Recipe-Meisters Unite

Raise your hand if you are a recipe-meister.  Maybe you are a master blender of recipes.  I bet many of you are recipe synergizers!  It's okay! Own it! Stop cowering, rise up and step out of the cookbook shadows.  Quit minimizing your culinary accomplishments just because you didn't write the recipe from scratch.  I bet many of you have a knack for taking an ingredient here, and a technique there from multiple recipes to form delicious culinary delights.  My buddy Dean (@DeanGercharRLS) has his own term for it, he likes to take a recipe or multiple recipes and "Dean it up", and I am pretty sure Paula is not involved, but I imagine butter may often be in the mix..... umm so to speak.

Please make no mistake, I have much admiration for the cookbook authors of the world.  The cookbook originalist, so to speak, the chefs that have the knowledge, skill, and imagination to craft their own unique dishes out of thin air.  In fact, if it weren't for many of them I would still be fumbling around overcooking shrimp, drinking unpalatable cocktails and making shoe leather out of prime grade brisket.  Folks like the Lee Brothers (@LeeBros), Chris Lilly (@ChrisLillyBBQ),  Martha Hall Foose (@MarthaFoose),  Chris Grove (@nibblemethis), and Meathead Goldwyn (@meathead) just to name a bunch, but not nearly all.  Every one of them are geniuses in their on right, but when God was handing out their gifts I was in the wrong line.  Apparently I was in the line that received the gifts of hating both yard work and exercise, because I excel at hating both of those, and challenge anyone to a battle to prove my aversion.  I also have a few other talents mostly related to BBQ and cooking outside, as well as, the ability to weave together several recipes to make my own tasty dish, but at what point does it become my own creation?

Like any self respecting researcher I Googled this very topic, and was amazed that this is actually a topic of discussion for many.  Some say that if you change at least three ingredients or change a technique then it is yours.  While others have an even lighter standard and say it's yours when you cook it enough or someone asks you for it.  Then some go as far to say that  you can't copyright ingredients and it's all fair game to copy without credit.  Not sure I buy that but it's out there.  Maybe it is my scientific background but I was always taught to cite cite and cite them again if in doubt.  When I am using a recipe, and write about it,  I always try to give credit where credit is due, and if I do change the recipe, a little, I will use words like "inspired by so and so".  I do feel strongly that those with that gift, should get credit.  While doing my extensive Google research on page 3 of the results, I discovered the most disturbing information concerning this topic.  Information that could rock the foundations of cookbook publishing if unleashed and empowered.

It seems there is a whole culinary sub-counter-culture dedicated to crafting quality foods for their friends and families.  This group reportedly hides in plain site as your neighbors, friends and I don't want to alarm you, but they may be in your house as well.  Apparently it starts with a recipe idea that gets fed into Google, or maybe Bing for the hipsters.  These folks search through dozens of recipe results all while looking over their shoulders hoping no one will walk in on them.  It seems they are scared that they will be discovered combining multiple recipes or worse, I hear,  taking one recipe and adding many new ingredients.  Apparently this group fears that the cookbook originalist are looking down their noses at them, or that they will be considered less of a kitchen ninja. Oh the shame! Well I say this has to end! It is time for those of us that think less of our cooking because we blend recipes, or edit a recipe, to stand up and say enough is enough! Time to take to the streets proudly proclaiming we are good cooks while chanting "WE ARE RECIPE-MEISTERS!!!!"

Now get out there and DEAN IT UP!!!!


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The First One

Well I have done it, I have gone out and started a blog.  I have been threatening people with this for a while now and I have finally followed through.  Like many "firsts" I don't expect that it will be pleasant for all involved, nor do I initially expect to be all that good at it!  In fact, I do not fully know why I'm starting this, other than I do get a sense of catharsis when I express myself in written form and can release much of my pent up sarcasm.  I mean I write one hell of an email.  You know what I mean?!  When something or someone has gotten me all riled up and that first draft of an email is blistering, full of hyperbole and genuinely how I feel at that moment.  Then come the revisions, I realize I could have more clear here or there, and sadly I am not gifted at grammar, nor do I spell well.  Many drafts later, I feel better, and oftentimes much of the venom is gone.  Heck there have been times when the email is never even sent, but I feel better about it, I still have that feeling of "I told them".  I'm sure no one else does this, am I right?

So why blog about grills and BBQ?  Well for better or worse I think it's sexy.  Stop being weird! I mean it's like some guys have a thing for cars or sports, while some get into gambling or making their own beer.  It's just my thing, my vice, if you will, as it goes beyond just a hobby.  It's fascinating and timeless really.  Cooking on the grill with fire is primal, but yet some of the newest grills are state of the art.  I love the old ways of cooking meat, the way my deddy, and his deddy, did things.  While at the same time I try to be opened minded about new methods.  Ways that my granddeddy would have scoffed at; until he tasted it and then he would have been like "dang Jeff that sous vide thingamajig and that reverse sear deal makes for one heck of a steak".   Also I have a degree in Biochemistry, so naturally I enjoy science and appreciate data.  I realized years ago that cooking is nothing more than chemistry when you get it down to it, you know, down to the bare bones of it.... sorry I couldn't help myself.  When you think about it much of cosmetology is the same way, but you don't want me doing your hair, but I'll cook you a mean flank steak roulade!

I have a twitter dedicated to all things grilling, smoking and barbecuing (@grill_porn), but sometimes 140 characters is just not enough to express myself fully.  I don't have a plan that is set in stone for this blog experiment, so I'll likely be all over the place.  I do know that I want to write about my cooking adventures, share some tips, make observations and see where that leads me.  Although I'll never be half the cook these guys are, I try to model myself after the likes of Meathead Goldwyn (@meathead) and Chris Grove (@NibbleMeThis), my mentors in this BBQ journey!

Let's get started!!!