Photography Ralph Anderson / Styling Lisa Powell Bailey, Rose Nguyen / Food Styling Vanessa McNeil, Article By Shirley Harrington

Big Green Egg

(about $199/small, $699/large, www.biggreenegg.com)

• It's a charcoal grill that really does do it all. It grills, smokes, and bakes. To maintain the exact temperature, simply adjust the top and bottom dampers.
• As a smoker it easily maintains low temperatures for slow, succulent results, and at high temperatures it sears and grills foods to perfection.
• It uses very little charcoal. In fact, our pork recipe slow cooks for about 4½ hours and, after starting the fire with the initial batch of charcoal, John didn't add a speck more.

"My husband, John, could set records with the number of cooking hours he's clocked on grills (both charcoal and gas) and smokers--except the Big Green Egg. When a volunteer was needed, he jumped at the chance. "Oh, I'd kicked the tires a few times, even thought about adding the Egg to my prized group. So, yeah, I'd love to take it for a test-drive," John said.

How does he like it? Check out what turned him into an Egghead. -- Kate Nicholson

Featured Recipe: Slow-Grilled Pork With Ranch-Barbecue Sauce

Ranch-Barbecue Sauce

NextFiesta Gas Grills' Optima