Mini Kamado BBQ Grill Ceramic Egg Brill For Outdoor Mini Egg Style Barbecue Grill

Product Information

Launched in 2020, the pig bluey is a mini, portable version of a classic kamado-style barbecue. Apart from the blazing bright blue hue, it otherwise looks very similar to Big Green Egg’s MiniMax – dimpled surface, wooden handle, temperature gauge and adjustable air vents. One immediate difference, however, is size: a grilling surface of 16 inches versus MiniMax’s 13 – enough, potentially, to feed a whole extra person. It’s also a shade taller (57cm rather than 50), and heavier at 43kg (versus MiniMax’s 40kg).

Kamado barbecues are based on Japanese cooking urns that are believed to have originated 3,000 years ago. They are usually made of ceramic and are designed to last a lifetime. Kamado grills are fairly unique in their design, and these grills stand out from other charcoal grills thanks to their egg-shaped form and ceramic walls. The ceramic exterior retains heat better than traditional metal grills, and it also helps to keep moisture and smoke sealed inside, giving your food a richer flavor.

To get cooking, you simply fill the Firebox with natural lumpwood charcoal. Be sure to avoid any charcoal that contains chemicals as this can affect the taste of your food and the Big Green Egg’s ceramics. You'll need to spend time learning how to control the cooking temperature using the air vents, and watching YouTube videos to learn the art of perfectly smoking brisket or cooking pulled pork. Kamado grills are made from heavy, engineered ceramic material and once heated or 'heat soaked,' they will cook very efficiently for hours with minimal effort," explained Paul Sidoriak of Grilling Montana. "They can be used to smoke a prime rib, roast veggies, bake a cheesecake, and grill up burgers—all in the same day! There’s almost nothing you can’t make on a kamado grill."

Kamado grills do have a bit of a learning curve, especially if you typically cook on a gas or pellet grill. To control the temperature of a kamado grill, you have to adjust the vents at the top and bottom of the cooking chamber. For high temperatures, you'll want to open the vents more to let oxygen into the grill, and for low temperature, keep the vents partially closed. Our expert found it to be just as good as a quality, traditional smoker. It did take eight hours to smoke our pork, but such is the nature of smoking meat. The reward for their patience? Tender, melt-in-the-mouth pulled pork with a lovely oak flavour. A real BBQ game-changer. Ease of use is where this grill really shines. The automatic starter is a game-changer and the temperature-regulating features—Kontrol Fan that automatically maintains temperature and Kontrol Tower top vent for consistent air setting during dome opening and closing—make this a super accessible option for beginners. When one of our testers brought this home for more long-term extensive testing, he noted that his wife, who is relatively new to grilling, found that this model eased her anxiety, and it's made its way into weeknight use because of the efficiency factor.Inspired by an Asian clay cooker called a ‘kamado’, the Big Green Egg is a charcoal grill that set out to "redefine barbecue" and took the grilling world by storm. It even has its own loyal fanbase called ‘Eggheads’. Built in a Kamado style (that's Japanese for stove) you can literally grill, smoke, bake, cook, roast anything you need. Whether you want it raging hot or smokin' low you can adjust the temperature easily. The Pig Bluey is MEGA efficient and needs very little charcoal to get going. Next, you need to add a fire starter followed by a few more charcoal pieces on top – a charcoal garnish for your firelighter, if you will. Open the draft door fully for 10 minutes and wait for your charcoal to glow. Then it’s time to open the other vent, aptly named the ‘reggulator’ and – patience please – wait up to five minutes for your Egg to be sufficiently heated. Finally, add your cooking surface and you’re ready to start the art of barbecuing. What can you cook in it? The ceramic body has great insulation properties to hold in the heat. In general, they are great at smoking and roasting, as well as cooking pizzas and also searing meat at high temperatures.

