Romanian blogger in London – Interview for Gustos.ro

My friend, Stela, from gustos.ro asked me to write about the Romanian cooking style in London. Below you have some details.

Elena Sandor opened Eileen Cuisine in 2009, and ever since, she delights her readers with great recipes, combined with beautiful photographies. She moved to London and we talked to her about the Great Britain cooking style.

In the description about yourself on your blog, you said you miss the days when you used to cook with your friends. With whom and mostly, for who is cooking Eileen now?

When I used to live in Romania, I hang out with my friends allot. Our activities started to include the kitchen too, where we used to organize “pot talks”, as I like to call them. In London, I cook for my husband mainly, for family and friends, at different events. I wish to continue this tradition of cooking with friends because involves allot of fun and is fuelled by passion for healthy eating.

You’ve been living in London for more than a year now. How much did your gastronomic habits change? What did you use to eat and you don’t any more? 

I came to London with a great culinary fear, because I knew food here is different than in my country. My fear came true, unfortunately. Healthy cooking in England is very expensive, you either try your luck with processed food, which I can never accept, or find some solutions. I came to appreciate a great deal the food I was ignoring back in Romania, just because you can’t find it in England, is difficult to find, or very expensive (like cow cheese, whipping cream, “bors”, “leustean”, etc). I had to improvise and bring Romanian ingredients from my country.

Do you have any favourite British chef?

I do appreciate many of them, but mostly I enjoy the already famous Jamie Oliver’s style. He is so versatile, simple, turns everything in a game of cooking, where the outcome is so delicious. Every recipe of his I tried, was a success.

What is your opinion about the English cuisine? Is it as tasty as the Romanian one or as healthy as the Mediterranean? What makes it special?

As I said before, I am not really a fan of English cuisine. It is less fatty as the Romanian one, but not as tasty and healthy as the Mediterranean. What characterizes it is the lack of diversity, includes mostly steaks, boiled veggies or meat pies. They have a big breakfast, the famous porridge that hasn’t won me yet and fish&chips. The menu is a bit poor for such an amazing culture.

What is your favourite English dish?

I had to think allot at the answer for this question. Probably the breakfast. I never liked eating in the morning, obviously wrong. I used to start my day with lunch. Well, English breakfast is very consistent. Eggs, beans, mushrooms, bacon and sausages, you can’t even tell it’s only 9-10 a.m.

When you go out, what are your favourite restaurants?

I usually enjoy Asian, French, Italian restaurants. I also like to search for new places, I might call it one of my passion, especially in London where the offer is really attractive. Sometimes I go to English pubs just as a reminder of where I live, but quite rare.

Unlike other bloggers focus on one kind of dish, you post various recipes. Where do you get your inspiration from? What magazines and websites do you read?

I have an impressive collection of books, in my opinion (over 70) from famous chefs (Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay, etc) to different types of cuisines (Mediterranean, French, Moroccan, Romanian, etc). Also, Good Food is my favourite magazine along with other successful blogs dedicated to this field.

What is your favourite recipe? What about the most challenging one?

I have many recipes I love, I don’t know what to choose so the others won’t get mad and become a fiasco next time I try them. But, for our eyes only, I’ll cook every day shrimps cocktail just because I love seafood and this is one of the easiest recipe I have. The connection between lime, baby salad, shrimp and mayonnaise creates addiction. The most challenging recipe must be the macarons. I’ve searched and tried a dozen of recipes. I knew it was a pretentious dessert, meticulous,  but I never would’ve guessed it would become responsible for many sleepless nights. The biggest satisfaction was when  I brought these macarons to perfection.

Do you improvise when cooking, or do you strictly respect all the instructions?

I am quite the perfectionist type, especially in the kitchen. When I try a new recipe, I respect it to the last comma. I discovered that this is the recipe of success, at least in my style of cooking. Most of the beginners that read my blog, are looking to know even how many grains of salt they should use. But when I repeat a recipe, I add or extract ingredients, depending on my ideal choice. As to desserts, I change absolutely nothing, you can’t play with chemistry unless you are a master in this area. Of course, whenever I repeat a recipe, I allow myself to change a few things, sometimes with fear, but many times the risk is rewarded.

If you could choose a country to be born again, which one would you choose, culinary speaking?

French cuisine has always fascinated me, it is so diverse, transforming cooking to art. So France it would be. I believe in the kitchen you should possess passion, dedication, creativity, intuition, rigour and above all love, things that characterize the French cuisine.

What was the biggest failure you’ve done in the kitchen?

Cooking without love. Sounds terribly soap opera like, but I’ve tested this theory many times and every time I took time to cook with patience and a smile on my face, I had the best results. But when I was in a hurry, sad, worried or simply not there, I had the biggest failure. Let’s not talk about the mess in the kitchen, but the eclairs stuck on the tray, unbaked loafs, rock hard cookies and caramel, ice cream with lumps, etc. You won’t be seeing these on my website, because I repeat the recipe until they are great. But yes, I did have some disasters in my lab, you should only learn from mistakes.

What is the most beautiful compliment you got for the food you’ve cooked?

Oh, we landed on a sacred land. I don’t like to brag with the compliments I get, maybe I consider important not just the words, but the satisfied smiles and those seconds when you close your eyes and keep your breath while enjoying something I made. And when there are people that come back to my blog and tell me they had a success with one of my dishes, it can only encourage me to know I chose the right path.

Do you have other passions beside culinary art? I noticed, for example, the pictures you take are really good. What tricks do you use?

I am not a professional photographer. I would love to take some photo lessons and buy better equipment, lights, etc. I was fortunate to check lots of cooking websites, culinary photos and I do have a critical eye that comes in handy in these situations. Also, I have an impressive collection of props, plates, table linen, etc and I would love ten times more. My tricks might be different angles, natural light and diverse décor. My dream would be to have a professional studio where I can make culinary pictures, but, meanwhile, I maximise what I have.