Chapter 21. The Grilling Habit vs. Resolutions: Start with the Pig
My family’s German background nudges me to celebrate New Year’s Day with a pork dish. That tradition comes from the so-called Pennsylvania Dutch, who are really German because Americans’ dull ears confused the German Deutsch with Dutch. Like many other cultures, Germans associated forecasts about the upcoming year with common foods. For instance, they associated the pig with progress because it is “forward looking” and does not attack any other by moving backwards first. Following that same logic, chicken and turkey are bad foods to eat at New Year’s because these animals can strike moving backwards, symbolizing that the past will hurt you. Of course, I never knew these outlooks as a kid; I just accepted the new year with a porker.
As an adult, I found my pig prognostications interfered with my New Year’s resolutions to lose weight and increase exercise. My resolutions always included a stipulation to lose 20 pounds (at least) and eat healthily, hopefully without having my stomach growl and my mind wander to barbecue. The opening first day of any resolution was my most precarious because that day depended on resolving the upcoming “contradictions of circumstances.” For example, I tell my wife I’m limiting my bread intake and to start, I’m giving up all bagels for a month. Moments afterward, my favorite restaurant chain offers me a free bagel every day during the month of January. Mismatched values, like frugality and slenderizing, only seem to materialize after declaring the resolution, making its keeping that much more difficult. I suspect others discover the same. No wonder resolutions fade quickly—they contain values that attract contradictions.
There’s something better: attacking immediate problems, front-facing and with quick success, like the pig. That better way is a system to establish habits, what James Clear articulates in Atomic Habits (2018; jamesclear.com). Drawing on past research, Clear has formulated “Four Laws of Behavior Change” in making a habit stick: “1. Cue—Make it obvious; 2. Craving: Make it attractive; 3. Response: Make it easy; 4. Reward: Make it satisfying.” Instead of concentrating on resolutions, which really are distant goals whose payoffs stretch too far into the future, habits encourage us to change behavior now by instituting a fourfold process that reinforces it.
What has any of this to do with grilling? Well, grilling can be a habit in which we refine our skills. As grillers, we refine our skills by making them “sticky” so that they are repeatable on command and resist fading. A great way to secure a lasting improvement in your grilling regime is by establishing that fourfold process for establishing a habit in grilling. In short, act like the pig: go forward!
So here’s one of my former resolutions that I want to construct into a habit: “Read at least one cookbook or cooking science book per month and develop new stories around them.”
1. Cue: Make it obvious. To make it obvious, I document what I’m cooking, especially if I find a technique I stumble upon helpful and think others might find it so. By keeping a a cooking log or a pit master’s journal, I have a better chance to repeat past successes and avoid past failures. For me, it’s not the writing part that’s daunting, but taking the pictures while I’m cooking. We’ve all seen social media feeds where the poster “forgot” to take a photo of the finished product or its equally great process.
To reduce that forgetfulness, I “make it obvious” the night before I plan to grill a meal. I think of it as documenting. I place a simple tripod and its mount right by an outside kitchen door that connects to my grilling area, Skytop. For quick access, I’ve also stacked photo equipment in exterior deck sheds, contained within milk cartons that I clearly labeled. I hang lights and other temperature-sensitive equipment inside a basement access outside door where I’ve also hung heavy light stands by its stairway wall. By the back door of the kitchen that leads to Skytop, I’ve placed a reporter’s notebook and an iPad, and in milk crates, two cameras with fresh batteries and memory cards, a tripod adjusted for the correct height and angle. Outside I have a designated grill positioned and ready—tarp off and prepped with fuel—for shooting the next day. Firestarters, rapid chimney starters, and tools are all located outside in plastic tubs; I select what I need and place those on one of the outside prep tables. If precipitation is forecasted, I move a tarp to cover the area and weigh it down with a sandbag.
In keeping with the pig’s forward thinking, I grill thin pork chops, sauerkraut, and apples for New Year’s Day. Because I made my shooting intentions obvious the previous day, I reduce the so-called friction between grilling and documenting. I can then devote most of my energies into cooking. Otherwise, if I have to dig through camera equipment bags and find the right mounting connector for light fixtures as well as pull out additional cooking supplies, I quickly become frustrated.
