjoy it. Um, being a part of these different groups that are very passionate about the big green egg, it's, it's a different level of smoking. Like it, it is a different, different group of people. If I can say that in a good way, in a weird, like Colt drank the Kool-Aid kind of way. Totally fine. Nobody made us make this video. Now it's a ton of fun. It brings us together, I think at the root of all this. Right. And I think Jim, Jim mentioned that in, in the pre-call a little bit about our industry loves to come together and, and, uh, weather of course, more than natural gas industry. We've got these big setups that are propane based. And then in the same breath, we have these big setups that are big trailer smokers too. But, but at the end of the day, it brings people together. Like we talked about with family, uh, our industry is a big giant family and anytime somebody wants to cook for the family and we all share, we have a good time. And so, um, with that, where we're excited to be a part of the family, I'm excited to be a part of a family. I know Jim, Jim's got some work to do. We're still converting him.
Speaker 3 00:29:03 And I, I was just thinking it would be great to have Matt to be at one of our events, sometime doing some cooking and such because you're right. Fellowship is the industry. And you just, you know, you get the, the positive vibe from Matt. That he's just a, you're a great guy, sir. I mean, I could, I could spend another hour to talk about this. Um, I need to go out and find out how I'm going to buy an egg, but I gotta look at sizes too, because given my elderly stage and like we're downsizing a little bit. So, but, um, anyways, any last words guys, before I wrap up anything you want to say? Um, any, any words of advice?
Speaker 4 00:29:45 Wow, that was,
Speaker 3 00:29:46 That's probably pretty good. A couple of them talk to Matt. It's been a pleasure having you on board. Um, thankful, thankful to have you on board. Um, I've been a big green egg fan for years and years and years. So being able to connect with you and out on the stuff that I've been wanting to do. So I appreciate you being on board. I appreciate you guys having me. It's been, you know, a sense of, since we connected James to now for the past few weeks, I've enjoyed emailing with you guys and, and you know, I appreciate it. I think our, our outlook on life and family and all that kind of stuff syncs up very well together. So I appreciate you having me on here. It's been a lot of fun. It's been a blast and I'm glad that I have a new friend and, uh, uh, I consider you part of our industry family, man. You're in, I want to encourage everybody. That's listening and tuning in watching to connect with Matt and as well as with us and learn a little bit more, I'm sure Matt would enjoy getting a question or to see if he could stop him on something. See if he can say, how, how would I cook a 400 pound tuna cotton that ocean pellets.
Speaker 3 00:31:18 So Duke connect, um, if you liked the video, if like this session, like it share it, um, we just want to spread the good word and, uh, as we say, spread the love. So with that, I will again, thank Matt so much for your time today, James, like I always say he he's the Starsky to my Hutch. Wait, that's an eighties reference. I'm showing my age again. Anyways, listen, everybody be safe out there. Have a great day. God bless us and God bless our industry and uh, let's all be safe. And, uh, we will see you next time for another exciting episode, but until then have fun with this one. Have a great day, take care.
