Latest in the "Am I something?" series, see HERE for a TOC.
The short answer to the question, "Am I a cook?" is NO. However I must say that I tried to be a cook, in various parts of my life. Read on, if you want to find out.
My first attempts to be a cook were when I left my parents's home in Greece to study at MIT in 1974 (age 23). Dishes that I cooked then were limited to eggs (boiled, fried, etc), steaks or some fish.
My cooking experience was elevated one level when in the summer of 1975 I visited my cousin George Psacharopoulos in London (on my way from Boston to Athens). George is a prominent economist who was a faculty member at the London School of Economics and then went on to work for the World Bank in Washington DC. But he was also (and still is) an expert cook, having published several books on the subject, including his latest, see HERE.
In my stay in London, I remember that we cooked, under the guidance of George (a) moussaka, and (b) profiterolles. George had the recipes of both in the form of a computer program, ie there were "subroutines" for minced beef, eggplants and bechamel in moussaka, and for buns, chantilly and chocolate sauce in profiterolles. A difficult problem with the profiterolles was that we could not find good chocolate in London.
George also gave me a copy of Julia Child's book "Mastering the art of French cooking", which I still have, complete with all kinds of butter and oil stains when I used it for cooking. See pic below for a stained page.
I have not managed to cook profiterolles again, however I cooked moussaka a couple of times when I was a student in Boston. It's not an easy dish, it takes a lot of time.
During my stay in Boston, I and another cousin of mine, Stefanos Andreou, used the Julia Child book several times, to cook various dishes, including (of all desserts) baba au rhum. It went ok, except the batter stuck in my hands and it was almost impossible to unstick it.
I also bought several other cookbooks, for instance by Gaston Lenôtre for desserts, see below. My attempt to produce a chocolate soufflé failed miserably.
Also I liked Jeff Smith, the so-called "Frugal Gourmet". The Frugal Gourmet was one of my favorite TV shows in Boston (see HERE).
I also regularly watched Julia Child's show (see HERE) and cajun cooking by Justin Wilson (I loved his accent, see HERE).
Below is a sample of cookbooks I have.
I also have a Danish cookbook, but have not used it yet.
My easiest to cook dish is fried eggs, and one of my favorite dishes is fried eggs with French fries, see below. That certainly does not make me a cook.
Eggs with bacon is also nice, see below.
I can also do crepes, and flip them properly, see below (photo circa 1986). I also have a video of crepe-flipping, but can not locate it.
A pile of crepes made by me is below.
I can also do loukoumades, see below, even though I do not have a pic with me making them.
I can grill various meats, see below.
I also managed to cook beef chateaubriand, here is a tray.
I also have a cerificate of fouetteur de creme chantilly, from Chantilly, France, see below:
Last but not least, I am from the island of Sifnos. Also from Sifnos was the late Nikos Tselementes, who is considered to be Greece's "National Cook". See HERE. I have never met him (my father has). But I have been to his house at Exambela.
We have several Tselementes books, but have rarely used them.
ALL IN ALL:
Not much of a cook really. I tried, but not much.
