Risk it for the Biscuit
life changing sourdough and highway existentialism
Hey Broiler Room mates- roommates? Broiler roomma-ahh fuck it. I know it’s hotter than a three dollar pistol outside which is exactly why this week I’m gonna drag y’all out to the California desert. Specifically the Salton Sea, an abomination to nature that should have never existed. It’s 2016 and I’m sitting in my car parked in the middle of nowhere. My car’s dash reads 105 degrees and my camera is flashing an error message that it’s internal temperature is too hot to take photos. What the fuck am I even doing out here?
Shooting a cookbook, duh.
After our first two books, we felt confident to take more artistic risks for our third. The concept? California cuisine cooked quickly. The name? “Fast as Fuck”. That was temporary as Michelle and I were both certain we wouldn’t be allowed to publish that title. Being the resident photographer, I packed my equipment and hit the road to capture a side of California that represented our upcoming book. Michelle being the resident cook and Californian, helped me map the most iconic spots to shoot and where to eat.
FUN FACT! The Broiler Room newsletter actually started as a series we created back in 2016 during my shoot called “The Coastal Crawl”- some of y’all are OG subscribers. Each week we’d send out a dispatch that included new places to visit and eat in California, curated by Michelle with photos from my trip along that same path. You can see a version of that road trip drawn by Nick in the beginning and end papers of our third book.
Stopping in the Bay Area, I crashed with my cousin in Oakland. We shared a blunt in Dolores Park before heading to Burma Superstar for dinner where I ate the best fucking tea leaf salad in my life. In Big Sur on my way to shoot McWay Falls, I stopped by the Big Sur Bakery and grabbed a fresh sourdough loaf that was still warm from the oven. I regret not buying a second loaf.
Long distance driving is rich with reflection time. A couple years before this road trip, I couldn’t tell a daikon radish from a parsnip. Now I’m wondering what this baker’s secret is to absolutely NAILING this sourdough, was it their proofing process? Soft water? As I reached across the passenger seat for another fistful of bread, I caught myself feeling not just curious but inspired. It dawned on me this road trip was ultimately about two things that have drastically changed my life: food and California.
My move to LA was a Hail Mary for me to get the hell out of my hometown of Houston or be trapped there forever. I didn’t know what I was doing but even if I failed, I had to try. The same mentality permeated my journey learning to cook. It can be daunting, especially for someone like myself with a kitchen smaller than most closets and not knowing how to balance flavor or properly chop ingredients. But dammit, I had to try or make peace with my hunger.
“OOOOH MAAAN!” I mumbled to myself with a mouth-full of bread and an illuminated cartoon light bulb above my head. Inspiration took hold as I pulled over to soak up the sunset. Sitting on the hood of my car, I thought of my late mom and why I moved to California. Was I just running? Like how mom did when she was almost exactly my age? The fuck am I doing out here? The moon started to rise.
I slid off my car’s hood and called my pops back in Texas. He picked up first ring, asking if I was okay. He didn’t even know that I was on this road trip. I reassured him everything was fine before asking what he had for dinner and climbed back into the driver seat.
Heading down south I stopped by Pokez in San Diego and ordered a chimichanga the size of my forearm. Before leaving I slapped a few of our “EAT LIKE YOU GIVE A F*CK” stickers around the restaurant that are still there. Don’t worry, Pokez is cool with stickers. If you go, you’ll know.
I returned home to Los Angeles full of ideas and dead camera batteries. I had a much clearer grasp on Fast as Fuck now. I’d also returned with something my doctor would call “valley fever” that I caught while exploring abandoned trailers along the dying Salton Sea.
VALLEY FEVER: (also called coccidioidomycosis or “cocci”) is a disease caused by a fungus that grows in the soil and dirt in some areas of California and the southwestern United States. People and animals can get sick when they breathe in dust that contains the Valley fever fungus. This fungus usually infects the lungs and can cause respiratory symptoms including cough, fever, chest pain, and tiredness.
Reviews:
⭐⭐
“I coughed for months and the air tasted like batteries. Would not recommend. Two stars.” -Matt H.
Now the book’s recipes like the Ginger Noodle Curry Soup reminded me of San Francisco. Or the Sun Dried Tomato Carbonara would likely be served at any restaurant in Napa or Sonoma. The Tahini Fudge seems straight out of a Santa Barbara cafe and the Pineapple Cucumber Slushie is obviously Palm Springs. You’d think the Sweet Potato Al Pastor tacos would be Los Angeles but you’d be wrong, Dan Dan Noodles are LA and the Al Pastor is Riverside.
Every dish had a home and every dish was worth trying. Which is why “Fast as Fuck” will always be special to me, it’s a reminder to venture past the horizon and try something that seems tough, unfamiliar, or even impossible. We risk more by taking no risk at all. And who knows, the outcome could be delicious.
FUN FACT! Remember our friend Mick and his bicycle taco stand from Party Grub? Well we dragged that out to the desert for Fast as Fuck. Our cookbooks are full of hidden easter eggs. Also our 3rd book has a hidden Ouija board lol.
Sneaking jokes and secrets between the pages is one of my favorite parts of writing our cookbooks. Our upcoming book “Hungry as Hell” has a shitload of easter eggs, plus ya know… over a hundred brand new mouthwatering recipes. If you haven’t grabbed your copy yet, lemme make it easy for ya.
I appreciate y’all being my copilot this week down memory lane. It’s always nice to have you guys riding shotgun. Tomorrow our Sunday Subscribers are getting a sweet recipe for a very special occassion. Not a subscriber? Oh man, we gotta fix that.
Till next time, keep your knives sharp.
-Matt
Fast as fuck is my favorite book... because it’s full of noods!!! But I wouldn’t give up any of them. Super pumped for the new book ❤️
Primo photography of my other home here.