Brad McCall knew he was entering a brave new world when his parents bought him a Big Green Egg.

It was Christmas 2004 and McCall, a mechanical engineer from Boca Raton, had done his research on the grill he'd first seen 10 years earlier. The Big Green Egg, unlike most grills, is ceramic and, well, looks like a big green egg. That allows it to heat up to more than 1,000 degrees and as low as 175. It's fueled by hardwood lump charcoal that makes for a longer burn with little ash.

"The challenge is that you have to build a fire and maintain a fire," says McCall. "The way you do that is with air. It adds a bit of skill to the whole process."

It comes with a cookbook, but McCall already knew how to use it. That's because there is a big Big Green Egg online community. (www.biggreenegg.com) They get together for "Eggfests." They say things like: "I'm going to `Egg' some chicken."

McCall tries not to sound like an Egghead, but he "Egged" for 15 days straight after he got his grill.

By John Tanasychuk
South Florida Sun-Sentinel (http://www.sun-sentinel.com/)
Posted August 3 2006