Читать книгу Kingitud maitsed - Evelin Ilves - Страница 9

You can actually collect anything. I collect experiences. And if you are sufficiently thorough, sooner or later, your collection will start to speak to you about tastes and cultures – no matter whether your passion is for sports teams, postcards or cars. Therefore, I was not surprised when a former passionate collector of candy wrappers – which I was when I was six – imperceptibly became a collector of tastes and experiences. From my trips I bring back pictures, notes and … always tastes. They are often in the form of foods or seasonings, but as time went on, ever more as written recipes – messages from special moments; gifts that never wear out or diminish in value.

To some extent, you can take a trip around the world along a path of tastes right in your own kitchen. There are many inspiring cookbooks. There are thousands of ways to procure exotic spices with even the most complicated names. Living in a virtual reality literally brings the entire world into our homes. Travelling from country to country, from culture to culture in this way, we can discover the components and messages of a country’s tastes. Every country has two or three traditional local vegetables, herbs or spices that add their typical taste nuances to ingredients that are popular around the world – for example, potatoes. When seasoned with paprika and lard, potatoes taste like Hungary; add curry and they remind us of India. Add olive oil and lemon and you are transported to Greece. Add garlic and oregano, and suddenly you are in Italy. Good sea salt, farmers’ butter and dill make this universal tuber very dear and familiar – into an authentic Estonian taste.

I have loved to cook since I was a child. During the first ten years that I cooked (while I was in secondary school) I mostly baked cakes. They adorned tables at the birthday celebrations of almost all my mother’s friends, and I didn’t deprive my own family either. Generally cooks can be divided into two groups: those who make so-called “real food” including vegetable, meat and fish dishes; and the others that are pastry cooks and bakers. I must have inherited this second gene. Thus, I struggled enthusiastically for years trying to make the world’s best bread – first black and then white. In the case of the latter, I have yet to achieve my goal.

During my years at Kadriorg, we have sent many visiting heads of state and other dear guests off with Estonian tastes. After all, local food actually speaks most simply, quickly and pleasantly about your country’s climate and values, its tastes and states of mind. Tastes are like music; they are true art, which provides an experience that lasts forever. And therefore, dear reader, I am particularly happy to share the tastes that have been given to me and my family as gifts. This is a short culinary trip with us and our friends, accompanied by the good experiences provided by food that has been lovingly prepared. You can be sure that you will be able to prepare all these dishes in your own home. Most of them are extremely simple, but even the more complicated ones have been tested by me several times; thus some of the recipes have been slightly amended or altered, since raw ingredients are slightly different everywhere. If necessary, I also suggest substitutes.

If you want really good and healthy food, use high-quality ingredients. And do not forget that small details can be very important in the culinary arts – they may often be the decisive factor. Thus sea salt and halite can be much milder and subtler that ordinary NaCl. Pepper that is freshly ground in your peppermill has a totally different fragrance than factory-ground pepper. And various rose sugars with their halftones are head and shoulders above the taste provided by ordinary refined sugars. However, one can cook from everything and with everyone. In the end – you shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth and there’s no disputing matters of taste. Sometimes, one should just surrender to pure pleasure!