On Saturday, July 31 Hearth & Home Furnishings in Zelienople sponsored the second annual Pittsburgh EggFest. EggFests are held all over the United States for fellow Egg-heads to show off their cooking skills on the BigGreenEgg. On of our owners, Deb Mortillaro met the EggFest folks at the home show and then they contacted her to do a demo during this year's event.

The Big Green Egg is the original American-designed ceramic cooker. The EGG is a unique barbecue product, with unmatched flexibility and capabilities that surpass all other conventional cookers combined. It is a smoker, a grill and an oven and you can cook literally any food on it year around, from appetizers to entrees to desserts.

As a guest grill master/instructor, Deb prepared a wonderful beef tenderloin salt-wrapped in a cotton towel, along with salmon on a bed of fresh herbs.

An attendee recently emailed Deb with their thanks: “I prepared your recipe yesterday and it turned out great. We actually did a bit of surf and turf, placing the tenderloin on the coals, putting the grill rack on the Egg and placing a cedar planked salmon on a bed of fresh herbs on the grill rack. Both were done in about 30 minutes - the salmon could have cooked a bit longer since the tenderloin robbed some heat from the salmon - no big deal. Anyway - thanks Deb for the demonstration - we wowed our guests.”

He continued with: “Question for you - we're going to try a whole duck, wrapped in the same salt/towel on Wednesday night - most likely stuffing the cavity with something (orange/lemon) to keep the salt out. Just wanted to get your thoughts on this - or whether you've possibly done this before. We've seen duck in a clay wrapping, but the salt contact with the tenderloin got us thinking that this method may be a better approach. The salt should suck up the fat and hopefully not catch on fire. Big towel - and more salt.”

Deb loves her job and really appreciates when she can “egg on” passion in others.

She responded: “So glad this worked for you. I had a great time at this event. As to the duck I do think it would work. Just be sure and trim the excess fat off before doing this. If you find that the salt won’t stay in place add a little egg white to it and make a bit of a paste then wrap with towel.  I’m not sure what will happen with all that fat but if it catches on fire at least you will have some protection for the meat. This will give you some time to pull it out with your VERY LONG TONGS!!  - Let us know how this works out.  My grilling partner Justin will be very interested.” 

If we’ve got your interest about EggFest and the Big Green Egg - just follow the links above.