Alexey Onegin: biography, recipes and interesting facts

He does not understand those people who put spiritual food much higher than the daily food. If after a sightseeing tour of the Eiffel Tower or Notre Dame travelers go eating fast food, then we can assume that they have not visited France. So says the popular blogger Alexei Onegin.

What does cooking mean?

For him, food is not alchemy, not magic, but exact science. Possessing an understanding of what is happening in the kitchen, answering not only the questions "what?", But also "why", you can acquire the true freedom of creativity. According to Alexei Onegin, it is necessary to learn not the recipes, but the methods of preparation.

Despite the huge culinary experience, Alex considers himself an amateur cook, as he did not finish a serious cooking school where professional chefs are trained. It's not even that he wants to become a chef (rather no than yes), just as an inquisitive and purposeful person, Alexey Onegin always likes systemicism.

How it all began?

About his biography Alex does not like to spread, it is known only that he lives in St. Petersburg, is married, calls himself an unprofessional traveler and has a permanent place of work. The personal site leads exclusively for the love of cooking, although until a certain time he had no idea that he would ever start cooking.

Our own website was created in 2008 and at the same time published its first book called "My Kitchen".

And it all started when the young man decided to go to the popular "LiveJournal" to get acquainted with those fierce disputes, of which there was a huge amount. He had to argue and defend his opinion, and at one point realized that it was necessary to move from theory to practice. Practice he liked, and the future popular blogger made timid attempts to open his own site about food, which has existed for nine years.

Alexey Onegin. Culinary Blog

Now Onegin believes that this was a rather risky step, since at that time he had much less knowledge to teach people. But the calculation was correct - when you cook not only for yourself, but for friends (albeit invisible), you need to do everything right. Two recipes per week and two articles - it was the format chosen by him to evenly study theory and practice and study with the readers.

Onegin Alexei, thanks to his own website, received a huge boost for further development. Now he has written more than seven hundred articles and recipes. This is a creative process that he likes, and the young cook is not going to give up his business, although, of course, there are minutes when everything is boring, but in general, Alex is going to go further.

The Internet has enabled many food bloggers to spread high-quality photos, write beautiful useful recipes. People began to be more serious about their hobby. And there is nothing surprising in this, since many people like to eat tasty food, and cooking is carried by millions of people around the world, and those who have a beautiful syllable inevitably become popular.

Who tries Onegin's experiments and is his strict critic?

Like all creative people, Onegin likes to experiment, and his main partner in gastronomic delights is his second half. It is no accident that all his recipes are written for two, because the first to try the dish should the wife. Less often they are tried by parents or friends, but the strictest critic of recipes is himself. The more he delves into cooking, the clearer the flaws and miscalculations become.

The only question that remains open to him is the amount of salt in the dish. In Europe, they are accustomed to cooking more salty foods than in Russia, so Alexei leaves the choice of salt for the readers. Let the salt, who loves how much and how much.

Recipes by Alexei Onegin

More than anything in the world, he does not like to follow the "proven" recipes without thought, since it is associated with stagnation and stagnation. But experiments and any improvisation are welcome. Favorite course for Alexei are, of course, steaks - a real men's food, which he knows everything. In the number of dishes, which he practically does not cook, includes cakes and cakes.

Of course, if you want to learn confectionery is not so difficult, but the snag is that Onegin is completely indifferent to the sweet.

Here are some interesting recipes for the author of the blog.

Recipe No. 1. Trout stewed in white wine

To prepare you need:

• Trout - 800 g, or two small fishes for 400 grams.
• White dry wine - 150 ml.
• Lemon is a half.
• Tarragon - a few twigs.
• A little leek.
• Butter to taste.

First you need to wash and clean the fish, remove the gills, salt, pepper and put aside. In the frying pan, where the fish will be prepared, you need to lay out the sprigs of tarragon (tarhuna) and leek. Top put trout, for each fish you need to lay out slices of lemon and a little butter. Pour in the wine, close the lid and put it on the fire.

As soon as the wine boils, the fire should be reduced and cooked for about ten to fifteen minutes, depending on the size. Serve on a flat plate.

Recipe No. 2. Chips from zucchini courgettes

• One courgette of zucchini.
• One glass of milk.
• Some bread crumbs.
• One clove of garlic.
• A handful of grated Parmigiano.
• One bunch of parsley.