2. Craving: Make it attractive. This habit began as a blog where each post served as a “stub” or “chunk”: partially developed pieces to expand into a book chapter. Right from the beginning, I envisioned the book’s contents as structured around two parts: the four seasons and grilling in the first part and Weber grilling around the European world in the second. That visible structure allowed me to lose myself in the development of the stories without feeling haunted by overarching concerns like where all this writing and picture-taking is leading. Early on, I made a table of contents and continued to revise it as necessary when I developed new chapters.
I tend to be neater around the kitchen too if I know I could be photographing or writing a story. For me, it’s just more calming not to prep my surroundings at the same time Im cooking and filming. I’m not at the Marie Kondo level of tidying yet (or ever), but there’s wisdom in keeping things calming around you as you prepare.
3. Response: Make it easy. Boy, if that isn’t the recipe for happiness, I don’t know what is. Yet, it’s often terribly hard to make things easy. There are lots of variables working in any cook—the environment, distractions (like well-meaning people who want to lift the lid and spoil your temps), spam phone calls, and the like.
There’s also wisdom in the so-called two-minute rule. I’ve seen this concept in lots of places, here I start with a question: What could I practice in two minutes that I want to automate: that is, something I don’t need to think about consciously but do automatically? The answer is an alternative to rethinking the same task regularly, which ultimately drains my energy. I don’t know how many times I’ve placed my tongs on the grill table or on the main outside table or the side table or—you get my drift—instead of simply hanging them up mise en place. A hundred? A thousand? In any case, while I’m waiting to flip something, I deliberately practice just hanging up the tongs, no matter what grill I’m using. It’s just easier.
When I was filming with grillographer Mike Lang, I practiced removing fillets from the grill before he shot that clip. In each case, I told him what I was about to do before doing it—making every gesture deliberate. This method makes it easy because I’m making it easier. When I’m alone and filming now, I say each step aloud. Writing a recipe makes it easier too.
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NEW YEAR’S PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH/DEUTSCH PORK CHOPS
4 thin-cut pork chops, seasoned with kosher salt and pepper
16 oz. bag of sauerkraut
3 Granny Smith or tart apples, sliced thinly
4 russet potatoes, parboiled and mashed
Caraway seeds
Cedar plank, soaked in water at least 30 minutes
1 bottle of Oktoberfest-style beer or pilsner
Apple wood chunks (optional)
Weber foil pan
1. Fill a Weber RapidFire chimney full with charcoal. When fire is peeking through the top, dump coals and bank to one side, creating a two-zone fire. Place wood chunks as a barrier between the hot and cool zones. Vents should be fully open.
2. Meanwhile drain the sauerkraut in a colander and rinse. Transfer to a Weber foil pan. Distribute caraway seeds into the sauerkraut and stir. Place pan on indirect side and add the beer. Close lid.
On the stove (that heating thing in your kitchen), boil potatoes until fork tender. When ready, drain and mash, placing the result on a cedar plank. Top with butter pads and dried rosemary and thyme sprigs. Place the mashed potato plank in the center; if space is critical, place plank on top of the foil pan.
3. Return in 10 minutes and place apple slices in the foil pan, using the sauerkraut to keep them upright. This will allow the smoke to penetrate the apple more evenly. Close lid.
4. In 10 minutes, return and place chops on indirect side of the grill. Stir sauerkraut so the apples are covered. Close lid.
6. Return in another ten minutes and slide chops over direct side for a quick kiss of the fire. Flip after 30 seconds and check temperature of the chops. Aim for a 130-degree pull, placing the chops in the sauerkraut bath and smothering them in the ingredients. You want some time for them to intermingle. Close lid.
7. Check in five minutes. Everything should be done (chops at 150-155 F.) with a crusty patina over the potatoes and the sauerkraut.
8. Layer on each plate in this way: potatoes, sauerkraut mixture with apples, pork chop on top.
4. Reward: Make it satisfying. Eat! And thank the pig. (You thought I forgot the last step.)
