Lara Norman | Queen of the Flames | Big Green Egg

Big Green Egg Champion: Lara Norman

The storyteller chef

Lara Norman is the founder of Euphoria and co-founder of Mise en Play, where she creates theatrical dining experiences that bring together food, storytelling, art and performance. Born in Ibiza, she spent much of her childhood in Galicia. She began cooking professionally at an early age and later trained in Michelin-starred kitchens including The Ritz London with John Williams, Bibendum with Claude Bosi and Hide with Ollie Dabbous.

Lara first came across the Big Green Egg through fellow chefs. “Once I started cooking with one myself, I understood why chefs become obsessed with them,” she says. “I loved that something so primal could also give you that much precision and control.” She now uses her Large EGG for recipe development, filming and events. “It’s become part of my creative process. I’ll start with an idea for a dish and then think about how fire, smoke and charcoal can become part of its identity.”

What Lara tells us

“The EGG holds heat beautifully but also retains moisture, which is very useful for longer cooks.”

“You get caramelisation, bitterness, smoke and aromas that are difficult to replicate in a kitchen.”

“The contrast of primal technique with precise, refined cooking is how I like to cook.”

Advice and inspiration for spit roasting a Christmas turkey on the Rotisserie 2.0.

“The Rotisserie is my favourite accessory. It provides a beautifully juicy and even cook.”

Grilled Rhubarb, Strawberry and Rosemary Upside Down Cake | Chantelle Nicholson | Falcon Enamelware | baking | Big Green Egg Recipes

“I love making desserts with it. You get a depth of flavour you can’t create in a normal oven.”

Lara’s top tips

Learn how to control the airflow and temperature first. Once you understand that, it becomes an incredibly versatile piece of equipment. I feel like I have DJ decks when I’m using my EGG!
Good charcoal makes an enormous difference. It isn’t simply a heat source; it becomes part of the flavour of the food. The fun comes from using different woods, depending on what I’m cooking.
Don’t become obsessed with huge amounts of smoke. Smoke should behave like seasoning – enough to notice but not so much that everything tastes the same.
Don’t be afraid of cooking vegetables and fruit directly over the charcoal. There’s something beautifully uncomplicated about it, but you can use the technique within a very refined dish
Use the residual heat. Once you’ve finished your main cook, there’s often plenty of energy left in the EGG for roasting something, baking, lightly smoking another ingredient or even starting a dessert.
Most importantly, experiment and make mistakes! Some of the best things I’ve cooked on the EGG have come from asking, “I wonder what happens if I put this in there?” rather than following the traditional idea of what barbecue food should be.