Of course, one question remains – is it worth the hype (and the investment)? Our experts at the Good Housekeeping Institute put the classic large Big Green Egg to the test to find out. Let’s take a closer look at this rising BBQ star and find out why it’s the ultimate alfresco must-have. What's special about the Big Green Egg? It’s made of shuttle-quality ceramic that’s treated with a protective green glaze, and then baked at 1,300C for several hours. The brand is supremely confident in its craftsmanship, hence the lifetime warranty. This roundup was updated by Arricca SanSone, who has been grilling since she owned her first tiny hibachi in college. She’ll grill anything, but her favorite food to grill is homemade pizza with veggies and herbs from her own garden. She is a health and lifestyle writer for Prevention, Country Living, Veranda, House Beautiful, PureWow, and many others. Once the preheating was done Ibegan cooking with one of the ultimate BBQ foods, beef burgers. I started off with two patties, thinking that the grill could only hold that many. It became clear soon after that I could fit more on (even if they took a little longer to cook), so I squeezed four onto the space.To test performance using the automatic mode, we grilled veggies, a tomahawk steak, and brisket (long smoke). Zucchini, red onions, and corn all came out evenly charred and tender, but there were no defined grill marks. The steak came out with a nice sear and was unbelievably juicy, especially considering it was cooked to medium/medium+ after resting for 10 minutes. The sear was a deep brown with hints of gold around the caramelized fat caps, and the grill marks, while somewhat faint, were lightly charred. The brisket was incredibly juicy and retained its integrity when handled as nothing was falling apart or overly dry. The cubed pieces of brisket were then tossed in bourbon-infused bbq sauce and drizzled with honey before returning to the smoker to prepare the burnt ends. The finished burnt ends came out deeply caramelized—tender and juicy with a somewhat crisp exterior. The folks at Kamado Joe certainly don’t rest on their laurels. While the previous Kamado Joe Classic was a high-quality grill that rated well in our tests, the Classic Joe III has reached another level of cooking perfection with the patented SlōRoller insert that creates cyclonic airflow that controls both the heat and smoke for low and slow cooking, all the way up to 500 degrees. When it’s time for higher temperatures, which can reach up to 750 degrees, the SlōRoller can be swapped out for heat deflector plates for the perfect sear on a steak or an amazing restaurant-style pizza. It is undeniably expensive, especially once you factor in the natural charcoal, accessories and purchasing a stand. But it created delicious results that reflected its high price-tag, and we can’t fault its flawless meat-cooking abilities.

Slip a bunch of coals into the base, light, close the lid and open the air vents. This puppy gets hot and fast. There’s no getting away from the fact that this is an investment level outdoor cooker. But if you’ve been eyeing up Big Green Egg for some time, this little one is a fantastic gateway into the world of egg cooking. Don’t let the name fool you, it’s still big enough to cook joints of meat and get to grips with this style of cooking for 2-4 people. We tasked our Lab's Editorial Project Manager John Somerall with putting this new release through its paces. John has more than 10 years of professional culinary experience and is a year-round griller who fires up a grill at least once a week. After using it consistently for over a month, he's a fan: "I'd never used a smart charcoal grill before, but if this is the future of charcoal grilling, then the future is looking very bright!"

You work at BID, what a legend.

However, whether it's worth the hefty price tag really comes down to how often you’ll cook with it and whether you’ll make use of the features that set it apart from other cheaper charcoal grills on the market. If you only fire up the barbie a couple of times a year to throw on some burgers and halloumi, this probably isn’t the model for you. Very. In fact, the fuss-free clean-up was one of our favourite things about it. For the Big Green Egg to ‘self-clean’, you simply fire it up as normal, close the dome and let it burn at 300C for a solid 20 minutes. Any leftover food scraps will be burnt to ash, ready for you to collect from the fire grate through the draft door at the bottom. Just be sure to leave the vents open while cleaning is in progress. Overall, this grill is remarkably accurate when it comes to regulating a preset temperature, and we think the experience could only be improved with a few updates to the Konnected Joe Kontrol Board's firmware and the Kamado Joe app.