Top 5 summer slow cooks
Main content
Hot and unbothered
Let’s be honest, the very worst thing to cook for a crowd on a day blessed with ‘barbecue weather’ is traditional British barbecue food. Juggling a hundred sausages, burgers and chicken legs, sweating over the flames, desperately hoping to catch the brief window between dangerously raw and horribly burnt – that’s never a pleasant experience for the cook. But thanks to the versatility of the Big Green Egg, hot-weather cooking does not have to be like that. Instead, let’s slow it right down and focus on a more forgiving style of cooking that requires far less stress and far more sitting around with a cold drink in hand.
Rotisserie lamb belly kebabs
Succulent, spicy meat, spit roasted for two hours with the Dome closed using the Big Green Egg Rotisserie, before adding a blast of heat with the Dome open at the end – a lovely touch of theatre. Enjoy folded into flatbreads with quick pickles and tzatziki.
Low & slow pork shoulder
Rooted in the American Deep South, this is one of the all-time barbecue classics: authentic pulled pork, cooked low & slow with a little added smoke. Served with a crunchy summer slaw and homemade BBQ sauce, it’s a guaranteed crowd pleaser.
Ratatouille
Mediterranean summer vegetables cooked for a couple of hours in a generous quantity of olive oil, until they’ve surrendered to a state of silky softness, then served with a ball of creamy burrata. A taste of Provence in your own back garden.
Smoked beef naan
Aged beef chuck slow cooked for about half a day to create a smoky, succulent mass that falls apart under the slightest pressure from a fork. Serve it in homemade naan breads with sharp pickles and a vibrant chimichurri sauce.
Clafoutis
A juicy, fluffy, wobbly and wonderfully stress-free dessert, great for exploiting the glut of ruby-red English cherries that brightens up the summer months. It’s just fruit and batter, slowly baked in a skillet while you sit back in the sunshine.
Cook to temperature not time
Cooking to temperature rather than time is the key to most successful slow cooks, so having a high-quality food thermometer to hand is essential. We have lots of options, from the simplest of pocket thermometers to sophisticated web-connected probes. We also have a temperature guide page to give you a simple steer.
