Does it really always have to be about recipes?
I love cooking outside
I enjoy cooking outside so much that one year I cooked on the grill about 300 times.
Granted, this was no ordinary gas grill. It was what’s called a Kamado grill, which is an egg-shaped ceramic grill fueled by all-natural hardwood lump charcoal. My grill of choice that year was the large Big Green Egg and I was constantly trying to figure out what the cooker is incapable of cooking.
Kamado grills like the Big Green Egg and Kamado Joe are popular because they are versatile. They operate like a wood-burning stove. There is an air intake in the bottom and an exhaust on the top. Temperature is controlled manually. The more air that passes over the charcoal, the hotter it gets. But some of the magic of cooking Kamados happens because they are made of clay. Kamado grills are heavy. The Classic Kamado Joe weighs just under 190 pounds, so when the cooker is allowed to come to temperature, or as I like to say, get heat soaked, it tends to stay at about that temperature for long periods of time.
I started sharing my experiences on the grill around 2011 out of necessity. I cooked for family or friends and when they weren't there to eat my food, they constantly asked for photos of my cooking.
The technology was a bit different then. Smartphones were not quite a thing, and photos were actually taken with a camera, which needed to be uploaded and then emailed off to prove to Mom and Dad that I actually did make a burger out of rice, and no it didn’t fall through the grill's grates. So I initially started with a Tumblr page and then moved on to play around with WordPress for sharing content.
It wasn’t so much that I had a voice that I desperately wanted to be heard or a dish I was infatuated with people seeing, as it was I often wanted to convey the emotion about what I was cooking. Sometimes the meal was out of necessity, a simple Tuesday dinner. Other times, like the first time I grilled a turkey, it was for the challenge. To see if it could be done.
I always planned on sharing both my successes and failures on the grill
One Saturday morning, I found myself with a beautiful filet of fresh fish and had plans to grill it up for friends later that day. I rode my bike to the farmers market to find some fresh ingredients for salsa to accompany the dish. In the back corner of the Missoula Farmers Market, there was a stand with some amazing heirloom tomatoes. I grabbed four of them and handed the guy a $20. Although I questioned the farmer when he handed me only four dollars back, it really didn’t set in that I had just paid $16 bucks for a few tomatoes until I tossed them in my messenger bag and returned home. Between the crowded farmers market, some light socializing, and the short bike ride home I managed to completely smoosh the tomatoes, getting a fairly quick head start on making the salsa.
I share this because, for me, it was about that day. What was in season, what I had planned to cook, and what was available to me at the moment. It wasn’t about how I prepared the fish, or if I added jicama or mango to the salsa. It was about my preparation to have fun playing with food.
So fast forward a few years. I have written more, developed recipes for two cookbooks on outdoor cooking, and evolved as a hobbyist of the flame. I have attended competition barbecue cooking classes, learned the art of smoking food, and built out my quiver of cookers to well over a dozen. But one thing still bothers me. The format with which we share our passion for cooking.
Does it always have to be about a recipe?
Maybe it’s me. Maybe I have forgotten the majority of the mediocre things I have cooked outside. Maybe I forgot what it is like to be in the learning phase of something.
But when I was learning, I never took recipes all that seriously.
Sure, sometimes a pinch, teaspoon, or quarter cup makes all the world of difference. But if I have a few extra leaves of basil and am in the mood for a little extra, is it more of a crime to include it in the dish tonight than to throw it away tomorrow when it is wilted and dried? Or if deviled eggs call for a dusting of sweet paprika for a pop of color, will the spice police come knocking on my door if I choose to use smoked?
Can we have it both ways?
So I ask myself, as I ask you: Can we have it both ways? Would someone read about cooking if there was no recipe? How about a cookbook?
I would really love to know if you think this is possible. Would it be possible to write about how to cook a dish with absolutely no recipe? Is there anyone out there doing this already and are you as a reader brave enough to follow the leader without the map or parachute of a recipe?
