GRUB by Ari LeVaux
I never thought much about the expression “chewing the fat” until I shared a meal with some mochileros at a campsite in Argentina. Mochileros are Argentine travelers who live out of their backpacks and prowl the backcountry and its gateway communities. By night they can usually be found around a fire, passing around the yerba maté and perhaps a guitar while meat cooks over the coals. When the meat is done, wine replaces the maté, and feasting ensues. One starry night after the meat ran out, I found myself gnawing on a bone. Attached to the bone were pieces of fat and connective tissue and whatnot, and the morsels gave up flavor as I chewed, interacting pleasantly with sips of red wine. It occurred to me that language evolved in ancient scenes like this, as our ancestors sat around the fire, chewing the fat and working on their communication skills. It’s possible that fire did more for the brain than stimulate language development. As Harvard University’s Richard Wrangham, a biological anthropologist, tells it, “Cooking produces soft, energy-rich foods.” Over the eons, this allowed us to extract food energy more efficiently. We spent fewer calories on digestion, leaving a higher margin of caloric recovery, which allowed our brain—the most energy-intensive organ we have—to get big. Though fire was the original stove, today’s cooks have largely left it behind. And as we’ve lost fire, we’ve lost touch with the feelings and flavors it brings. But fire remains available, like a genie in a bottle that can be conjured anywhere, anytime. When we call on it, the very experience of tending the hot coals brings us to an archetypal place, and the flavors it brings to the table sweeten the deal. “The right amount of burning or charring can be delicious and seductive,” Argentine chef Francis Mallmann writes in his book Seven Fires: Grilling the Argentine Way. “A burnt tomato, for example, has a dark crust bordering on bitter, while the inside is soft and gentle in texture and taste.”
The choice of wood makes a big difference in the outcome. In general, hardwoods (non-evergreens) are best for cooking. Apple, perhaps the king of hardwoods, burns hot without too much flame, and has sweet smoke. Cherry is another good bet. Alder burns quicker and with less heat, but has good flavor. Cedar, a softwood, burns well and has a soulful smell. If you’re camping, of course, you can’t be too picky: just use wood that’s driest. But if you’re in Montana, keep your eyes open for mountain ash, a fine one for cooking. Once you’re properly fired up, there’s no reason you can’t enjoy a mouth-watering steak, Argentinestyle. Salt the (room temperature) meat, and oil or rub fat on the grill. Grill an inch-and-a-half-thick steak for five minutes, then lift the edge and check the sear marks. They should be visible, but not charred. Rotate the meat 90 degrees to make a crosshatch pattern and prevent overburning. Leave the steak for four more minutes, then flip it and again turn it 90 degrees after five minutes. After that, the steak will need another two minutes to be medium rare. (Dish-claimer: Results can vary, and thinner pieces of meat, hotter coals and grills closer to heat will cook your meat faster.) For a finishing touch, here’s a recipe for chimichurri, an Argentine steak sauce, adapted from Mallmann’s book: Bring 1 cup water to a boil in a Morgen Lanning small saucepan. Add 1 tablespoon coarse salt; stir until it dissolves. Remove from heat, allow to cool. A little charring can make a dish more Mince a head of garlic very finely; put interesting; so can a bit of smoke. But there’s in medium bowl. Mince 1 cup fresh parsley a delicate balance. Too much charring or and 1 cup fresh oregano; add to garlic, smoke, and that’s all you taste—not to menalong with 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper tion the extra carcinogens. Flame flavors flakes. Whisk in 1/4 cup red wine vinegar should add to the dish without upstaging it. and 1/2 cup olive oil. Whisk in the salt One common rookie maneuver, water. Refrigerate. whether you’re in the backyard or the Prepare the sauce at least one day in wilds, is to grill over a wood fire that hasn’t advance, so the flavors can blend. If you burned down to coals. This makes the take chimichurri camping, it will last as smoke very strong and exposes your food long as any meat you’d bring along. to licking flames that will likely over-char it. With luck, you’ll be able to savor some A rule of thumb is to start the fire about nice pieces of fat on your steak, with a good an hour before cooking. After coals form, red wine on hand. As you chew by the spread them evenly under a grill grate warm glow of the coals, prepare for the harplaced three to four inches above them. Let monic dissonance between the ancient, prithe coals cover over with a thin white layer mal act of cooking flesh by fire and the of ash before you throw on the food. You refined pleasures of wine and sauce. And should be able to hold your hand over the company, be it of the primal or sophisticatgrill for about two seconds before the heat ed variety, is always appreciated. forces it away.