REVIEW: COOKING ON A BIG GREEN EGG WITH FADE PROJECTS

"What are you up to next Tuesday?" a friend asked me just over three weeks ago.

Before I had the chance to find an excuse, it was soon followed with "A friend has started Fade Projects and creates Big Green Egg/Fire cooking classes and feasts. The food will be insane, and it's only in Guiting Power, so I'll put your name down"

The brains behind Fade Projects is Eddy, who has a healthy obsession with food, fire, the outdoors and Padel so I knew we would get on. 

The itinerary was sent over and was signed off with "Bring some warm clothing as we will be outside lots of the day" (at this stage it had rained for two weeks solid) and "Let me know when you want a game".

I arrived at Cloud Hill Cottage in Guiting Power, ready to tackle the elements. It turned out (at that point) to be the nicest day of the year so far. The garden was a sun trap and far too warm for winter attire.

It wasn't just me. Also invited was Seb, Eddy's Padel partner. Gabi, one of Eddy's foodie mates. Gee, the vision behind the Fade Project brand and the friend who badgered me to come. Matt, one of Eddy's fiends and top-notch photographer. In fact, every photo within this piece are his. And Annie, Eddy's partner, superstar host, runner, sous chef and pretty much everything else.

Cloud Hill Cottage is located right next door to The Hollow Bottom pub and is available to rent on Airbnb. It's one of the locations that Eddy has teamed up with to offer something extra to the group of guests that book a stay. It also has to be one of the shortest, if not the shortest, walks back from 'the pub' in the UK.

I have seen Big Green Eggs but have never cooked on them. In all honestly, I just thought they were glorified, expensive barbeques with brilliant branding and marketing. How wrong I was. 

Learning to light the Eggs (there were two of them; a Large and Mini Max) seemed to be a good place to start. Eddy obviously made this look simple and it was time to prep some food and enjoy a mid-morning beer while it reached the desired heat. 

First to be prepped was the Picanha. This was actually a new cut of beef for me. It's popular in Brazil and Portugal and is more commonly known as the Rump Cap over here.  Eddy explained that we (the royal we) were going to be reverse searing this. 

​Seb scored the layer of fat and rubbed in a generous amount of oil and salt. It was then cooked on an indirect set-up in the egg at 110. The meat was brought up to an internal temp of 48 using Eddy's pride and joy digital smart Meater thermometer (it was actually very cool and ridiculously clever), before whacking the heat up in the Egg to between 250-300 for a direct cook. It was then seared on all sides and rested.

While that that was resting, it was Gabi's turn to get involved with the chopping of herbs for the Chimichurri. Once the olive oil, harissa, lemon, and seasoning were added, it was pretty much there.

As you can see, the results were mouth-wateringly incredible. I thought we'd be having to wait for the final feast to to eat this, but we ate lots of what we cooked along the way which was a masterstroke.

It was now my turn to get involved with some rib-eye steaks. One was to be "seared" (cooked on the cast iron plancha griddle) and the other "dirty" (cooked directly in the coals). After seasoning with oil and salt, I put them in the Egg, wearing what looked like a falconry glove.

At this point, we were reminded to "burp" the egg. There have been lots of stories of lost eyebrows and forearm hair from people who had opened the lid on full heat. I'm no health and safety junkie, but it's essential that you open the lid slightly and then close it a couple of times to release some of the heat. 

They didn't need long at all. Once done, they rested before I cut them up (apparently like one of the Kardashians cutting a cucumber... I was proud not to get the joke) for people to try. They were both great, but the griddled one definitely just edged it.

While we were chatting, drinking and picking at meat in the sunshine, Eddy put a couple of red peppers straight on the coals to literally burn for the Middle Eastern Mummarah dip. Once blackened, Annie peeled the skins and and added walnuts, balsamic, paprika and lemon and blended it all together. 

The next task was the cauliflower which was assigned to Seb. This was to be roasted with soy and truffle dressing. Seb got to work cutting it into steaks and it was then caramelise on the baking stone. Once cooked, it was served with the dressing and ready to eat. Cauliflower shouldn't be allowed to taste like this. I don't want to say it, but it was possibly the highlight of the day. Charred, sweet, truffly (is that a word?) and everything else I didn't expect it to be. If I was a vegetarian, I would eat this every day. 

Apparently, that was all just a taster before we prepared the main feast. 

Next was rosemary and sea salt focaccia, making the dough from scratch. My gran always told me that my hands were too warm for any kind of baking so I've carried that as an excuse with me all my life. 

Luckily, Eddy is from a family of bakers and knocked up a dough without any of us realising. Gee got to work with the kneading and it was left to rise. 

While that was happening Eddy soaked a cedar wood plank for the salmon and started prepping the rack of lamb. 

The fat was scored and then seared on the baking stone. They were then cooked on the conveggtor (a Big Green Egg ceramic insert) that was turned upside down. The fat on the lamb was then caramelised and Eddy's trusty Meater was used to reach internal temperature of 57, before being taken out to rest.

The dough had returned from its visit to the conservatory and was knocked back into the shape of the pan and left to rise again. After which, Gee created some finger dents, covered in oil, salt and rosemary and baked it at 180.

If it wasn't for Eddy's showpiece apple tarte tatin (coming later), this would have the most impressive creation of the day. 

There's an old pottery shed at the bottom of the garden where Annie had worked her magic with the table and some festoon lighting, while Eddy got the planks out of the water for the salmon (Direct cook at 180-200) and knocked up some roasted new potatoes which when done at home are good, but on a Green Egg are next level. 

Before we sat down, Eddy whipped out the spiced rum and started to make a caramel from the rum and sugar. Once the bubbles were large enough, he added apples and then covered it with pastry and cooked it in the egg at 180. 

While we ate, drank and showered Eddy with compliments, it was time for the Apple Tarte Tatin. A sticky masterpiece that if you didn't see it happening, you wouldn't have believed it was cooked on ceramic barbeque. It was borderline showing off. 

Fade School (Big Green Egg Classes) and Feasts are available to residents and non residents of Cloud Hill Cottage in Guiting Power.

Alternatively Fade Projects will come to your home and either run a School or Feast event.

​Links:

Chef/Host/Creator: www.fadeprojects.co.uk
Photos: www.instagram.com/sonof_william
​House: Cloud Hill Cottage
​Meat: www.waghornesbutchers.co.uk
Egg: www.biggreenegg.co.uk