Zucchini should be cut into small slices half a centimeter thick. Parmesan, bread crumbs, chopped parsley leaves and garlic mixed in one bowl.

In another pour the milk, each slice of zucchini dipped in milk, then in the prepared mixture, put on a grate and bake in the oven, heated to 220 degrees Celsius, for thirty minutes.

Serve such chips or to wine, or for dinner as a hot snack.

Having written the book "Flawless Steak", Alexey Onegin promised in it that he would teach any inexperienced cook to prepare a steak with his eyes closed. Sam, with the help of trial and error, for five years improved the skill of cooking this dish. And now, realizing the situation, Alexei is not ready to say that his steaks are perfect. The longer you go to the ideal, the more it becomes unattainable, but for his steaks Alexei Onegin does not blush.

How to cook a steak so as not to spoil it?

The popular blogger has a lot of answers to this question. First, you need to choose good, "right" meat. In fact, almost all the work will be done. Will only not spoil the meat on the way from the frying pan to the plate. This does not mean that it's impossible to cook a decent steak from another piece of tenderloin, it just takes a lot more effort and knowledge.

The pursuit of excellence should not be like perfectionism, as it can take a lot of time before a person (in this case, a cook) achieves, for example, an ideal scrambled eggs. It is better to master cooking in general, mastering one after another different dishes, then a clear mosaic will be built in your head, and the eggs will be close to the ideal, but certainly not the same as those who devoted this life. Perfectionism, according to the famous blogger, only harms progress.

Often he is asked questions: what cuisine does he prefer? - to which Alexei responds that the greatest culinary sin, in his opinion, is monotony. If you enjoy for a whole month, for example, Georgian cuisine, then at once you will want Russian soup or Vietnamese soup fo.

Books

Culinary recipes of Alexei Onegin fascinate the reader with an excellent syllable, interesting information, feed, unexpected findings, which the author generously shares. Despite his youth, he already wrote several books on cooking. Among them:

• "Flawless Steak: Preparation from A to Z".
• "Book of domestic delicacies."
• "The best recipes for barbecue and grill."
• "Author's recipes for su-kind."
• Traveler's advice.
• "Another 50 recipes."
• "My kitchen".

Books became for Aleksey the result, the embodiment of those efforts and spent time, which he spent on his site. He does not like to guess the future, it is much more important to move forward consistently and systematically.

Should I adhere to proper nutrition?

To any fashionable trend he has his own point of view. So, the adherents of the meals of PP (proper nutrition) are actively introducing their positions into the minds of the population. If someone read the notes of Alexei Onegin, then he can not disagree with his opinion about this diet. If it exists, then there is also a "wrong" diet. And who, in fact, determines the "right" and "wrong" food? And why should he be trusted?

Not so long ago the United States declared war on fatty foods, as it leads to increased cholesterol. This led to the fact that people switched to sweet dishes, dramatically increasing the amount of carbohydrates in the diet. As it turned out, it is carbohydrates that lead to excess weight and cause cardiovascular diseases.

Our ancestors, who eat simple but high-calorie food, could plow the whole day in the field, staying healthy. For a modern person to eat such food will be much more difficult, because it is physically little developed, so modern recipes are adapted to it, but this does not mean that they are "wrong."

In general, the problem of excess weight is familiar to many, and it can be solved by conscious nutrition and motor activity. Exceptions are cases where obesity or overweight are caused by illness. Counting calories is not the smartest thing, Aleksey believes. It is generally necessary to understand which product has more energy. For example, eating a baked leg of a lamb, a person will get more energy than from an apple. But count calories and think that from one product on the sides will grow more fat - a great stupidity.

«Travel Tips»

In addition to cooking, Alexei Onegin loves to travel and, fortunately, wrote about this book. In the "Councils for travelers" you can learn a lot of interesting and useful things for those who want to independently organize their travels. He will tell you how to save time, nerves and money, choosing a hotel for living, renting a car, will tell you where you can sit comfortably and tasty lunch or how to buy tickets for a train or plane and go to another country.

All lovers of useful and tasteful time you can recommend to go to the site of Alexei Onegin and get to know the author more closely.