You’re just back from your first EGGtoberfest. How was Atlanta?
Bonkers from the minute I landed. It’s an absolutely massive airport, something like five thousand acres – one of the biggest in the world. Coming from Newquay airport, the smallest you can imagine, and then landing there, it was quite overwhelming. And then I was on my own in a big city, but I went out, got chatting to people, went to a really friendly bar and everybody was so helpful and kind.
And how was the festival itself?
Again, absolutely bonkers but really good fun. It was at a massive baseball stadium. There were about 500 Big Green Eggs, 100 chef teams and thousands and thousands of people. Everyone was really curious about the Brits. They all wanted to talk to us and ask us where we come from. It was a lot of fun: in Britain, people love Big Green Eggs, but in America they’re obsessed! We were so busy, though. That day, we cooked just under 1,000 portions of our dish, just me and another chef, Kai. We worked our arses off!
How did your dish go down?
There was a competition where you could scan a QR code to vote for the best chef at the festival. They wouldn’t let me and Kai enter because we’re classed as professionals and the competition was only for the amateurs. Everybody was coming back to our stand saying: “How do we vote for you? This is the best.” One guy came up and said: “I wasn’t going to vote today, because I can’t be bothered, but I want your QR code because that dish was so un-American.” And he was right: down in the South, where we were, they do a lot of beans, but they’re always smoky and spicy, whereas ours had more of an English-French twist. None of them had tried beans like that before.
Were you involved in breaking the world record for the largest-ever portion of chicken wings?
We could see it all happening, because it was right near us, but we didn’t actually get to contribute, because we were just so busy. All day, we worked like we were in a top kitchen, very methodical, very clean, very focused. We just kept going until all the food was gone. It was amazing what they did, though: 655 pounds of chicken! They put it all in Yeti boxes while it was still hot and distributed it around Atlanta to shelters for the homeless.
In your recipe, you specify the use of high-welfare pork. Why does that matter to you?
Two reasons. Firstly, animal welfare is really important. When you buy pork and you don’t know where it’s from, those pigs could have been caged up, churning out two litters a year, never seeing daylight. That’s not right. But also, it’s the flavour. You can taste the difference. For the pork we cooked in America, I wasn’t going to go to a supermarket. I got to Atlanta a day early and went to an amazing butcher called the Buckhead Butcher Shop – it’s really high end. The flavour was bang on. You can’t get that from Costco.
How did you first come across the Big Green Egg?
It must have been around 14 years ago. David, the MD of Big Green Egg UK, brought a double-decker bus down to Padstow, with EGGs built into it. He invited all the local chefs – Paul Ainsworth, Nathan Outlaw, Rick Stein, me. We went out for dinner that evening, and I told David all about my farm. He said: “Right, we’re all going to Ross’s farm tomorrow morning, really early.” We had a big night, into the early hours, but I didn’t want to let anyone down, so I dragged myself up and trooped down to meet David at about half six in the morning. None of the others turned up! I gave him a tour of the farm, saw the pigs, saw the kitchen garden, picked some samphire. I told him how I wanted to create a restaurant and cooking school on the site, and he gave me some amazing business advice. And when he left, he opened his boot and gave me a Big Green Egg.
What was your initial experience of cooking on it?
The first few times I messed up horribly. I was completely self-taught, just watching American YouTube videos. Bit by bit, I started getting the hang of it, doing a bit more. The first time I cooked on it professionally, me, Jack Stein and a chap called Carl Clarke who owns Chick’n’Sours in London did a pop-up for 24 people using a little stove and a MiniMax. We didn’t make any money at all but it worked out really well. After that, I realised there could be a market for me to use it at the farm.
When you’re teaching EGG cookery, what’s the most important piece of wisdom you pass on?
Lighting it! So many people light it wrong. Some people have had an EGG for as many years as me, and they’re like: “Damn, I’ve been doing it wrong all this time!” It just needs to be one or two firelighters in the very centre. If you scatter too many around the EGG, all you do is create an inferno. If you do it right, it slowly burns out from the middle, you can control the heat, it burns less charcoal and that’s how you can do those 16-hour cooks.
With the feasts and cookery classes on your farm, plus recipes and events for Big Green Egg, how big a part of your life is the EGG?
It’s huge. At the party after the EGGtoberfest, I got to meet Ed Fisher, the founder. I got a photo with him. I said to him: “Getting a Big Green Egg all those years ago transformed my life. I wouldn’t be in Atlanta now. I wouldn’t be meeting all these chefs and other amazing people. I wouldn’t be doing the monthly cookery courses which help me out in the difficult months on the farm when there’s no income because of the weather. I just want you to know that if you hadn’t founded this, my life would be on a completely different route, so thank you.” I think he was quite touched.
For our 50th birthday recipe series, you’ve been involved with several of the shoots. What have the highlights been so far?
I’m a massive rugby fan so meeting Will Greenwood and helping him come up with his dish was probably my highlight. I’m rugby mad. I watched them win that final against Australia, that famous Jonny Wilkinson kick, and to think that Will was part of that team is pretty cool. Another highlight was when the Big Green Egg team come down to Cornwall. It was a proper amazing sunny day, and we cooked tacos on the beach with Emily Scott. It was in my home town, on my favourite beach, where I swim three days a week, so to have Emily there cooking tacos was really cool.
