We’re just past Memorial Day weekend. I have to say that I’m a bit saddened that Memorial Day isn’t really observed for what it’s meant to honor, which is fallen U.S. soldiers. I don’t go out of my way to do a lot for the day, but I do think about the sacrifices made by others. Unfortunately, I saw a lot of other celebrations going on, too, that had nothing to do with that; people are just confused, I guess.

On Saturday, Pat of Patrick’s BBQ held his annual customer appreciation event by cooking anything that he could fit in his smoker (which is a whole lot). While there, I noticed a field of wildflowers, and I had to wander down to get a better look.

It is a long weekend, and it unofficially denotes the start of summer. We had incredible weather for Saturday and Sunday, with Monday not too awful. On Sunday, my dad and stepmother were in Ohio, and they spent the afternoon and evening with us, which was all the excuse I needed to put the XL Big Green Egg through it’s paces, just to see how it did with a variety of tasks.

First up was bread. I’ve heard that the egg makes a great bread oven, so I wanted to find out. With just charcoal, no wood chunks, going at about 600 degrees, I put a couple of loaves on the egg, only to quickly find that my friend Rick was right.. the platesetter gets too hot to cook on directly! I burned the bottoms of the loaves severely! So I added a stone on top of the platesetter, with a gap of air in between, and put more bread on. I misted the bread when I put it on, and immediately lowered the temp to around 460-480. The bread was done in about 20 minutes, and it came out great. The oven spring was incredible, and the crust was really nicely done.

After the bread was done, I put the grate on the cooker and placed 4 Vidalia onions, with grey salt, pepper and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, on the edge of the grate and grilled, at about 650 degrees, sea scallops. I did nothing to the scallops other than grey salt and black pepper… Some times, the food speaks for itself without a lot of embellishment.

After the grilling, I put the platesetter back in and added a prime rib that was encrusted with a thick layer of kosher salt (mixed with water to form a paste). The onions were set along the edges of the platesetter, but not where they blocked the air circulation. The prime rib was taken off, after smoking with cherry wood to 120 degrees F, and allowed to rest for a bit, then sliced and served with the onions.

For dessert, I took the lead from my friend Rick and made puff pastries. I put the stone back on the platesetter and raised the temperature to about 400 degrees F. The puff pastry shells went on the stone, on parchment paper, until they were about half done, at which time I took the middle out of the shells and piped in a bit of cream cheese mixed with butter and sugar. After the shells were baked, I added berries and served the dessert. This is one worth doing again, though I want to make my own shells and make them a bit bigger.

So, how did Norman do (I’ve named the Big Green Egg Norman for some reason I don’t quite know)? The days’ food was great! I have to plan out my timing a bit better, but, all in all, it was a very successful day’s work by the Big Green Egg!