@blackbirdcoop: Replying to @trodnox my family ain’t poor anymore and I could certainly afford a smoker where soaking isn’t necessary. But where’s the soul in that? This is why, as Miles Davis said, “I’ve never suffered; I don’t intend to suffer. But I can still play the blues.”

Vlasity :

why I make my grandma's calzones for Easter the same way, following the same exact recipe. sure could improve it, but it'd ruin the memories

Zlynch66 :

Food is conversation and people have strayed so far from that.

Halfling Nature Priestess :

Wait are people out here not soaking their wood chips?

Stuart Gooding :

ZSpark14 :

That’s such a wonderful thing. “Food is the doorway to everything and everyone I have ever loved”. Made me tear up a bit.

Greer Muldoon :

Megan :

Good god, this account is the best thing on TikTok, hands down. Good sir, I don’t know how we keep these “essays” around to be revisited. I would say we need a book of memoirs, but we’d miss your delivery. A lecture circuit? A one-man show? I don’t know, but I feel like you’ve got something so unique and special here. I feel like I’m on the ground floor of something really fabulous.

Warren Fox-Jackso638 :

I’m still trying to recreate my father’s bbq pork. He showed me once but I always miss the mark. I’m starting to suspect the missing ingredient is the brush he would make to mop the pork by tying a rag made from an old t-shirt onto a stick he found in the yard vs. the fancy brush I bought at Ace Hardware.

Atlas :

Just bc theres a ‘professional’ way to do things doesn’t mean thats the only way. You’re cooking for you and yours, dont let anyone tell you youre doing it wrong. Cooking is fluid and can be accomplished in many ways its not meant to be restricted and regulated to one way only - my daddy also swears by soaking his chips too and he does amateur bbq comps, i love his bbq & it’s always been a warm memory of mine, cooking with him

JRilla :

once u said the bottom of ur smoker was all rusted out i knew who tf i was dealing with

ChicagoBlacqGyrl92% :

Something and traditions do NOT need "upgrading". The memories are priceless

UrsaLatte :

My grandmother put zucchini in her lasagna so kids ate their veggies. I hate zucchini. I will always put zucchini in my lasagna. Its her recipe and the only way I can connect with her since her passing. Would it be better without the zucchini. Maybe, but I will never know.

Brandon Wiczen :

This is exactly why I cook for a living. Best compliment I ever got is from my current boss: Eating a dish I made for them, he looked at his brother and said "Dad would have loved this wouldn't he."

Jace Bauer :

Culture begins with food. Hats off to you. Love the content.

rafaelpinero659 :

Barbacoa is the original name and depending on the source, it can be credited to Taino people in the Carribean and probably through them was transmitted to slaves there and in the Southern United States. We still use it to make a mean pork roast.

Nana Jan :

My mom was the family cook but as she got sicker with RA she couldn’t stand at all, so she would sit at the table and instruct my dad and me how to do every step and tell me stories of where and when and from whom she learned each recipe or trick. My parents are both deceased now and every time I cook I relive those moments with them just a little. I feel the love they had for me and each other as well as the love she had for cooking. Food, is a vessel for our stories and memories. Thank you for reminding us!

The Dollhouse System :

Every crappy apple pie we make reminds us of gram. I don't care that there's a "better" or "faster" way. The crust has to be just a bit too thick, and the apples have to still have a firmness to them. Because each bite of that pie is like another second of time with her. We miss her so much. 😭

A :

my late family friend was on that show Pitmasters, owned his own bbq restaurant. he swore by soaking your chips. still do it to this day

JWC_II :

We feed people not competition score cards, keep doing what you're doing boss.

Brice Timmons :

If a "bbq pro" is telling you not to soak wood, I hope they're also showing up with a discussion of what ratio of green to dry wood, which species to use, and where to source it rather than just telling you not to do the thing that is absolutely the thing that people who don't have all those resources and expertise should do. BTW, the best barbecue shoulder in West Tennessee for decades was Helen's in Brownsville, TN. Her smokehouse was a shed with expandable metal grating sitting atop cinder blocks to allow coals to be shoveled underneath with a sheet of corrugated roofing metal laid over the top.

Whalesareseaspandas :

When I make Gumbo, Jambalaya, Maryland style crab cakes, etc. I remember my dad. I don't remember his voice, but I remember the meals and days he spent prepping some of the most loving and comfortable food that I've ever had.

James Dale :

I miss my mom a lot. especially when I cook. I never could copy her biscuit recipe. they never taste like hers. it's Almost been eight years and all of those feelings are still there.

markgrass860 :

Some of the best BBQ I have ever made was in a cheap ass walmart smoker that I had to diligently watch every minute because its about as good at controlling heat and smoke levels as that canister

octobermomof4🎃 :

I could make fancy sourdough but I’ll always make fry bread the way my Dad made it, the way his Dad made, the way his Dad’s Mom made it, the way our ancestors made it

Joyously Authentically Lauren :

I felt this in my soul. I grew up in Alabama, my Granny made everything from scratch, food was love, it was her way of saying I love you, now when I cook for people that’s what I’m saying. We don’t put our heart and soul into a dish for someone we don’t like, cooking is personal, it’s a love language.