When you think about the most influential people in your life, who comes to mind? For me (Travis) it is my grandmother. I learned a lot about life and I learned a lot about cooking. For this purpose, there are two things I want to highlight. The first and the most important thing I learned was to love people. The second thing I learned was how to cook.
If you ask me, I’d say they go together. One of my favorite things in life is loving people through food, by sharing the food and the flavors that I love with people.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m no Michelin star chef! There are a lot of rules when it comes to cooking, but there is no rule about cooking what tastes good to you.
No one can tell you that your taste is wrong and if something tastes good or bad. Only you can decide what you like and don’t like when it comes to food.
Trust me, if you’ve told a toddler to eat something because you think it’s good...you know!
My favorite part of cooking is learning what works for me and my family.
We are a split household, one of us follows recipes and the other never looks at a recipe.
As a kid, my grandma made the best macaroni and cheese. I remember asking one day what the recipe was. What she proceeded to tell me went something like this….
- Boil the elbow macaroni
- Add some Velveeta cheese
- Add some milk
- Add some cheese
- Add another kind of cheese - (Me, what kind of cheese? Her - whatever you have).
And there you have it, the secret recipe for the best macaroni and cheese in the world, in my opinion. You’ll notice there is no quantity on anything, it is all to taste, look, flavor, feel, look, etc...
That was the day that the light bulb went off... there is no right or wrong when it comes to cooking, it’s about what you, your family, and your community enjoy.
If you’ve ever watched much bbq cooking or interviews with great pitmasters you know that they cook the way they want. There are some general principles that most people follow, but at the end of the day, it is about what tastes good to them, their family, and their communities.
We want to give you permission to cook the way you want. Put the recipe down and be creative with what you like. It’s ok, to alter recipes, to change things out, not to measure exactly….Don’t worry.
Have fun…
Experiment….
Put the recipe down…
Cook the way you want…
Cook what tastes good to you!
If you need permission to have fun with cooking and to experiment, you have ours. We would love to hear your story. Tell us what you cooked and how it turned out. Did it work? It’s ok if it didn’t, but you have to learn something. For more cooking tips make sure you subscribe to our newsletter. And don’t forget to leave a comment and share your story.