Yeehaw Murghi

I cook things from everywhere, but being a westerner, I consider French cookery something of a cultural heritage — for the methods, techniques and the terminology -- as well as the history of it all (yeah, I'm an unapologetic nerd).

But I'm also extremely interested in Indian cuisine, which I was introduced to while living in England. It's hard to find good Indian restaurants in the US, so that kinda forced me to try learn how to cook it myself. Of all the world's cuisines, I think Indian food has the most complex flavors, which can make it hard to create that perfect balance. Still, it is some of the most rewarding food I've ever cooked. Along with Indian food, I'm also very fond of south east Asian food in general.

Other than that, I enjoy food from everywhere, and everything. From snails to whales. Pheasant, rabbit, elk, bison, ostrich, moose, reindeer; blood pudding, lutefisk — it's a culinary journey. I haven't liked everything I've tried, but I've got no regrets about that. The only regret I've got is that I didn't try eating bear when I was in Finland. It was outrageously expensive, but I still wish I'd gone for it.

I've eaten in two Michelin-starred restaurants, and while the pomp and circumstance of it all was magnificent (six hours for a meal, finished with Cuban ceegars? Yeah, I can do that), the food wasn't. My memories of D'Artagnan's (Oslo) lamb and Halvemaan's (Amsterdam) pigeon pales in comparison to the trout I somehow managed to catch, inexpertly scale, clean and sautée in butter, with a little flour, salt and pepper (while almost, but not quite managing to burn the tent down) in Norway's Hardangervidda highland.

It doesn't get any better than what you cook yourself.