There aren’t many foods I won’t eat, so coming up with a favorite is always a challenge. I could eat Mexican food every day. Italian always hits the spot. And of course barbecue is an easy go-to. But when it comes right down to it, I have a soft spot for Asian cuisine.
Okay, okay, I know that’s a huge generalization considering there are nearly 50 countries that make up “Asia”, so to be more specific I’ll narrow it down to East Asian (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) and Southeast Asian (Thai, Vietnamese, Filipino, Burmese). Yes, that’s still pretty general, but allow me to explain.
I grew up in a small town just north of Dayton, Ohio. It was the very definition of small midwestern town. Everybody knew everybody, the historic downtown was about three blocks long, and the high school football game was the only thing happening on Friday night. While I appreciate the roots it gave me and don’t regret growing up there one bit, it did very little in the way of showing me culture outside of that little bubble.
My college years were similar, in an even smaller town in the cornfields of Indiana, but again, it provided me a good foundation to grow but not a whole lot in the way of culture. By the time I was off on my own, I wanted to see and do everything.
During those high school and college years (1997-2005) there were a couple of things that turned me on to culture outside of where I was. First, a few guys from the Central African Republic came to attend school and play basketball at Dayton Christian High School and since the head coach went to my church, so did they. I became pretty good friends with them and it gave me a desire to experience what was beyond little old Tipp City, Ohio. Second, was trips to Northern Ireland and Jamaica during college. Getting to physically visit, experience, and explore two foreign cultures was both an eye opener and a desire to keep doing it.
After a season working for the Cleveland Browns, I got a job traveling all across the northeastern United States promoting Verizon Wireless, This was in 2006 and 2007 when cell phones were just starting to gain popularity.
The job allowed me travel every state from Pennsylvania to Virginia to Maine and everywhere in between. I loved it, and since my job was demonstrating phones and apps to people at festivals, concerts, community events, and more, I got to meet a wide variety of people. I also got to eat at restaurants in all the big cities — New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington D.C. — and get a taste of what there was outside small town Ohio. I made a point not to eat fast food. I wanted to experience a real Philly cheesesteak, real New England clam chowder, and Chinese food in Chinatown.
In 2007, I moved to New York City where I got married and lived until we moved to Chicago in 2011. Those four years were the best of my life in terms of developing a love for cultures, especially culinarily. As newly marrieds with full time jobs and no kids we ate out. A lot. And there may be no better city in the country to do that. We could get virtually any type of food at any hour of the day or night within a few block radius of our Upper East Side apartment. It was dreamy.
One of our favorite restaurants was a place called Land, a Thai place on 2nd Ave. between 81st and 82nd. That was my first real experience with Thai food and I was hooked. We either went there or ordered delivery from there at least once a week.
After moving to Chicago, my job allowed me to travel quite a bit and I got to spend quite a bit of time in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego. I can remember a few restaurants that blew me away.
One was a visit to Silverlake Ramen, which gave me my first taste of real ramen. Sure, it’s a trendy hipster spot, but their tonkotsu ramen with pork belly is to die for.
Next, was when my cousin took me to Burma Love in SF and I fell in love with Burmese food. I admittedly had no idea it was even a thing before that, but the tea leaf salad and other dishes made me search for a Burmese restaurant close to home.
Third, was OB Noodle House in San Diego with my brother. It was my first experience with pho and I was hooked. After that, any time I visited LA or SF I had to seek out the best ramen, Burmese place, or noodle house.
While I love the cuisines, I haven’t dabbled much with actually cooking Asian food, so I was excited to see a new cookbook released and recommended by people I follow. To Asia With Love by Hetty McKinnon gives recipes from a variety of Asian cuisines, from Chinese to Japanese to Korean and more.
My time in New York City and my travels to other cities seeking out the best food I could find has given me a deep appreciation for culinary culture. I absolutely love shows like Ugly Delicious and Chef’s Table because they really explore different cuisines and cultures and how they intertwine and intersect with each other.
As I’ve developed my own barbecue brand, I’ve made a point to do so with a reverence for what I’m cooking. I’ve included the name of the animal in each of my rubs to date — Down With the Swine, Song Bird, and Mocking Bird — for just that reason. And when I try my hand at any type of recipe, I do it with a healthy respect for where it came from, both in the immediate (the farm, market, etc.) and the past (the culture that developed it and why).
It’s certainly not lost on me that the very food I built my brand around traces its roots to the African American and Native American cultures. While people like Aaron Franklin, Mike Mills, Sam Jones, Carey Bringle, and others have done well to popularize barbecue in the mainstream, I think it’s extremely important to recognize that we wouldn’t be here without those who paved the way. I try to remember that in every cook that I do.
And so I’m excited to begin a journey of trying my hand at these Asian dishes from McKinnon’s book. I know I’ll never do them justice and I may tweak the cooking methods a bit (such as using a smoker instead of an oven) but I’ll approach them with a deep admiration for the people and cultures and lands that developed these recipes long before I was around. And maybe someday I’ll get to visit those places and eat the real stuff.
