What makes us picky eaters? Why don't we like certain foods? Why are we afraid to eat certain recipes? Because we don't know what's inside?
Why do some people like spicy food and others don't?
These are questions that we all ask ourselves. Which I asked myself, being... a little difficult!
A story that is certainly not unique, but my BBQ made me discover life!
A grey box that intrigued
From my earliest memories, around the age of 5, I remember that when supper time came, my mother would shout to us through the courtyard gate that it was time to come eat. When I went back up the slope behind the house to go home, I would often see this big gray machine, often buried under the snow, without knowing what it was really for. Over time, I saw my father use maybe 5 or 6 times a year, this old black box, with old wooden boards as shelves. Each time he started it, the women would go inside for fear of an explosion.
But this gray box that my father called BBQ intrigued me.
A Guys' Affair
I would stay close to smell the smell of the grill. But, I have to say, I was a very picky child and I had many questions about my diet. On the other hand, when my father used his BBQ, it was a boy-to-boy affair, he would involve me in the cooking and preparation.
My father was a rather conservative and old-school father; that is to say: the kind of father who is not too affectionate, who does not throw too many i love you, but he was also the kind of father with whom few words were enough to understand each other. Sometimes we didn't need to talk, there was a current that passed between us. He surely felt my excitement when he started his BBQ. One day, his Pol Martin book in hand, he decided that it was FINALLY time to cook the recipes together, to divide the tasks and to get started; together, in cooking. And it is since that day that I understood what the KEY TO SUCCESS was!!! The involvement of the child in the preparation and the pleasure of cooking together.
For me, an oven is ordinary.
Over the years, I realized that the oven was for me: too ordinary… no fire, no smoke, no lifestyle with cooking on the oven . But every time my father said to me: Pierre-Luc, tonight we're eating BBQ, what do you want to eat? What spices do you want to use? I was eager to try something else, I wanted him to share his advice with me and for us to spend time together, around his old burners emanating an orange flame and around his little smoker with a sawdust strand.
Unfortunately for me, it was really after my mother's death that I managed to really evolve in cooking and BBQ because that's when my father bought me my very first quality BBQ with infrared. He spent $1000 of my mother's meager inheritance to offer it to me, without really telling me the reason why he was offering it to me.
Grill addict
At first, I would make a few steaks here and there. Later, I started having lunch on the BBQ, cooking for a long time and making more and more complex recipes. Then, I started inviting my friends and family over to taste what I was making on my new BBQ and that's when my friend Josh and I became: grill addicts!
What do you think a grill addict does next? And yes, he buys a BBQ every month! I had to buy and sell a total of 15 BBQs to be able to try them all, but that's another story...
Children's involvement = success
Even today, I invite as many people as possible to come and eat with my little family on my smokers and BBQs. We spend most of our time around them, trying different flavors and recipes. So please, get your kids involved in cooking with you on the BBQ!
It's an extraordinary experience and your children will create wonders with you!