Cooking with Fire
My Beloved Weber Grill
One of the hardest questions I'm asked is, "What is my favorite thing to cook?" Every time I'm asked this simple question, I pause because I really do not have a favorite dish or recipe. I often tell people I love cooking fish, and my favorite cuisines are Chinese, Italian, and Middle Eastern – all true, but that changes too. To limit myself to one favorite or "go-to" dish seems unfair to all the other amazing flavors and traditions our world has to offer with food. What this question does lead to is a conversation about specific dishes or restaurants that stand out above the rest and how they inspire and beg to be cooked or eaten. But ultimately, the conversation goes to, “What is my favorite way to cook?”
By far, I most enjoy cooking anything over fire. Just like many cultures have their own version of, say, fried dough, cooking over fire has a place in almost every part of the globe. Maybe it's my primal instinct or memories of standing over a Weber grill in -10-degree Chicago; not sure, but cooking over fire is my comfort zone, my happy place. Cooking over fire is fascinating, and knowing how to control the fire for different methods is essential. For instance, I'm passionate about smoked brisket. The brisket essentially comes from the pectoral muscle of the cow, a hard-working muscle that takes many hours to cook correctly at a low temperature of 225 degrees for in excess of 10 hours, although every brisket is a little different. While cooking a brisket, the logs going into the smoker must have as little bark as possible to produce 'clean' smoke. Additionally, I've learned to cut the logs to a certain thickness to control the heat output exactly where I need it. In contrast, items such as chicken satay or kalbi short ribs must be cooked over an open flame to produce essential charred bits that take these dishes to the next level.
Getting the Pizza Oven Going
In addition to ways to control fire flame and temperatures for different applications, fire, and the wood or charcoal burned imparts flavor – amazing flavor. Certainly, the amount of char or caramelization on what's on the grill varies greatly, but marinades and spices also seem to do even more magic than usual when the fire element is used. The difference between a brined and baked chicken over a brined and rotisserie bird cooked over the coals is remarkable; I'll take the rotisserie one, please! The type of wood used also makes a massive difference. In Texas, post oak and hickory are the hardwoods of choice, and rightly so; the flavors these two woods produce make for the one and only Texas-style BBQ. No other wood will come close to matching the flavor. Here in Washington, we do not have as much, if any, access to these woods as those trees do not thrive in our climate. What we do have is a tremendous amount of fruit wood from the Yakima Valley and regions nearby. I have smoked briskets side by side with hickory for one and cherry wood for the other. Both briskets tasted and looked great, but the flavor was completely different for each! While I love Texas BBQ, I made my decision right there that in Washington, I will always use cherry wood – amazing flavor and a key agricultural crop in the great state of Washington!
Slow & Low for Smoking
From fruit and vegetables to whole animals, the options for incorporating a fire element into specific dishes or menus are endless. Fire is also a focal point, often times in presentation or creating the vibe for the evening. Whether it's standing around a grill cooking chicken or interacting with friends making pizza to go into your pizza oven, I believe the fire, as much as anything, brings us together.