The bigger, the better?

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Posted at 11:00AM, 12 September 2008 by Graham Holliday - Blogger

For some amateur chefs, the biggest challenge when it comes to the kitchen is big itself. From pizzas and paella to burgers and bread. Not for these chefs the thrill of recreating their own private El Bulli in a suburban pantry. Size is important and the bigger the better. This is probably not the most prudent of cooking courses during a global food crisis, but it's amazing what some people can get up to with a large pan, a few friends and a turbocharged appetite.

Serious Eats points us to a man in Pennsylvania with a very, very large barbecue, a passion for pizza and the imagination to combine the two to create a six-foot-long pizza.

"We assembled it in two 3' sections that we worked together into one large pie... I used garlic powder and oregano and a blend of cheeses including mozzarella, romano, provolone, and parmesan... To serve, we carried the whole rack inside and cut it up and served it right off the rack."

Closer to home, as of last month Clarence Court in Cornwall is the proud owner of the Guiness World Record for the world's largest Scotch Egg. The secret ingredient? An ostrich egg,

The entire cooking process took more than eight hours, with ninety minutes alone spent boiling the egg

"Using a 1.7kg ostrich egg, 4kg of Gloucester Old Spot sausage meat, 940g of haggis and 800g of breadcrumbs for the coating, the entire cooking process took more than eight hours, with ninety minutes alone spent boiling the egg."

I must say, that looks pretty tasty... Moving on, I'm not sure if this is the world's biggest burger, but I very much doubt you will find anything bigger in the burger stakes than this monster served at the In 'N' Out chain of burger joints in the United States. The fabled 100x100 or 100 burgers, 100 slices of cheese will set you back the grand total of $97.66. It took eight people less than two hours to finish, not that they enjoyed it. With five burgers to go, the team are less than keen to carry on,

"Now at this point... we all feel extremely sick. VERY sick. Disgusted. It's not quite because we are all full. But it's more a factor of just being completely disgusted and nauseated by the sweaty cheese. Can you blame us...?"

There are at least some big foods which sound almost palatable. How about a paella for 5,000 people? Not big enough for you? OK. How about a world record-holding 21 metre-wide paella for 110,000 people? I wonder if there were any leftovers...

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