Robyn Griggs Lawrence has a steak recipe so good it'll make you feel high. Literally.
Seared Wagyu New York Strip with Cannabis Rub is just one of more than a hundred gourmet-inclined recipes Lawrence compiled for her Cannabis Kitchen Cookbook, now entering a second printing. Now she’s taking her expertise right into readers’ homes with an online cooking course.
Lawrence, based in Boulder, Colo., is one of many entrepreneurs in the $5.4 billion legal marijuana industry. Unlike pot-repreneurs selling already baked brownies, cookies, and gummies, which may account for almost half of those billions, she is teaching consumers how to make the goods at home. Each dish—from Baked Artichoke, Crab, and Cannabis Dip to Cannabis Ceviche and High Ho Pottanesca—features the nation's favorite newly legal ingredient.
Since Cannabis Kitchen's release in September, Lawrence has organized cooking demonstrations at hotels, arranged retreats in Colorado, and filmed that four-part online course. The class, called “Cooking with Cannabis: The Fundamentals,” will become available online in April to anybody over 21 years of age through the Green Flower Media Academy. Lawrence will cover the basics of the who, why, and how regarding cooking with cannabis, with an emphasis on safety and proper dosing. Because the course offers only information, it will be accessible in any state. “We would never suggest or condone using cannabis in states where it isn’t legal,’’ she warned. (Editor's note: Since Bloomberg is based in New York, we haven't personally tested any of the recipes below.)
Higher-End Niche
Lawrence got her start in the legal weed arena in 2009, when a doctor recommended she use marijuana to help with painful cramps, but the sugar-laden edibles sold in dispensaries across the state didn't suit her eating habits.
“It works for a lot of people; that just isn't how I eat,” said Lawrence, who at the time was editor-in-chief of Natural Home & Garden Magazine, a publication focused on green living.
Scouring the internet for healthy, delicious, weed-infused recipes left her empty-handed. She found five cookbooks on the subject, but they were filled with unhealthy comfort foods. They were also designed in the style of classic stoner culture. Lawrence wanted a guide to making gourmet, upscale recipes that happens to use the plant.
When her 11-year run with Natural Home came to an end in 2011, she accelerated her work to tackle the problem. As an avowed cooking-show junkie "going back to Julia Child," Lawrence was able to match her professional skills with a lifelong passion. "I’m still green girl, just a different green,” she said, noting past coverage in organic food and organic medicine. "I’ve taken a lot of classes and seen a lot of demos through my work. For me, this is just a natural progression."
Slow Burn
That's not to say it has been an easy go.
Lawrence worked with 12 chefs hailing from California, Colorado, Oregon, and Massachusetts, plus a professional mixologist to develop recipes over the course of three years. Then it took almost two years for a publishing house to bite. In the meantime, the industry (and society) have caught up to her ambition. Barnes & Noble Inc. agreeing to carry cannabis cookbooks came as a major breakthrough, according to Lawrence; the bookseller now has 14 of them listed on its website.
Cannabis Kitchen's glossy hardcover is designed to fit in alongside more typical gourmet cookbooks. That's not to say it shies away from its highlighted ingredient: The cover shows two marijuana leaves on a napkin next to a plate of pasta, and the recipes inside all have pun-filled names that make use of pot-culture slang. Recipes cover everything from breakfast and juices to appetizers, salads, entrees, sides, desserts, and cocktails. Clear step-by-step instructions regarding the plant itself, infusion and extractions, dosing, and tools are covered in depth before the text proceeds to oils, butters, tinctures, and sweet infusions.
It's been a particular hit with baby boomers, Lawrence said. “We thought we were behind, but we were ahead of the curve. I knew it was an important book because I needed it. I figured the world did, too.''
“The whole idea is that you wouldn't need a separate book for entertaining, and if you want it for health that this would be like your one 'mastering-the-art' kind of book,’’ she said. As for the crowded marketplace, “it's definitely more gourmet than the other ones," she said. "Mine's more for the upscale cook.''
